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Jim O'Neill (economist) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

en.wikipedia.org/...Jim_O'Neill_(economist)

jim economist BRIC MIKT Goldman

shared by Yadkin River on 21 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • Jim O'Neill is presently the Chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management. He was previously head of global economic research and commodities and strategy research at Goldman Sachs.[1] He is best known for his prominent economic thesis regarding the economically related nations referred to as BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China). He coined the phrase in a 2001 paper entitled "The World Needs Better Economic BRICs." [2]. He also has coined the term MIKT that stands for Mexico, Indonesia, Korea (South) and Turkey.[3]
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The big questions for 2012 - FT.com - 0 views

www.ft.com/...16-11e1-b7ec-00144feabdc0.html

2012 outlook -

shared by Yadkin River on 04 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • With America gazing inward, some will look to China for money and leadership. This began visibly to happen in 2011, when European officials ended an EU summit by jetting straight off to Beijing, in a humiliatingly unsuccessful effort to drum up Chinese interest in buying more European debt.
  • But the leadership of China’s Communist party will also spend much of the year jostling for position. While the identities of the new president and prime minister are widely assumed to be known – with Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang slated respectively for those positions – the slots just below the top two are up for grabs. China’s urge to concentrate on domestic affairs will be accentuated by a growing nervousness about political and economic instability at home.
  • and growing social unrest in China’s manufacturing heartlands
  • ...17 more annotations...
  • But it will also ensure China has little energy to devote to elaborate international co-operation.
  • Economic inequality: Peaceful acceptance of deep differentials is coming to an end
  • The big debate of 2012 will be over the role of government in the economy,
  • Public v private: The state starts to run out of time on how big it should be
  • Although this sounds like an economic issue, it is really about politics.
  • Headlines such as this recent one in the Los Angeles Times – “Six Walmart heirs are wealthier than US’ entire bottom 30 per cent” – epitomise the new mood. Such scrutiny of the lives and deeds of the “1 per cent” will become obsessive.
  • Yet there is compelling evidence that high inequality is also bad for a nation’s health: it leads to higher political instability and more violence and it hurts competitiveness and growth.
  • Social unrest: Technology to power rolling disruption to outright revolution
  • In Russia, shame among educated classes that Vladimir Putin is just the latest tsar, combined with growing economic desperation and corruption in rural areas, makes another Russian Revolution plausible if not probable. And I would not be surprised to see mass protests in several central Asian countries, in Pakistan, again in Iran, in Algeria, Mexico, Venezuela or Cuba.
  • The difference from traditional technology is speed, scale and resilience. The immediacy, apparent veracity and emotional power of words and images that are instantly transmitted to thousands and then millions of people can transform existing currents of dissent into a raging flood
  • This year, elections will take place in the US, France, Russia, Taiwan, Mexico, Egypt and South Korea. China will also change leadership.
  • Energy: Fuel’s decisive shift in supply will boost security – at a price
  • Energy efficiency in the advanced countries has risen sharply, implying that their demand has peaked, and vast, commercially exploitable discoveries of oil and gas – especially gas – have been made in politically stable areas, including in the US. This suggests that in future gas will account for a much larger proportion of world energy supply. While these developments are positive for geopolitical stability, they may pose difficulties for the climate.
  • This is positive because gas is much cleaner than coal.
  • This means it will reclaim its role as the world’s biggest energy producer and, incredibly, become a net energy exporter.
  • Even in 2040, respected forecasts now envision that fossil fuels will still supply 80 per cent of the world’s energy needs.
  • However, energy security and national security for much of the world will be improved, as the influence of rogue oil states diminishes.
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Steel companies braced for price falls - FT.com - 0 views

www.ft.com/...66-11e0-931e-00144feab49a.html

Correnti steel CleanTech china chinese yadkin

shared by Yadkin River on 04 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • October 9, 2011 2:46 pm
  • The steel industry faces tough times with companies braced for falling prices as buyers delay orders because of extreme nervousness about global economic weakness.
  • China. The country has been the chief locomotive in driving up the expansion of the global industry.
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  • aid he foresaw the turbulence spilling over into 2012 – a year he said was likely to be marked by “short-term economic and financial issues impacting long-term economic sustainability”.
  • According to a survey for the Financial Times by six industry experts, growth in world steel shipments is set to slow to 4.9 per cent next year after a likely 6.6 per cent this year.
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Hydroelectricity: Definition from Answers.com - 0 views

