Alcoa Power Generating, Inc. is a subsidiary of Alcoa Inc., headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its three divisions were independent subsidiaries before being consolidated into Alcoa Power Generating, Inc. (APGI). These three projects have produced hydroelectric power and manage impoundments which also provide flood control; recreation, residential and business opportunities; and wildlife habitat.
Yadkin Project The APGI Yadkin Project managed a 38-mile section of the Yadkin River, plus tributaries, in Piedmont North Carolina and included four dams, powerhouses and reservoirs, sold in February 2017 to Cube Hydro Carolinas. The counties of Davie, Davidson, Rowan, Stanly, and Montgomery border the Yadkin Project river and lakes. The dams owned and operated by APGI were the Narrows dam (completed in 1917), the Falls dam (completed in 1919), the High Rock dam (completed in 1927), and the Tuckertown dam (completed in 1962). The Narrows dam and powerhouse development is the only hydroelectric project listed on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina. The other three dam and powerhouse developments have been determined eligible for listing on the National Register.Thomason and Associates, National Register of Historic Places Eligibility Study of the Yadkin Hydroelectric Project in North Carolina, July 2004.
History At the Narrows, the Yadkin River flowed through a deep gorge for three and a half miles within the Uwharrie Mountains. Its potential for industrial development had long been recognized. In 1887, E.B.C. Hambley, a mining expert from England, came to Salisbury, North Carolina. He gained the backing of Pittsburgh industrialist George I. Whitney. Between 1899 and 1901, Whitney organized eight subsidiary companies and employed Hambley as his chief engineer. About a mile upriver from the Narrows, the Whitney Development Company nearly completed the granite Whitney Dam and a five-mile long diversion canal, and began construction of a powerhouse at Palmer Mountain before the company declared bankruptcy in 1907 and all work ceased. The massive canal remains today, while the Whitney Dam lies beneath the waters of Badin Lake. They have been determined eligible to be listed on the National Register. In 2017, Historic Salisbury Foundation board president Susan Sides said, "It was called one of the most unique dams in all history. It was referred to as the 'Niagara of the South.'"
In 1912, a French Company, L'Aluminium Français, acquired the assets of the Whitney Company. L'Aluminium Français decided against completing the Whitney project, and organized the Southern Aluminum Company to construct a 200-foot () high dam and powerhouse at the Narrows to power an aluminum plant which it would also build. West of the proposed smelter, the worker's village of Badin was planned and platted. The town was named in honor of the Southern Aluminum Company's president, Adrien Badin. The project faltered a second time as most of the French engineers returned to France during World War I.
In 1915, the Aluminum Company of America purchased the property. Plans once again were altered. The dam was redesigned and the new plans called for a brick powerhouse to be built on the east side of the river. The original powerhouse site on the west side of the river was abandoned and the partially completed building was dismantled to its concrete foundations. The original smelter site was also abandoned and a new smelter building was designed west of the Badin townsite. A devastating flood in 1916 caused damage and delays. When completed in 1917, the 185-foot () Narrows Dam was the world's highest overflow type dam. The Narrows Reservoir, commonly called Badin Lake, reaches a depth of and occupies .
To generate additional hydroelectric power, in 1919, the company constructed Falls Dam downriver of Badin and High Rock Dam upriver in 1927. High Rock Lake, at , was the largest lake on the Yadkin at that time. In 1929, the company's name was changed to Alcoa. In 1962, Alcoa built the Tuckertown Dam between High Rock and Narrows Reservoirs.
In August 2002, Alcoa temporarily suspended aluminum production at the Badin Works, laying off 377 workers. The electrode plant continued operating until 2007 when the plant shut down permanently. The dams continue to generate 215 megawatts of electricity annually which the company sells. During calendar years 2008, 2009, and 2010, the Yadkin Project generated an average of $7.73 million annually in net income, on an average of $29.46 million in annual revenues. In the year ending September 2013, APGI sold 964,216 megawatt hours, with revenue estimated at $30 million.
On July 11, 2016, Cube Hydro Carolinas, part of Cube Hydro Partners LLC, announced its purchase of the APGI power plants on the Yadkin River. Cube Hydro intends to improve the plants. APGI would still own of land. On December 13, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the license transfer to Cube Yadkin Generation. The sale became official February 2, 2017.
In 2019, Ontario Power Generation acquired Cube Hydro and placed it into a subsidiary named Eagle Creek. Hazardous waste For more than 70 years, Alcoa disposed of spent potlining, which the EPA declared a hazardous waste in 1980. Alcoa took "corrective measures", but a Duke University Environmental Law and Policy Clinic analysis found "wastes from former smelting and disposal activities at Alcoa Badin Works continue to pollute the groundwater, surface water, and soil in the Badin community and Yadkin River basin". Surveys by Duke since 2018 show that polluted groundwater has reached the Little Mountain Creek floodplain, although Alcoa states its waste products have not reached Little Mountain Creek. Further studies were needed to determine how polluted other areas were. Duke believed trichloroethylene (TCE) was still in the groundwater at the main plant. Duke recommended studying "excavation and removal of the hazardous waste buried in Alcoa's dumps". In December 2019 Duke sent a report to the state Department of Environmental Quality.
