20070812 Ver 2_WQ Fails to Examine Env Issues_20090508

Dorney, John
From: Massengale, Susan [[e-mail]]
Sent: Friday, May 08, 2009 1:23 PM
To: [e-mail]
Subject: DWQ Fails To Examine Thoroughly Significant Environmental Issues Associated With
The Yadkin Hydroelectric Project
Attachments: ATT00001.c
From MMI Marketing
Division Of Water Quality Fails To Examine Thoroughly Significant Environmental Issues Associated With The
Yadkin Hydroelectric Project
State Agency Grants Certificate To Alcoa Despite Numerous Contamination Concerns Cited By Department Of Health
And Human Services And Experts
STANLY COUNTY, N.C. - The Stanly County Board of Commissioners have expressed their disappointment that the
N.C. Division of Water Quality approved issuing a 401 water quality certificate application for the Yadkin Hydroelectric
Project to Alcoa on May 6 despite environmental concerns raised by toxicology experts and the N.C. Department of
Health and Human Services, which ordered a fish consumption advisory Feb. 11 after finding elevated levels of PCBs in
the Project's Badin Lake. Commissioners believe the DWQ did not fully examine the numerous contamination problems
associated with Alcoa's continued operation of the Project, which is comprised of hydroelectric stations, dams and
reservoirs along a 38-mile stretch of the Yadkin River in central North Carolina. The Commissioners do not understand
how DWQ failed to consider the entirety of the record including the fact that Alcoa discharged hazardous pollutants into
North Carolina air and waterways for decades and affected plant and animal ecosystems and harmed humans due to
exposure or ingestion.
The commissioners noted that scientific water quality experts such as Dr. John H. Rodgers Jr. of Clemson University had
recommended in public hearings that the DWQ consider all environmental issues with the Yadkin Project fully and that
more studies be conducted to determine the exact nature, extent and magnitude of contamination in Badin Lake before
issuing the certificate to Alcoa, in light of the fact that the lake serves as the primary source of drinking water for Stanly
County, a location for fishing and swimming, as well as an economic engine for the State of North Carolina.
The experts found, among other concerns, that:
- The discharges from dams continue to violate the state's water quality standard for dissolved oxygen. DWQ
acknowledged this fact in sworn testimony last year.
- Recent sampling demonstrates that aluminum is in water discharged from the Narrows Dam in excess of the chronic
criteria for protection of aquatic life.
- Adequate testing has not been performed to determine the impact of low dissolved oxygen on ecological life downstream
of the tailraces.
- Adequate study has not been performed to determine whether and to what extent sediments mobilized by dam
operations and discharged downstream are impacting aquatic life and best uses. Recent tests confirm that solids are
indeed mobilized by and entrained in dam discharges.
- Adequate study has not been performed to properly characterize the nature of the dam's discharge for constituents of
concern.
- Recent testing at Narrows Dam has consisted of only a handful of 500 ml samples (about the size of a bottled water)
at two discrete operating times. This was intended to characterize the many, many millions of gallons of water that pass
through the dam year round. A far more comprehensive, "many season" study is warranted for the constituents of concern
(for example, prior monthly sampling did not include testing for aluminum or fluoride, both of which would derive from an
aluminum smelting operation).
- There is toxic algae and an invasive species (the Asiatic clam) present in the Yadkin Project, both of which are affected
by dam operations.
- Alcoa's discharge sampling, as flawed as it was, revealed a lack of constituents necessary to support aquatic life
(copper, lead and zinc) in waters being transported downstream. If these data are accurate, organisms downstream
should be stressed or dying due to lack of micronutrients.
- >From Stanly County's latest sampling, it has now provided DWQ with data on the presence of individual PCB
"congeners" in the sediments in Badin Lake.
- The DPH "fish tissue study" shows that there are human and ecological health concerns in Badin Lake. The responsible
scientific response to these concerns is to require further study, not to challenge or undercut the DPH findings. These
impacts are clearly related to the "project as a whole," but DWQ has obviously ignored them.
- DWQ has recognized water quality issues in Badin Lake for several years, as cited in the Yadkin-Pee Dee River
Basinwide Water Quality Plan, including fish kills and nutrient enrichment leading to algal "blooms." At the time (2003),
DWQ was committed to ensuring that project operations would not result in water quality violations. However, DWQ has
apparently forgotten this commitment.
All of this information is in the records that DWQ was supposed to review before issuing its decision. However, DWQ
ignored those concerns when it announced it issued a 401 Water Quality Certificate to the multinational firm Alcoa after it
reviewed all submitted public comment over the last year.