www.answers.com/...hydroelectricity

hydro electric power economic

shared by Yadkin River on 15 Dec 11 - Cached
  • Barnes, Marla. "Tracking the Pioneers of Hydroelectricity." Hydro Review 16 (1997): 46.Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Hydroelectric Power Resources of the United States: Developed and Undeveloped. Washington, 1 January 1992.———. Report on Hydroelectric Licensing Policies, Procedures, and Regulations: Comprehensive Review and Recommendations Pursuant to Section 603 of the Energy Act of 2000. Washington, May 2001.Foundation for Water and Energy Education. Following Nature's Current: Hydroelectric Power in the Northwest. Salem, Oregon, 1999.Idaho National Engineering Laboratory and United States Department of Energy—Idaho Operations Office. Hydroelectric Power Industry Economic Benefit Assessment. DOE/ID-10565.Idaho Falls, November 1996.———. Hydropower Resources at Risk: The Status of Hydropower Regulation and Development 1997. DOE/ID-10603.Idaho Falls, September 1997.United States Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration. Annual Energy Review 2000. DOE/EIA-0384 (2000).Washington, August 2001.United States Department of Energy—Idaho Operations Office. Hydropower: Partnership with the Environment. 01-GA50627. Idaho Falls, June 2001.
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TVA: TVA and Economic Development - 0 views

www.tva.com/ed.htm

tva economic development power electric hydro

shared by Yadkin River on 15 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • Delivering reliable, competitively priced power that makes the Valley an attractive place to start or expand a business
  • Providing state and local governments across the Valley with annual tax-equivalent payments that help support education, road construction and other vital community needs. 
Yadkin River