Site redevelopment In January 2011, Alcoa announced its commitment to spend $10 million to prepare the Badin Works site for redevelopment by demolishing buildings which would not be needed and making improvements to the facility. On May 23, 2011, Electronic Recyclers International, a recycler of electronic items such as computers and cell phones, announced plans to spend $5 million on a 165,000-square-foot () building. APGI will also spend $5 million. of available space remains on the site. Clean Tech Silicon and Bar LLC also wanted to invest $300 million and create 450 direct and indirect jobs. However, negotiations between Clean Tech, APGI, and Stanly County Commissioners did not result in an agreement, and Clean Tech withdrew its offer.
In 2016, after APGI sold its power plants, the company said it will continue to market Badin Business Park.
Yadkin Project relicensing process General information A 50-year federal license to operate the dams on the Yadkin River was granted in 1958 to the Carolina Aluminum Company, a part of Alcoa, which owned the power plants and the land under the lakes, as well as significant land holdings around the lakes. The license was transferred from Yadkin, Inc. (an Alcoa subsidiary) to APGI in 2000. In 2002, APGI began an extensive relicensing process with four series of local public hearings held throughout the project area, and 100 representatives of over 30 stakeholder groups from federal, state, and local governmental agencies, and non-governmental organizations participating in Issue Advisory Groups and a lengthy settlement negotiation process. APGI commissioned 22 technical studies on the impact of the project in environmental, economic, recreation, and cultural areas. On May 7, 2007, APGI submitted a Relicensing Settlement Agreement which promised many benefits to the project area, signed by 23 stakeholders, to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
In January 2007, the Stanly County Commissioners announced they would oppose APGI's relicensing because they were worried the company would not be forced to clean up environmental problems remaining at the site and in the Yadkin, and because granting the license to another entity, which would use the hydro-electricity created by the Yadkin River to create jobs, would better serve the public interest."DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Project No. 2197–073; Project No. 2206–030) Alcoa Power Generating, Inc., North Carolina; Progress Energy Carolinas, North Carolina; Notice of Public Meetings on Draft Environmental Impact Statement". Federal Register Vol. 72, No. 207. October 26, 2007. Retrieved June 3, 2011 In 2008, North Carolina governor Mike Easley authorized a study of the effect of APGI's relicensing. APGI supported this study, whose findings have not been issued.
In April 2008, FERC issued a Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Yadkin Project, concluding that federal takeover would not be a reasonable alternative for the project, and noting that no federal agency had suggested that federal takeover would be appropriate, or had expressed an interest in operating the project. However, due to questions involving Alcoa's state water quality certificate, FERC has not made a final determination on the issuance of a license, and APGI has been operating under a temporary license.
In April 2009, North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue issued a statement opposing APGI's relicensing and supporting legislation to establish a public trust to hold the license to use the Yadkin to generate hydro-electricity. With bipartisan support the N.C. Senate overwhelmingly passed legislation to establish the "public trust", but Alcoa supporters defeated the bill in the N.C. House.
A year later Republican Senator Fletcher Hartsell, again supporting establishing a "public trust", introduced a bill to create the Uwharrie Regional Commission.
In the final days of the 2010 legislative session, UNC-TV anchorwoman Eszter Vajda produced a documentary ("The Alcoa Story") about Alcoa's operations in North Carolina. However, before the program aired Ms. Vajda expressed concerns to legislators that, because criticizing a powerful corporation like Alcoa would be controversial, executives at UNC-TV might refuse to air her documentary. Subsequently, a Senate committee subpoenaed Vajda's documentary, sparking a debate over whether UNC-TV (which is owned by state government), was subject to 'public records' laws or whether it had a 'special exemption.'. The documentary was aired in the Senate Committee and then broadcast on UNC-TV (with a credit stating it was broadcast "without the usual editorial scrutiny").
After the documentary – focusing on Alcoa's environmental records – was broadcast, both the House and Senate passed Senator Hartsell's legislation to establish the Uwharrie Regional Commission.
Later, when additional public records released by UNC-TV revealed that an independent researcher working on the story for Vajda had accepted $3,000 from a supporter of establishing the public trust, and after learning Ms. Vajda had told legislators about her concerns UNC-TV might balk at airing her film, UNC-TV terminated Vajda's employment. It also removed online footage of her documentary.
Celebrity activist Erin Brockovich spoke for supporters of the Yadkin River Trust at a news conference in Raleigh, North Carolina. Later in the day, the Yadkin Riverkeeper sponsored her appearance at Wake Forest University.