Judge sends dispute over permit to trial

Alcoa Yadkin River Relicensing Dispute centers on state water quality certification, FERC licensing, hydroelectric power revenues, clean energy demand, and North Carolina jobs, with an administrative law judge ordering a trial to resolve factual issues.

A dispute that Alcoa Inc. needs resolved before it can get a new license to operate a series of hydropower dams in the state is headed to trial after a judge rejected requests for a quick decision.

State Administrative Law Judge Joe Webster said he'll need a trial later this month before he can decide the dispute over a certificate issued last year by the Division of Water Quality, similar to a permit challenge unfolding in South Carolina.

The division certified that if conditions it set were followed, Alcoa's wholly owned subsidiary, Alcoa Power Generating Inc., can operate the dams while protecting nearly 40 miles of the river and its reservoirs.

"Based upon the evidence presented it appears that multiple material and factual issues are in dispute," Webster wrote in his ruling on a request for summary judgment in the case.

Pittsburgh-based Alcoa is fighting to renew an expired license, even as cases such as the EPA lawsuit shape the regulatory backdrop, to operate Yadkin River dams built decades ago to supply electricity to an aluminum smelting plant. The Stanly County plant once employed hundreds but is now shuttered.

The fight centers on whether Alcoa can keep selling electricity to high-paying commercial customers. The company estimated in 2006 that the dams generated almost $44 million a year in revenues from hydroelectric power generation, a figure that could multiply as mountaintop mining permits face delays and demand for clean power booms.

Gov. Beverly Perdue, her predecessor Mike Easley and Stanly County officials have opposed the company's re-licensing bid amid the broader Carolina water war over regional resources. They hope to encourage local job growth attracted by dam-generated electricity and greater freedom to draw river water.

Once the fight over the state certification is settled, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, after disputes like the Catawba River proposals case, could consider renewing the company's license for up to 50 more years.

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