» Blog Archive » Commissioners Comment on Status of Alcoa Negotiations - 1 views

insidestanly.com/?p=6103#comments

shared by Yadkin River on 05 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • Alcoa has stated they will provide financial assurances (up to $1.2 million) for the life of the license.  However, Alcoa has failed to inform the public these assurances are not worth the paper they are written on without sufficient enforcement measures included in the agreement.  Alcoa has refused to accept any language we have put forth that would provide sufficient remedies for the County to receive “financial assurances”, if Alcoa does not live up to its end of the bargain.
  • In fact, the proposal Alcoa presented includes an escape clause for any responsibilities due from the company, but it does not allow for review of the hydroelectric license once the license has been awarded.
  • As Alcoa’s latest offer stands, there is no efficient or cost effective way for the County to hold Alcoa accountable for its promises of jobs and investment
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  • This is not “compelling”… it is unreasonable.
  • It is not proper for parties to share incomplete information via the press in these types of proceedings until the discussions yield an agreement or officially cease.  Neither has occurred.
  • From the beginning, the County’s goals have been to ensure: (1) that the river is environmentally protected for generations to come, (2) that the use of water from the Yadkin River is best determined by citizens of North Carolina, and (3) that the flow of the river is used to maximize the impact of its resources for the benefit of its citizens.  
  • The goal of environmental protection is being addressed in the state 401 water quality permit process and includes the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Alcoa/APGI, Stanly County and the Yadkin Riverkeeper.
  • he County believes its intervention in this process will lead to numerous water quality improvements.
  • (1) The Board of Commissioners is legally responsible for the public health and well-being of its citizens.  These basic environmental protection measures will lead to cleaner surface and ground water for our citizens now and for generations to come.  It is impossible to put a price tag on the value of one citizen’s life or well-being.   (2) The value of water will only increase as growth demands in the Charlotte region, Piedmont Triad and along the I-85 corridor strain our available water resources.  Regional organizations to the east and west of the Yadkin River basin are planning for water use over the coming decades and our citizens need to be doing the same. (3) The water of the Yadkin belongs to the people and has tremendous value from an electrical generation perspective.  The benefits should not simply be given away to a global corporation to support its operations in other states and foreign countries. This simply transfers wealth out of our community and that is unacceptable. 
  • The County is seeking fair and reasonable compensation for the long-term use of the river.
  •   However, without long-term financial assurances these jobs and the associated taxable investment will remain over the course of a 30, 40 or 50 year license term, it would not be wise to simply drop our reasonable demands.
  •   Should our citizens accept a static amount for a settlement when the value of the resource will increase exponentially over the term of the license?
  • We, as Commissioners, will continue to seek the best outcome for Stanly County.
  • I’m so proud of (and awed by) the Commissioners for thinking of the bigger picture and the long term needs of the community. This is nothing short of blackmail — and failing that, bribery! –on Alcoa’s part. The only reason they’ve ever offered anything is because of the Commissioner’s strong stand against a massive corporate giveaway. Good for you Commissioners! I salute you.
  • Stanly County upheld its end of the bargain for 50 years. It’s time to reclaim use of the water for the betterment of all Yadkin Valley communities. Looks to me like Alcoa is the one stalling, not the commissioners.
  • We must put our fate in our own hands not with a corporation who has no responsibility to our region or our state.
  • I applaud the Commissioners’ continued resolve to do what is in the best interests of our citizens. Future prosperity in Stanly County depends on the Yadkin hydropower. Since the beginning of time, communities have only thrived because of their access to water …for drinking, recreation, trade and fuel. Had our water not been under the control of Alcoa for the last 50 years, we would be in much better shape economically. By leveraging the Yadkin hydropower, we could have already replaced our lost manufacturing jobs with higher paying jobs that reflect the needs of the 21st century. We would be absolute fools to once again relinquish control of our waters to Alcoa for another 50 years. We need to reserve the flexibility to control our own destiny—not “outsource” it to a multinational corporation that has a poor record of stewardship and corporate responsibility in our region.
  • “Since the operation of the Badin smelting works is dependent upon the availability of power supply, Carolina Aluminum must regard its smelting activities at Badin to be limited to the term of the license of the Yadkin Project, which is its source of power supply. In formulating its plans, and weighing the advisability of the $37,000,000 program, the management of Carolina Aluminum had to assume, therefore, that power would be available from the Yadkin Project at economically feasible rates only during the original license term. Under Section 14 of the Act, any project may be “recaptured” at the expiration of the license term. In formulating its plans, therefore, the management of Carolina Aluminum could not rely upon any assured source of power supply after the expiration of its license for the Yadkin Project”
  • The “project properties” are held in trust by the Government for the people. It is the “project properties” that a multi-national, foreign controlled, private enterprise is trying to “hijack” away from “we the people”.
  • Alcoa has never owned “the riverbed”. The do pay taxes in an attempt to lay claim to the riverbed. The state constitution and federal law does not support their claim. With that said, refer back to the 1958 license agreement. Alcoa gave up rights to the submerged land “the project property” in exchange for the monopoly use of the water as free fuel for a guaranteed profit for 50 years. Article 14 of the The Federal Power Act clearly spells out the option Alcoa gave the Federal Government in exchange for the use of the “peoples waters”.
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The Jamestown Foundation: China Makes Strides in Energy "Go-out" Strategy - 0 views

