bhenderson@charlotteobserver.com
Friday, Apr. 17, 2009
NC Senate panel wants body to hold Yadkin dams
By Bruce Henderson
Federal regulators this afternoon granted Gov. Bev Perdue's 11th-hour motion to intervene in the renewal of Alcoa's hydroelectric license for the Yadkin River.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, without comment, granted Perdue's April 1 request to play a formal role in a water war being fought 50 miles east of Charlotte.
Today's action gives new hope to Alcoa critics who say the multinational corporation no longer deserves to control a river it began damming in 1915. The commission had been expected to renew the license for another 50 years within a few months.
Alcoa's aluminum smelter, once the major employer in Stanly County, has shut down. Perdue argued that federal regulators should allow the state to recapture the hydro license – and the project's millions of dollars in annual revenues – to benefit the Yadkin region.
Alcoa compared the governor's bid to the seizure of private property by the socialist government of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. It claimed a takeover of the Yadkin license would cost N.C. taxpayers at least $500 million.
On Wednesday, the company filed papers asking the federal commission to ignore Perdue's “dramatic language and self-righteous claims” and deny her request.
Alcoa said Perdue filed her motion more than two years after the commission's deadline for such requests.
It also argued that the state is already a party to the proceeding. The N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources signed off on proposed license terms before Perdue took office in January.
Stanly County, which has led the fight against Alcoa, filed a response in favor of Perdue's request on Thursday.
And the N.C. Senate this week advanced a measure creating a state trust to acquire and operate the hydro project.
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