20030179 Ver 6_Public Notice Comments_20071019

NC DWQ 9-25-07 Hearing Comments
I would like to once again speak in favor of the US Forest Service, US Fish and Wildlife and NC
Department of Water Quality's support of the Duke Energy re-licensing plan. FERC made the
logical decision to approve the plan based on the hard scientific data.
It is time for NCDWQ to issue the water quality permit. The overriding environmental and
recreational benefits are more than obvious. It is now time to move on and execute the plan.
A July 2005 Time Magazine article titled " Is it Worth a Dam?" offered:
"Undoing dams that have outlived their usefulness--or whose social and economic utility is
overshadowed by the environmental harm they do--is an idea that is catching on. Over the past
six years, some 175 dams have been dismantled across the country: '
I am pleased to suppart the "true hard scientific" studies which all support the dam removal as
having overriding environmental benefits.
Duke Energy, Fred Alexander, and the relicensing team deserve credit for conducting an
"open" and "above board" reasonable process. This has been done professionally with the
top experts in the field. FERC has rightly chosen prudent action in light of all of the expert
scientific studies. The environmental and recreational benefits are overwhelming. We owe no
less to future generations than to be good stewards of the environment of which the
Tuckasegee River is an integral part.
Lets move on and make some real progress and bring this process to fruition by NCDWQ
issuing the water quality permit.
Comments by Sam Fowlkes
PO Box 1832 Sylva, NC 28779
~~-