www.jamestown.org/...single

china goabroad GOINGOUT yadkin Alcoa

shared by Yadkin River on 19 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • Yet this new strategy is taking the shape of a formula of “loans-for-energy,” which involves a mix of state-owned and private actors.
  • hese complex arrangements indicate that China’s expansion of overseas-energy assets is a long term goal and that it is increasingly interested in securing Chinese outward investments from its international partners.
  • Put more of China’s $2 trillion foreign reserves into hard assets -- Zhang Guobao, vice minister of the National Development and Reform Commission and head of the NEA, had pointed out in a signed article published in December 2008 in the People’s Daily (a strong indication of being authoritative statements of government policy) that China should seize the timing of the oil price slump on the  international market to increase imports and Chinese enterprises are encouraged by the government to expand overseas (China Daily, March 9).
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • his model is more in line with the Chinese government’s preference for financing acquisitions, since it gives Chinese NOCs direct ownership of resources. In contrast to the other three deals, Chinese NOCs could only extend loans to foreign NOCs for guaranteed oil supplies or possible special access to future exploration projects.
  • China’s new venture with Kazakhstan deviates from the “oil-for-loans” formula. The $5 billion loan from CNPC will give Chinese oil firms a 50 percent stake in the joint purchase of MangistauMunaiGaz (MMG), Kazakhstan’s biggest private oil and gas company (Reuters, April 17). This deal is more like a “loan-for-oil assets” transaction than one of “loan-for-promised-oil supply," which characterizes the previous three contracts, and CNPC will receive half of the oil that will be produced by the jointly owned MMG (the other 50 percent will be owned by the Kazak state-owned firm KazMunaiGas).
  • he global economic crisis has presented China with a rare opportunity to trade its abundant foreign currency reserves for oil, mineral and other resources around the world. China now has roughly $2 trillion in foreign exchange, ranking number one in the world, and many state firms are also flush with funds (The Associated Press, February 18). Beijing is considering setting up an oil stabilization fund to support purchases of overseas resources by Chinese oil companies. The plan was submitted at NEA’s National Work Conference on Energy held in March 2009 (Xinhua News Agency, March 2).
  • The recent large energy activities are not the first time Chinese NOCs have entered “loans-for-oil” deals. In 2004, Chinese banks financed Rosneft’s acquisition of Yuganskneftegaz with a $6 billion loan and CNPC received a pledge of long-term supply contracts via rail in exchange (Platts Community News, February 19)
  • These “loans-for-oil” activities will remain an active component of the Chinese overseas resource acquisition strategy given the current global economic and energy conditions.
Yadkin River

» Blog Archive » Commissioners Hear Debate Over Yadkin Project - 1 views

insidestanly.com/?p=6330

DEC2011 Commissioners CommissionersMeeting Alcoa CleanTech

shared by Yadkin River on 07 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • In a power point presentation, Chairman Dunevant challenged the numbers released by Alcoa last week as to their options on the table, particularly the $1.2 million financial guarantee from Alcoa to Stanly County should the 450 Clean Tech jobs not materialize. Dunevant pressed the value of this guarantee over the life of the 50-year license, asserting that Alcoa had not factored in depreciation. Dunevant contended that due to inflation that amount would be worth only $500,000 by the year 2020 and just $188,000 at the end of 50 years when the license would again be up for renewal.
  • On the flip side, Dunevant said that Alcoa’s profits from dam revenues would grow at a 3.15% inflation rate from Alcoa’s reported $25 million per year to $114 million at the end of 50 years.
  • “I hope you got that… $1.2 million down to $185,000 and $25 million up to $114 million,” Dunevant stated.
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  • In addition to seeing this as inequitable for Stanly County, Dunevant made the point that the $1.2 million would not come directly to Stanly County, rather the funds would go to an economic development trust to be co-managed by the commissioners and the N.C. Department of Commerce. “The money would not go to human services, education or public safety, but to an economic development trust,” Dunevant said.
  • “We will be looking for some long-term guarantee that offsets the inflation. A penalty is supposed to create an incentive to perform, not the opposite,” Dunevant said regarding the $1.2 million guarantee now on the table that shrinks over time.
  • “That shows me that water is becoming a commodity,” Snyder said. “We don’t need to allow a coup to obtain a license for clean water at the expense of the public.”
  • “Alcoa thought they’d get a rubber stamp for renewal, but there’s too much discord in this community for that,” Bryant said. We need to recapture the FERC license and remove Alcoa.”
  • “It’s ludicrous to think the commissioners don’t want jobs,” Dick said.
  • Bramlett warns of selling Stanly County’s birthright
  • “We don’t need to sell our birthright for a cup of soup,
  • “I’ve never seen bribery and blackmail like what had been going on the past couple weeks,” he said regarding the Alcoa commitments and Clean Tech deadline. “Alcoa has falsified records and poisoned this river. You have every right not to trust Alcoa.”
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Alcoa Q3 Results Out: CEO Kleinfeld Reacts - 0 views

video.cnbc.com/gallery

ALCOA chinese klaus kleinfeld

shared by Yadkin River on 20 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • Yadkin River on 20 Dec 11
     
    given the fact that the economics are weaker than we expected just six months ago. i've said it confidence is the oxygen of the economy, and certainly the debt crisis and the whole discussion is casting a big shadow that's already made a big impact.
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Brazil Outshines Other BRIC Economies : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...outshines-other-bric-economies

