20070812 Ver 2_Yadkin trust bill stumbles_20090730

Dorney, John
From: Massengale, Susan [[e-mail]]
Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2009 10:17 AM
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Yadkin trust bill stumbles in committee
Attachments: ATT00001.c
From the Charlotte Observer
Yadkin trust bill stumbles in committee
Yadkin trust bill stumbles in committee
By Bruce Henderson [e-mail]
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.
Susan Massengale
Public Information Officer
DENR- Division of Water Quality
1617 MSC, Raleigh, NC 27699-1617
[phone]; fax [phone]
Please note: my e-mail address has changed to susan.massengaleCa?ncdenr.gov
E-mail correspondence to and ji•oin this address ntav be subject to the
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