From the Winston-Salem Journal (State details ...):
Federal energy regulators should deny Alcoa Inc.'s bid to keep operating a series of Yadkin River dams because the company's profit motive could conflict with managing droughts and attracting new jobs, Gov. Beverly Perdue's administration said.
The profit motive wouldn't conflict with managing droughts if water was priced efficiently. As the demand for drinking water rises the price of water would rise and Alcoa would be more than happy to supply more water for drinking. (Then the cost of electricity rises and someone blames Alcoa for that!)
"There is the potential during severe droughts for conflicts between municipal water supply and water used to generate electricity," state officials said in a new filing to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The federal regulator is considering Alcoa's bid for a new license to generate and sell electricity from the Yadkin River dams for up to another 50 years. ...
FERC has never decided against renewing a hydroelectric operating license, an agency spokesman said. If FERC did so in the North Carolina case, Congress would have to decide whether a state or municipal body should take over operating the hydroelectric project after compensating Alcoa.
Ah. Prepare for the socialism debate!
Perdue's Commerce Department argued in a document filed with FERC late Friday that droughts in 2002 and 2008 show there could be a conflict between the need for power generation and the need to use the river's water to support life. ...
Change "could' to "would." Conflicts are not rare in a world of scarcity.
Alcoa had North Carolina's backing in 1958 when it won a federal license to operate the dams, which powered an aluminum smelter that employed nearly 1,000 people. But the company closed the plant, its 50-year license expired, and state official said they see no reason the corporation should keep the $44 million a year in electricity sales the dams generate.
Hmmm. No comment.
Perdue's aides said the state would use profits from power generation to speed up cleanup of pollutants the aluminum plant may have left behind and expand incentives to draw jobs to the region bordered on Greensboro to the east and Charlotte's suburbs to the west.
Do state run dams earn profits?
Alcoa spokesman Kevin Lowery said the Pittsburgh-based company promised in 2007 that if its license is renewed it would improve the river's water quality, allow cities and towns to increase water withdrawals, and expand recreational access.
Note: I've enjoyed some passive recreation at Badin Lake.
"It's disappointing to see that the governor continues to pursue this takeover," Lowery said. "At the end of the day, it's just an attempt to get the assets."
I'm deeply dissapointed in everyone involved with this conflict, including myself for such a lame post. However, in partial explanation, our ad revenues are way down and I'm lacking profit motivation.