As part of its application to receive a new 50-year license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to control,
govern and sustain ownership of water flowing from the Yadkin River, Alcoa first had to receive a water quality certification
from the DWQ under Section 401 of the Federal Clean Water Act before proceeding to the FERC review for the
license. Due to failure of printing a public notice for the original review period in 2007, the DWQ had to revoke the license
it issued in November of that year and hold another two-week public comment period through May 2, 2008 for the
certification.
In light of information that came to the DWQ during that comment period, including the initial report by Dr. Rodgers, Alcoa
withdrew its original certification application on May 9, 2008 and submitted a new one for review. This included another
round of public hearings and review that lasted until Feb. 13 of this year. At a hearing in Stanly County on Jan. 15, 2009,
more than 80 percent of the speakers recommended the DWQ delay or deny the application for Alcoa.
With the water certificate approval in place, Alcoa can proceed to the FERC in hopes of winning approval there for its last
step needed for another 50-year license to monopolize control of the Yadkin Hydroelectric Project. The FERC's final date
for a decision on that license has not been announced at this point.
However, the FERC is weighing at the same time a request by North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue to deny Alcoa the
license in favor of letting Congress allow the state to establish a Yadkin River Trust to oversee the Project instead. Under
the law, the FERC can recommend recapture by the Federal Government of the Project license to Congress, for
subsequent transfer to the State of North Carolina. If the FERC makes such a recommendation to Congress, then
Congress has two years to pass legislation that would enable the US Government to recapture the Project upon payment
of net investment (and severance damages) and can simultaneously provide in the law that the FERC be required to issue
a license to the State of North Carolina, subject to payment of such net investment to the US Government.
The Trust already has received overwhelming approval from the N.C. Senate, and should the N.C. House of
Representatives pass the bill in favor of its creation as well, it is expected Gov. Bev Perdue will sign it into law, given her
expressed opposition to Alcoa receiving another 50-year license for the Project. The Stanly County Board of
Commissioners supports this approach and urges the FERC to consider it as the best option for the environmental and
economic future for the Yadkin Hydroelectric Project.
Quotes:
"This is a sad day for North Carolina," said Stanly County Commissioner Lindsey Dunevant. "It marks the first time the
Division of Water Quality has granted a water quality certificate to a firm operating a dam where PCB contamination has
been found, and where several experts testified before the Division their scientific proof that there are major
environmental hazards in the Project, which Alcoa has overseen for decades now. Nevertheless, we on the board, as well
as our many supporters, will continue to press our case with the FERC and hope to convince them to allow the process
whereby the state can recapture its water rights and establish a Yadkin River Trust that will ensure better environmental
stewardship of the Project in the future."
Related Links:
www.co.stanly.nc.us
www.ncwaterri-qhts.org
http://h2o.enr.state.nc.us/
www.mmimarketing.com/podcast/North+Carolina+Water+Policy
www. mmimarketing.com/podcast/North+Carolina+Water+Policy+part+I I
About This Effort:
In 1958, Alcoa, the world's leading producer of primary aluminum, secured a federal hydroelectric license for the Yadkin
Project on the Yadkin River in Stanly, Davidson, Montgomery and Rowan Counties in the Central Piedmont. In return,
Alcoa promised aluminum manufacturing jobs for Stanly County for years to come. Alcoa has now essentially disappeared
as a major employer in the region and shut down its manufacturing plants, but it wants to continue reaping the benefits of
the Yadkin River after its license expires in April of this year. In addition, Alcoa discharged hazardous pollutants into North
Carolina air and waterways for decades while harvesting immense profits from the Yadkin River, but has yet to finish
cleaning up that contamination. It has filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to
obtain another 50-year license. If Alcoa is successful, one of North Carolina's most valuable water resources will be used
to maximize Alcoa's profits, instead of being used to benefit the people of North Carolina, who themselves are in dire
need of affordable electricity, local economic development, and clean, adequate drinking water.
Ryal Curtis
MMI Associates, Inc.
[phone]
ryal(o-),mmimarketing.com
Susan Massengale
Public Information Officer
DF.NR- Division of Water Quality
1617 MSC, Raleigh, NC 27699-1617
[phone]; fax [phone]
Please note: my e-mail address has changed to susan.massengale(u?nedenr.gov
E-mail eorresponclence to and. i•orn this address maY be sitNect to the
North Carolina Public Records Lmv and mcty be disclosed to third parties.