By Mark Wineka
mwineka@salisburypost.com
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has granted the state of North Carolina’s request to intervene in the relicensing process related to the Yadkin Hydroelectric Project.
FERC issued a notice granting the late intervention last Friday.
Alcoa Power Generating Inc., which owns and manages the dams, powerhouses and reservoirs connected to the project, is seeking a new 50-year license for the hydroelectric project, which covers a 38-mile stretch of the Yadkin River and takes in the High Rock, Tuckertown, Narrows (Badin Lake) and Falls reservoirs.
Acting on the state’s behalf April 1, Gov. Bev Perdue filed what FERC considered an “untimely motion” to intervene in the relicensing.
On April 15, Alcoa filed an answer in opposition to the state’s motion to intervene, and Stanly County filed an answer in support of the state April 16.
FERC followed with its notice granting the state’s motion the next day.
Bills have been introduced in the N.C. Senate and House calling for the creation of a state trust for the ownership and operation of the hydroelectric project.
Meanwhile, Alcoa Power Generating Inc. called the state’s motion to intervene “unnecessary and duplicative because the state of North Carolina is already party to this proceeding.”
Alcoa attorneys argue that under the Federal Power Act “taking over a hydroelectric project is a power that only the federal government may choose to exercise.” It does not give the state the authority “to take over the Yadkin Project or the legal standing to recommend a federal takeover,” the company says.
Stanly County officials and the N.C. Water Rights Committee endorse the trust concept, saying the waters of the Yadkin River belong to the people of North Carolina. Among other things, they have raised questions about a private company’s having control over a public resource for such an extended period of time.
“That facility was a linchpin in the regional economy and created jobs for up to 1,000 North Carolina workers,” Perdue said of the reason for the 1958 license’s being approved. “Today, the smelter and the jobs are gone ó and so is the reason for the license.”
Senate Bill 967, which would establish the state trust to own and manage the Yadkin Hydroelectric Project, won the unanimous support last week of the N.C. Senate’s Judiciary II Committee.
The bill has moved on to the Senate Finance Committee.