AG 2009 04 20 - Laserfiche WebLink

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In return for the privilege of damming up the Yadkin River and using the public's resource to generate electricity worth millions, if not billions, of dollars, while inconveniencing its neighbors above and below the dam, Alcoa had to acknowledge that the people own the water and that the Federal Power Act gave the government the right to reclaim the Project at relicensing. The law provides that whatever entity is granted, the federal right to generate hydropower from the Yadkin River has a legal right to Project Property. As a FERC licensee, Alcoa specifically agreed-and is required by federal law-to transfer any Project Property it owns at a price set by federal statute, not by the market, if the federal government decides that someone else should operate that Project after the expiration of Alcoa's existing license. Relicensing is supposed to, by law, make sure that the river resources are still being used for the benefit of the public. The guiding assumption behind the Federal Power Act was that the major rivers of the United States belong to the people of the Unites States and no one should be allowed to use those waters solely for their own profits. The river and the benefits of the electricity it generates belong to all of us, as provided by long-standing law. No license holder of a hydro project has a right to a new license at relicensing. Alcoa, however, would like to have the public believe that because they have already enjoyed the Yadkin license for 50 years, it would be wrong for the federal government to exercise its right to reclaim the Project as provided by law and agreed to by Alcoa. Instead, Alcoa ~I~ i~ i~ ~I C i] i~ r C C Attachment number 4 F-2 Page 64 of 320