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Plug pulled on N.C. takeover of Alcoa dam

Decision in legislature means Yadkin River hydroelectric project may stay with company

By Bruce Henderson

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

Published: July 30, 2009

Updated: 07/30/2009 10:16 am

A bipartisan push for a state trust to take over management of Alcoa's Yadkin River hydroelectric project east of Charlotte might be dead for this legislative session.

The N.C. House water resources and infrastructure committee voted 8-6 Tuesday not to forward a bill creating the state trust to the public utilities committee. That doesn't kill the measure, said committee chairman Rep. Cullie Tarleton, D-Blowing Rock, but makes action unlikely in the session's waning days.

"The bill is eligible to be heard again in any case, and in all likelihood will be scheduled for hearing," Tarleton said Wednesday, "but probably not this session."

Tarleton added that he hadn't spoken with the bill's primary sponsor, Sen. Fletcher Hartsell, R-Concord, since before the committee vote. Hartsell couldn't be reached Wednesday.

The N.C. Senate approved the measure in May.

Holding the bill until next year's legislative session could make it moot. The Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission appeared to be poised to renew Alcoa's license until Gov. Bev Perdue intervened this spring, arguing that the state should control the hydro project.

Alcoa has closed its Stanly County smelter, once a big employer that was powered by the Yadkin, and sells the electricity it makes on the open market.

Stanly County and the Yadkin Riverkeeper challenged a key state permit that Alcoa needs before FERC can reissue the license, winning a temporary injunction. Those challenges have not been settled.