Jim O'Neill BRIC Economics Globalization yadkin chinese power china

shared by Yadkin River on 21 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • December 21, 2011 One of the most powerful forces of change has been the dramatic economic growth in Brazil, Russia, India and China. Chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management Jim O'Neill coined the term BRIC, an acronym for those four countries, ten years ago when he began to zero in on their economies. O'Neill talks to Renee Montagne about his book The Growth Map.
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China's cyberwar against U.S. is too vital to ignore | CharlotteObserver.com & The Char... - 0 views

www.charlotteobserver.com/...as-cyberwar-against-us-is.html

ALCOA infrastructure ownership chinese FERC cyberwar

shared by Yadkin River on 22 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • China's cyberwar against U.S. is too vital to ignore
  • China is waging a quiet, mostly invisible but massive cyberwar against the United States
  • obtaining the ability to sabotage vital infrastructure.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • stealing its most sensitive military and economic secrets
  • The Chinese offensive - and the economic and national security threats it poses - is simply too important to ignore.
  • guard domestic civilian targets
  • utilities such as power and water companies - not to mention the private e-mail accounts of thousands of Americans
  • This is the future of war. Sending armies to "invade" a country is too risky and fraught with diplomatic minefields. But covert strikes on sensitive and vulnerable technological targets? That is relatively easy, hard to trace, and capable of reaping significant rewards or causing large amounts of confusion and damage. A Like Reply
  • Yadkin River on 22 Dec 11
     
    Alcoa's relationship with China Power is too hard to Ignore
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China's Cyber Threat A High-Stakes Spy Game : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...-threat-a-high-stakes-spy-game

ALCOA infrastructure chinese power spy yadkin hydro threat cyber

shared by Yadkin River on 22 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • The cloak-and-dagger world of corporate espionage is alive and well, and China seems to have the advantage. Their cyber-espionage program is becoming more and more effective at swiping information from America's public and private sectors. The U.S. government has even blamed
  • China publicly for hacking American industries
  • but Chinese hackers have even broken into and stolen plans from American furniture manufacturers.
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  • "You can see the immediate economic benefit: You don't have to pay for the design, you can build it cheaper, and you can offer the same product at a lower price," he says. "That hurts our economy."
  • "Those are 10,000 jobs that would be in this economy, that would employ Americans, that are gone because of Chinese economic espionage," he says.
Yadkin River

Foreign investment in U.S. infrastructure causes security concerns | Homeland Security ... - 0 views

www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/cture-causes-security-concerns

ALCOA ownership infrastructure homeland

shared by Yadkin River on 21 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • the interest of foreign companies in buying U.S. critical infrastructure assets; that interest is now growing again, and the Obama administration is grappling with how to balance the promotion of commerce with the bolstering of security
  • The issue is coming back to the fore as foreign investors once again try to buy American industrial assets. The Obama administration has thus been forced to grapple with how to protect national security while promoting economic recovery.
  • The New York Times’s Eric Lipton wrote last month that in early December, the administration had threatened to block the proposed takeover by the Chinese government of a tiny Nevada gold mining company, according to executives for the company,
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  • Foreign investments in the U.S. are critical to economic growth and job creation here at home, but we have an obligation to prioritize national security,” the deputy Treasury secretary, Neal Wolin, said in a statement released in mid-December, in response to questions about the scrutiny of proposed deals.
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Applied Resource Economics and Policy Group - 0 views

www.bae.ncsu.edu/...waterlaw.html

shared by Yadkin River on 04 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • If the body of water is man-made, a canal or reservoir for example, the customary riparian rights may not apply, and the uses by littoral owners can be limited. For instance, an owner of property on a lake formed by a hydro-electric dam or on a man-made canal may have no riparian right to withdraw water or build a dock. On the other hand, landowners who build ponds on their own property would continue to have riparian rights in that water.
  • Such lands cannot be privately owned, with the exception of certain limited grants and sales of these lands that the State has made in the past.
    • Yadkin River
      Yadkin River on 04 Dec 11
       
