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What Others Are Saying
Stanly News & Press
August 5, 2008
SNAP Readers Favor Alcoa Relicensing
By Erica Benjamin
“By a 2-1 margin, readers of The Stanly News and Press favor relicensing of Alcoa for the next 50 years to water rights on the Yadkin River. …
A hot topic with callers in support of Alcoa is the belief that the county is wasting time and resources fighting the issue and on the study — money that could be better spent in the school system and elsewhere.”
Winston-Salem Journal
July 17, 2008
State drops Alcoa move: Study planned of water rights, power plants
By James Romoser
“State legislators have backed away from a proposed state takeover of hydroelectric plants on the Yadkin River that are owned by Alcoa Inc. But the state will continue to examine water rights on the river, a touchy subject as Alcoa works to renew its license to operate its four hydroelectric dams.”
Independent Tribune
July 16, 2008
House panel passes Yadkin study proposal: Opposing factions agree to terms for further discussion of hydroelectric licensing issues
By Josh McCann
“Ellis, Alcoa’s licensing and property manager for the project, said the company was pleased to remove the explicit study of federal takeover and happy to further discuss the assurance of an adequate, clean water supply for the region and the allocation of water for non-power uses.”
WSPC 1010AM
July 16, 2008
Discussion with Stanly County Commissioner Lindsey Dunevant:
By Leon Warren
“If you’re going to spend taxpayer money against Alcoa, or whoever, that needs to be done in an open meeting of the County Commissioners and not by some secret committee.”
Stanly News & Press
July 17, 2008
Letter to the Editor: A few suggestions for Alcoa
By Thomas Shepard, Albemarle
“If I were Alcoa, I would dismantle or tear down the dams. Drain the lakes… Then the government can raise taxes and build a new dam. Then the people would own the dam and the lakes. Then they could enjoy government control.”
Stanly News & Press
July 6, 2008
Letter to the Editor: Don’t make the same mistake as the British
By Eugene Pickler, New London
“It may be correct that the water in the rivers belongs to the public, but the dams on the river and the land under the lakes are private property. They were built with private money. They were built with the expectation of making a profit just as any investor would expect when a business is started or expanded. …
If the government can take over the private property of Alcoa because it is producing too much profit, what is to keep the government from taking over the local bank or the local farm or the local building supply company or any other business that is “making too much profit?”
The British broke into the sanctity of private property in the late 1940s and forced many large companies to sell their property to the government. By the 1980s the British realized that government ownership of business resulted in less production and less income in the country. The companies were sold back to the public.”
The High Point Enterprise
April 16, 2008
Our View: Alcoa permit gets input by governor
What these Stanly County folks basically are proposing is public seizure of private property ... or either the taxpayers of North Carolina paying a lot of money to buy Alcoa`s property… We`ve got to be talking hundreds of millions of dollars, at least, that the state would have to find to buy Alcoa’s property - or have some kind of communistic takeover. Neither one of those options makes any sense.
Read More.
The Stanly News & Press
April 15, 2008
Letter to the Editor: County’s efforts send wrong message to potential businesses.
I’m concerned that the Stanly County commissioners are being short-sighted and misguided with their last-ditch attempts to deny Alcoa a new license for its dams on the Yadkin River.
To suggest that a government-run operation will be more beneficial to Stanly County than a private enterprise demonstrates that county officials don’t understand the negative impact such a move would have on businesses in our community. Read more.
The Salisbury Post
April 8, 2008
Editorial: Don't create a dam mess
On the face of it, there's a superficial plausibility to Stanly County's argument that the Yadkin River is a state resource, ultimately owned by the people of North Carolina, and hence the state, rather than Alcoa, should be the proprietor of the string of power-generating dams along the river now that they no longer power local smelting operations.
Until, that is, you think of the larger, longterm implications. Look at the condition of many of our roads and bridges and then ask yourself: Do you really want the state of North Carolina taking over maintenance and oversight of Alcoa's four dams on the Yadkin — or, by extension, Duke Energy's empoundments on the Catawba? With its mental health quagmire, transportation deficits and parole system debacles, the state doesn't need any new streams of turmoil and strife. Read more.
The Stanly News & Press
April 10, 2008
Letter to the Editor: Let Alcoa use the water
“…the biggest detriment to the Yadkin River is communities piping water out of the river and selling it to other cities in the Catawba river basin…” Read more.
TalkingAboutPolitics.com Blog
April 8, 2008
The Art of the Grab
“… a local banker and a Stanly County Commissioner have come up with a political grab that makes government funding of the Randy Parton Theatre look like a small-time sideshow.” Read more.
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