In a Drought but Lake Level OK

Well, it's been awhile since I posted any new news here. Although we are in a drought and it has been worsening, Alcoa Power Generating Inc (APGI) has kept our lake within its target range of 0 to 3 feet down. This is due in large part because we are in winter and there is minimal evaporation off the lakes.

High Rock Lake was intentionally lowered to 10 feet down from the middle of January until the first of March to allow those with permits to dredge and repair piers. (Dredging is not allowed “in the wet” so the lake must be lowered so equipment can be moved in to excavate. BTW this is High Rock only. No excavation is permitted in Badin Lake.)

Because more than 10% of the Yadkin river basin is in drought status, APGI held a Drought Management Team (DMT) meeting on 2/24/11. Although the river flow into High Rock Lake is running at only 38% of historical inflow, everyone reported that operations were normal. (Over 90% of the water flowing through the four dams flows directly into High Rock. Another 5% flows directly into Tuckertown and another 5% flows directly into Badin. Nothing significant flows directly into Falls.)

APGI reported that they plan to start refilling High Rock Lake on March 1 and, based on current inflow of 38%, expect it to be within 4 ½ feet down by April 1. I asked the question about plans for Badin Lake level during that period, and was assured that they would raise it to approximately one foot down from full and hold it there during the fish spawning season.

There was talk about expecting the drought to break soon, based on the long range weather predictions. Let’s hope this happens so our lake level remains adequate for the summer 2011 recreation season.

Changing subjects, the process to issue a new long-term license to APGI for the Yadkin Project drags on. Some people in the State Government and in Stanly County are still pushing to take the license away from Alcoa (APGI) and transfer it to the State of North Carolina so that any profits from the project go to the State. The Uwharrie Regional Resources Commission has met once (in January), and that was only an organizational meeting. The next meeting was to be held on February 24, but was postponed to some later date. I can’t really see how that commission can influence the State takeover of the Yadkin Project, but several of the commission proponents (and appointees to the commission) have great hope for it.

Stanly County and the Yadkin Riverkeeper have done an excellent job of delaying the issuance of a new license by the FERC to APGI. It started with a lawsuit challenging the validity of the 401 Water Quality Certificate and then when a number of internal APGI emails were made public during that process, the North Carolina Division of Water Quality (DWQ) revoked the certificate, saying that APGI withheld information that was vital to issuing the certificate. Now APGI is appealing the revocation saying that DWQ was party to all of the discussion that was contained in the emails. The FERC has explicitly said that they will not act on granting the new license until a valid 401 Water Quality Certificate is issued.

On another note, Secretary of Commerce Keith Crisco and Special Deputy Attorney General Faison Hicks were gracious enough to meet with several of the signatories of the Alcoa Relicensing Settlement Agreement. (Badin Lake Association is a signatory to the Alcoa RSA.) This was a positive meeting in that these two influential gentlemen in state government heard directly from “the other side,” that is, those of us who think it is a bad deal for the state to continue to try to take over the Yadkin Project. Some misunderstandings were cleared up (e.g. what is the maximum revenue that can be expected from the project, and what is the legal basis for a government agency to take over the project). The meeting ended with Secretary Crisco and Rick Bowen (president of Alcoa Energy) agreeing to meet and go over the detailed financials of APGI’s Yadkin operations (gross power generation, gross revenue, operating costs, net invested cost, planned additional investment, etc.). So, I think some level of trust was established on both sides. Secretary Crisco said he wanted to meet again in another month or so.

…………………Garry