      As such the case the expiration of a Federal Power Lease
Yadkin River

Whose water is it anyway!? - 0 views

www.yesweekly.com/...whose-water-is-it-anyway_.html

water Alcoa Yadkin Commissioners Governor Legislators

shared by Yadkin River on 06 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • COALITION OF CITIZENS, POLITICIANS AND ENVIRONMENTALISTS BATTLE ALCOA TO RETURN THE YADKIN RIVER TO THE PEOPLE
  • “The conservation of our natural resources and their proper use constitute the fundamental problem which underlies almost every other problem of our national life,” Roosevelt told Congress in 1907.
  • Naujoks referred to Teddy Roosevelt’s well known opposition to corporate monopolies and his firm belief the nation’s natural resources belong to the people. Naujoks cited Roosevelt’s philosophy to highlight the disparity between the legendary president’s philosophy and FERC’s policies
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  • Gov. Beverly Perdue officially came on board with the Yadkin River Coalition — a group of local businessmen, citizens and politicians who oppose Alcoa’s re-licensing efforts — last September and her influence has proved invaluable to the cause.
  • The governor’s office filed papers with the FERC “seeking return of the right to plan the use of the Yadkin River flows and the Yadkin hydroelectric project for the benefit of the people of North Carolina,” according to a press release
  • Recapturing the water rights to the Yadkin is essential to the health and well being of the citizens of the nearly 25 counties that comprise the Yadkin River Basin, Perdue stated.
  • “Given the Yadkin River’s broad impact on the state, we believe strongly that the state is the most appropriate body to plan use of this invaluable natural resource, to help assure the region’s municipal water supply and quality and to facilitate future growth and development,” Perdue stated.
  • “Given the Yadkin River’s broad impact on the state, we believe strongly that the state is the most appropriate body to plan use of this invaluable natural resource, to help assure the region’s municipal water supply and quality and to facilitate future growth and development,” Perdue stated.
  • The Badin Works aluminum smelting plant did bring 1,000 jobs to the area after Alcoa applied for its water rights license in 1958. But Alcoa, a multi-billion dollar corporation and the world’s largest producer of aluminum, ceased operations at the plant in 2007. The plant employed only 377 people when it shut down, said Alcoa spokesman Gene Ellis.
  • One of the first legislators to take their side was NC Sen. Fletcher L. Hartsell Jr., who represents Cabarrus and Iredell counties. Hartsell came on board with the Yadkin River Coalition two years ago after meeting with Dick, Jim Nance, a former board member of the NC Department of Transportation, and Stanly County Commissioner Lindsey Dunevant at his legislative offices in Raleigh.
  • But after he studied the Federal Power Act, he became fascinated with the issue of Alcoa attempting to maintain its monopoly over the 38-mile stretch of the Yadkin. Convinced of the appropriateness of the coalition’s cause, Hartsell signed on and recruited fellow Republican state senator, Stan Bingham.
  • “As far as I’m concerned, Alcoa got the gold mine and we got the shaft,” Bingham said
  • “The little town of Denton is having to pay [Alcoa] for the use of the water coming down the Yadkin for drinking,” Bingham said. “The way that’s calculated is they charge because it’s a loss of power generation…. This whole thing was done many, many years ago, and a lot of people didn’t think about the people they were dealing with at the time.”
  • “Alcoa and others keep talking about it being a ‘taking’ [of property],” Hartsell said. “It’s not a taking; it’s not even close to it. All we’re asking Alcoa to do is to fulfill the obligations that were identified in 1958 that they agreed to.”
  • “They acknowledged when the license was up, they no longer had the right to use the property,” Hartsell explained. “We’re saying there needs to be an equivalency for the run of our river, and when I say ‘our,’ I mean everybody’s. It’s not a private entity. The feds and the state have had control of the run of the rivers since the beginning of the republic.” The language of the Federal Power Act includes a stipulation that the controlling entity, in this case Alcoa, must estimate the recapture value of the resource in the event it must surrender the rights to that resource, Hartsell said. “There is a statutory formula for how you calculate recapture and Alcoa computed it to be $24.2 million in 2006,” Hartsell said.
  • Yadkin River Trust Bil
  • The bill clearly outlines the three primary issues at stake — A) who controls the waters of the Yadkin for the next 50 years; B) the environmental issue related to the condition or quality of the water itself and the immediate environs; and C) the use of the electricity generated by the run of the river.
