By Mark Wineka
mwineka@salisburypost.com
A bill filed Wednesday in the N.C. Senate calls for the creation of a state trust to own and manage the Yadkin Hydroelectric Project.
The N.C. Water Rights Committee said the proposed “Yadkin River Trust” would address key issues of water control, job creation and environmental cleanup and provide more benefits than Alcoa Power Generating Inc.’s private, for-profit operation of the powerhouses and dams along four Yadkin River reservoirs.
“This bill reflects the incredible support state leaders have for reasserting our water rights,” Nancy McFarlane, president of the committee, said Thursday in a statement.
“It speaks volumes that both the Republican leader and Democratic leader in the state Senate stand behind this measure, and even more, the co-sponsors represent a breadth of support for the Yadkin River Trust from Fayetteville to Charlotte.”
McFarlane is a Raleigh City Council member.
Sen. Fletcher Hartsell, R-Concord, is the primary sponsor for Senate Bill 967, which calls for establishment of the Yadkin River Trust.
Co-sponsors include N.C. Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, D-Cumberland; Senate Minority Leader Philip E. Berger, R-Guilford; and Sens. Stan Bingham, R-Davidson; Daniel Clodfelter, D-Mecklenburg; William R. Purcell, D-Scotland; and Jerry W. Tillman, R-Randolph.
The Yadkin Project takes in a 38-mile stretch of the river and includes the High Rock, Tuckertown, Narrows and Falls reservoirs touching Rowan, Stanly, Davidson and Montgomery counties.
Alcoa Power Generating Inc. calls the Senate bill an attempt to seize its privately owned hydropower business.
Company officials say a trust would cost N.C. taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and harm the state’s “business friendly” reputation.
The costs would include $240 million in required expenses to improve water quality and maintain and upgrade the dams and powerhouses, according to the company, which is trying to renew its 50-year license with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to operate the project.
“This has absolutely nothing to do with protecting North Carolina’s water,” APGI Licensing and property Manager Gene Ellis said in a press release Thursday.
“It has everything to do with the government trying to take a privately owned business for its own benefit. It’s a bad idea and sets a dangerous precedent for other North Carolina businesses. We will fight it.”
Besides the N.C. Water Rights Committee, other groups on record as opposing APGI’s operation of the project include the Stanly, Davidson, Randolph, Iredell, Anson, Cabarrus and Union County boards of commissioners, as well as the Centralina Council of Governments.
In January the N.C. Water Rights Committee proposed a “state trust concept,” which also was endorsed by the Yadkin Riverkeeper and the N.C. Wildlife Federation.
If it became law, the bill would establish a seven-member board of directors ó appointed by the governor and confirmed by the General Assembly ó to oversee the Yadkin River Trust.
At least two of the directors would have substantial work experience within the operations of electric cooperatives or investor-owned utilities or substantial experience on an electric cooperative board or investor-owned utility board.
They would not be allowed to serve as an employee or board member of an electric cooperative or investor-owned utility during their terms as directors.
The water rights committee says a trust would honor aspects of the Relicensing Settlement Agreement that Alcoa negotiated with local government and environmental groups in 2009, including water for the city of Albemarle, a comprehensive drought management plan, water quality improvements for the Yadkin and expanded public recreation facilities.
The committee says the trust would provide these other benefits:
– An assurance that the water of the Yadkin, which the public owns, “will be valued for the benefit of all North Carolinians rather than exploited for profit.”
Should Alcoa receive a new license, the committee says, it could sell it for profit at any time to any company, including foreign interests, and all terms and power of the license would remain unchanged for its 50-year duration.
– Priority consideration to local needs, with the intent of restoring and improving the environmental, economic and job considerations in and around the Yadkin River.
– Power generated from the project will be used for the benefit of N.C. consumers, “not a multinational company answerable to no one in North Carolina,” the committee said.
– All Alcoa properties in Stanly County would be tested for public health purposes.
Since 1915, Alcoa officials say, the company invested $80 million in private money to purchase more than 38,000 acres of land along the Yadkin River and develop the four dams and powerhouses without any government assistance.
The four reservoirs created, including Badin Lake and High Rock Lake, have been a strong economic asset to the region, the company adds. Alcoa received its first federal license for the project in 1958.
“There are established state and federal processes for relicensing hydroelectric projects, and Alcoa has played by the rules,” Ellis said.
“Since 2002, we have pursued a new hydropower license through proper channels and with the active involvement of state agencies, local governments and the residents who live in nearby communities.”
Ellis added that North Carolina has 22 privately owned hydropower projects, “and this project should not be treated any differently ó or held to a different standard ó than other business in this state.”
The company says North Carolina already controls water rights in the Yadkin River, and the relicensing of the Yadkin Project will not limit the state’s ability to withdraw water from the Yadkin River or issue new withdrawal permits.
Alcoa says it owns 38,000 acres along the Yadkin River and uses the water that runs across its property to generate clean, renewable energy ó without consuming the water as it flows down the river.
The company adds that N.C. agencies have been actively involved in the relicensing, and there has been widespread support for its operation of the project.
The N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission helped negotiate a relicensing agreement that will improve water quality in the Yadkin River, allow for increased water withdrawals by local municipalities, better protect the water supply during drought, provide for long-term land protection and create new recreation opportunities for residents, the company says.
It also notes the relicensing agreement has been signed by 23 organizations, including Albemarle and Badin. Other supporters of the agreement include state and federal agencies, environmental interest groups, local homeowners, business groups and recreational users.