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In the U.S. public discourse, the big strain in the American-Chinese economic relationship is the yuan, and what many Americans view as the government-manipulated undervaluation of the Chinese currency.

“It is going to be the biggest economy in the world,” Immelt said of China. “The only question is when.”

the American consumer was the definitive driver of the global economy.” But Immelt said the future will be different. For the next 25 years, he said, the American consumer “is not going to be the engine of global growth. It is going to be the billion people joining the middle class in Asia, it is going to be what the resource-rich countries do with their new-found wealth of high oil prices. That’s the game.” A lot of that game will be played in China. At a moment when it is compulsory on the American right to pay homage to the exceptionalism of the United States, Immelt, a life-long Republican, is matter-of-fact about China’s inevitable rise.

“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.

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.”

“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

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

And investing in natural and energy resources is a nice way to hedge against future increases in commodity prices, though large-scale resource investment may make some in developed nations nervous.

After two years of all-round and in-depth structural adjustment, the single line of aluminum business in the past was expanded into nine lines of business including aluminum, copper, rare metals & rare earth, resource exploration, international engineering, international trade, energy, finance, and overseas investment, and we already had the structure of a diversified mining company.

Xiong Weiping: Yes. During the first year of the "12th Five-Year Plan" period, we have set a strategic goal of "becoming a world-class mining company with the biggest growth potential".

To become a world-class mining company, we need to create another CHINALCO in the next 10 years. Obviously, it would be very hard to realize this goal within China's territory, and we must go out and participate in global competition and collaboration.

The ups and downs in the collaboration can also be positive and meaningful. CHINALCO has established its status in negotiation and cooperation with major western mining companies, and has obtained certain participation right and a bigger say.

At the time, Calisolar said it couldn’t meet construction deadlines linked to some state-based financial incentives.

Those are nice incentives, but what doesn’t add up is that by shifting to Mississippi, Calisolar gave up a $275 million DOE loan guarantee and a deal through Ohio Public Utility Commission that would have saved the company $100 million in utility bills over ten years.

In recent years, Chinese enterprises have been accelerating steps to make use of both domestic and international resources on a mutual benefit and win-win basis. Not only have large-sized state-owned enterprises and joint-stock enterprises initiated investments in resource development projects in Africa, some small and medium-sized private enterprises have also started to engage in high-risk investment projects, including early-stage mineral explorations in regions such as Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America.

, involves infrastructure,

comprehensive development of mineral resource

ople's Daily Online and the chief economist under the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC)

The number of China's enterprises that invest in foreign countries through mergers and acquisitions is also growing, and their investment accounts for 22 percent and 15 percent of the total in developed countries and in developing countries, respectively

In addition, more than 30 percent of the enterprises have adopted the mode of founding a joint venture.

Xu said that the foreign investment of China's enterprises cover various kinds of industries. Of them, the industry in which China invests in most heavily is the manufacturing industry, and the proportion of China's foreign investment in this industry to total foreign investment is 78 percent in developed countries and 71 percent in developing countries.

Ma Yu said that the main part of China's foreign investment is still done by state-owned enterprises currently. According to statistics, the foreign investment from state-owned assets plays an absolutely dominant role.

Let’s examine rebar consumption. First, we’ll examine apparent consumption (apparent consumption is net domestic consumption plus imports) and then we’ll calculate capacity utilization: 2007 – 9.824m short tons 2008 – 8.374 m short tons 2009 – 5.359 m short tons 2010 – based on current 2010 run rates, the industry will ship 5.1m short tons If you compare the peak of the market (2007) with today, the US rebar industry operates at a 62% capacity utilization rate; the overall steel industry operates at a 72.9% capacity utilization rate as of June 26, 2010. Two rebar facilities are currently shut down, one in New Jersey and one in Oklahoma. Many of the other facilities that run both mixed merchant/rebar mills are also running at less than capacity If we were to develop a map of the United States and mark US rebar plant locations by geography (assuming each mill can ship up to a 300 mile

First, the last time the US steel market was at 120m tons of consumption was in 2006. The 2009 estimated steel consumption was 59m tons, data courtesy of the USGS. Prior to 2006, the only other year in which apparent steel consumption met or exceeded 120m tons was in 2005. The rest of this past decade, steel consumption hovered in the lower 100m ton range (e.g. less than 110m tons)

the question of technology transfer ought to be considered heavily

–Lisa Reisman

And we all know that US construction markets (the biggest application for rebar products) remain in troubled waters. Take a look at annual expenditures for both commercial and residential construction here. Incidentally, 2010 data is tracking 8% below 2009 numbers. In other words, rebar capacity utilization rates are even less than overall steel industry capacity utilization rates