  • “[Alcoa] signed an agreement. We’re just asking them to live up to their own word,” he said. “The state of North Carolina intervened 50 years ago on Alcoa’s behalf to assist them to get a 50-year license and operate the plant at Badin, but conditions have changed dramatically. If they’re going to use it, what is the return to the people of the state on the state’s investment in the raw material, which is the water? That water is owned by the people.”
  • Alcoa’s re-licensing application represents “the mother of all incentives,” Hartsell said. “They want the state to concede they should have $1 billion in benefit over the next 50 years and provide nothing to the state,” he said.
  • “Why should we give it away?” Hartsell continued. “From an economic development perspective, energy is the major issue associated with job growth and development regardless of the industry.”
  • He pointed out that Alcoa is capitalizing on the hydroelectric energy generated by the Yadkin by selling electricity “on the grid” rather than investing in the local communities.
  • “We’re dealing with John Dillinger and Al Capone,” Bingham said. “Alcoa reaps [millions] in profits each year and North Carolina gets zilch.”
  • An environmental study commissioned by Stanly County and conducted by professor John Rodgers of Clemson University last year established a connection between contami nation of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, in fish and soil samples taken from Badin Lake near Alcoa’s Badin Works operation. Rodgers’ findings led the Yadkin River Coalition to appeal the waterquality certification issued by the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources, or DENR. Administrative Law Judge Joe Webster granted an injunction on May 26 prohibiting DENR from issuing a 401 Water Quality Certification to Alcoa until the full appeal is heard.
  • The state issued a fish-consumption advisory for Badin Lake between Stanly and Montgomery counties last February due to elevated levels of PCBs found in largemouth bass and catfish
  • Alcoa attempted to block the advisory by filing a legal appeal. The company claimed that the state “changed its stated evaluation criteria after the study was complete and held Badin Lake to a different standard than the other lakes and rivers in North Carolina,” according to a posting on a company website.
  • Bingham said Alcoa’s objection to the posting of the fish-consumption advisory speaks volumes about their concern for the people who swim and fish at Badin Lake.
  • “It just tells me how they do business,” Bingham said. “They fought the fish-advisory signs; they say we’re taking their property and we have no rights to the water. We’re stuck with the bastards, at least for the moment, but I feel good about the direction of the fight we’re taking on in the future.”
  • Naujoks said he’s concerned about the high concentration of PCBs in the landfills and dumping sites near Alcoa’s four hydroelectric dams. Naujoks said Alcoa has not been entirely forthcoming about the number of waste dumping sites in and around their facilities.
  • They’re not showing us where all the buried bodies are found. As we start digging down through the layers, we’re going to find much more.”
  • “Alcoa knows they can’t hide these dumping sites,” Naujoks said
  • A PROMISING FUTURE Bingham said once Perdue joined the Yadkin River Coalition, it changed everything. “It’s been wonderful; it’s been extremely important,” he said. “We were facing a multi-billion-dollar corporation, but when the governor lis tened to our pleas, they began to take this extremely seriously. They realized they’re in for a fight.”
  • Bingham said the coalition will never quit until the Yadkin River is returned to the people of North Carolina.
  • “Our legal case could take years to resolve, but the campaign to support the legislation through the coalition and FERC re-licensing could be decided within the next year,” he said. “We will work on a targeted campaign to unify and strengthen grassroots efforts of local governments, public interest organizations, businesses and individuals to reclaim the waters of the Yadkin River to benefit the public interest.”
  • Bingham said he can see a day in the near future when the Yadkin is returned to the people and the economy of the 25 counties in the Yadkin River Basin begin to flourish.
  • The NC Department of Health and Human Services issued a fish-consumption advisory last February on Badin Lake after high levels of PCBs were found in fish tissue samples. Alcoa unsuccessfully filed a legal challenge to the advisory last April. The advisory remains in effect.
  • We can offer industry power at a reduced rate and that plays a big part in manufacturing,” he said. “That would be a tremendous incentive. For years, we’ve stood by the sidelines and watched industries go elsewhere. We don’t have anything to offer industry
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