Alcoa Power Generating facts for kids
Alcoa Power Generating, Inc. (APGI) was a company that belonged to Alcoa Inc. It was based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. APGI managed projects that created hydroelectric power using water. These projects also helped control floods, offered places for recreation, and provided homes for animals.
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Yadkin Project
The APGI Yadkin Project managed a 38-mile part of the Yadkin River in North Carolina. It included four dams, power plants, and reservoirs (large artificial lakes). In February 2017, this project was sold to Cube Hydro Carolinas.
The dams owned by APGI were:
- The Narrows Dam (finished in 1917)
- The Falls Dam (finished in 1919)
- The High Rock Dam (finished in 1927)
- The Tuckertown Dam (finished in 1962)
The Narrows Dam and its power plant are special because they are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This means they are important historical sites.
History of the Yadkin Project
The Yadkin River at a place called the Narrows flowed through a deep valley. People saw its potential for making power. In 1887, an expert named E.B.C. Hambley came from England. He got help from a businessman named George I. Whitney.
Between 1899 and 1901, Whitney started several companies. They almost finished building the Whitney Dam and a long water channel (canal). But the company went bankrupt in 1907, and work stopped. The large canal can still be seen today, but the Whitney Dam is now under the waters of Badin Lake.
In 1912, a French company bought the project. They decided to build a new, taller dam and power plant at the Narrows. This plant would power an aluminum factory. A town for workers, called Badin, was also planned. It was named after the company's president, Adrien Badin. But then World War I started, and many French engineers went back to France.
In 1915, the Aluminum Company of America (later called Alcoa) bought the property. They changed the plans again. The dam was redesigned, and a new power plant was built. A big flood in 1916 caused delays. When finished in 1917, the 185-foot Narrows Dam was the world's tallest dam of its kind. The lake behind it, Badin Lake, is very deep and covers a large area.
To make even more power, the company built Falls Dam in 1919 and High Rock Dam in 1927. High Rock Lake became the largest lake on the Yadkin River. In 1929, the company's name changed to Alcoa. In 1962, Alcoa built the Tuckertown Dam.
In 2002, Alcoa stopped making aluminum at its Badin factory, and the plant fully closed in 2007. However, the dams kept making 215 megawatts of electricity each year, which Alcoa sold.
On July 11, 2016, Cube Hydro Carolinas announced it would buy Alcoa's power plants on the Yadkin River. The sale became official on February 2, 2017. In 2019, another company, Ontario Power Generation, bought Cube Hydro.
Environmental Concerns
For many years, Alcoa disposed of a material called spent potlining, which the EPA said was a hazardous waste in 1980. Even after Alcoa tried to fix things, studies by Duke University found that waste from the old factory was still polluting the groundwater, surface water, and soil in the Badin area and the Yadkin River basin.
Duke University's studies since 2018 showed that polluted groundwater had reached a nearby creek area. Alcoa said its waste had not reached that creek. More studies were needed to check other areas. Duke suggested digging up and removing the hazardous waste buried in Alcoa's old disposal sites.
Site Redevelopment
In January 2011, Alcoa said it would spend $10 million to prepare the Badin Works site for new businesses. This involved tearing down old buildings and making improvements. A company that recycles electronics, Electronic Recyclers International, announced plans to build a large facility there. Alcoa continued to try and attract new businesses to the Badin Business Park even after selling its power plants in 2016.
Yadkin Project License Renewal
General Information
Alcoa had a 50-year federal license to operate the dams on the Yadkin River, which was given in 1958. This license was later transferred to APGI. In 2002, APGI started the long process to get a new license. They held public meetings and worked with many groups, including government agencies and environmental organizations. APGI also did 22 studies on how the project affected the environment, economy, recreation, and culture.
In 2007, APGI submitted a plan to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that promised many benefits. However, some local officials were worried that Alcoa would not clean up environmental problems. They also thought another company could use the river's power to create more jobs.
In 2008, FERC said that the government taking over the project was not a good idea. But because of questions about Alcoa's water quality certificate, FERC did not make a final decision, and APGI operated under a temporary license.
In 2009, North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue said she was against Alcoa getting a new license. She supported a plan for a "public trust" to hold the license. This idea passed in the N.C. Senate but was stopped in the N.C. House.
The debate over Alcoa's license was very strong. Some groups supported Alcoa, saying that taking away their license was like the government taking private property. Others, like the Yadkin Riverkeeper and some elected officials, supported the state taking control of the river's power.
In 2013, Stanly County, which had been against Alcoa, agreed to support Alcoa's license renewal. However, on August 2, 2013, the state of North Carolina filed a lawsuit. They claimed Alcoa did not own the land under its lakes and asked for the state to get the rights to the dams. Governor Pat McCrory said the Yadkin River belonged to North Carolina's people.
A judge later ruled that the Yadkin River was not considered "navigable" when the United States became independent. This meant the state did not automatically own the riverbed from that time. The judge dismissed the state's lawsuit in September 2015, saying the state had waited too long to act. This ruling meant Alcoa owned the riverbed. Higher courts upheld this decision.
On September 22, 2016, Alcoa received a license to operate until March 31, 2055. This license included rules about minimum water levels and a swimming beach for High Rock Lake. These rules would apply to Cube Hydro Carolinas, the company that bought the power operations.
As part of the license process, about 4,700 acres of land, including 76 miles of shoreline, were planned to be sold to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission and a land trust. This would ensure the land remained part of the game lands program. In 2019, the first part of this sale was completed, with 2,463 acres and 45 miles of shoreline purchased. More land was added in later years, now called the Yadkin River Game Lands.
Water Quality Certificate
A key requirement for Alcoa's new license was a "Section 401 water quality certificate." This certificate ensures that the project meets water quality standards. In 2007, North Carolina's water quality division issued Alcoa a certificate, but it was later withdrawn because a public notice was not published correctly.
Alcoa reapplied, and a new certificate was issued in 2009. This certificate required Alcoa to make improvements to increase oxygen levels in the water released from the dams. Stanly County challenged this certificate in court.
In late 2010, lawyers found internal Alcoa emails that suggested Alcoa had not shared all information about its pollution with the state. When these emails became public, the state immediately took back Alcoa's water quality certificate. Alcoa said the emails were taken out of context and provided more documents to support its case.
A federal court later ruled against Alcoa regarding the state's actions. The state revoked the water quality certificate again in 2013 due to concerns about who owned the land.
In May 2015, a judge ruled that the state could not deny the certificate and had to make a decision by the end of June. On September 25, another judge said the state had wrongly denied the certificate and ordered them to grant it within a month.
On October 23, the state approved the certificate, but only if Alcoa provided $48 million for improvements. However, the state then asked the federal commission to wait for another lawsuit to be settled before making a final decision on the 50-year license.
Tapoco Project
The Tapoco Project includes four dams in North Carolina and Tennessee, located on the Little Tennessee and Cheoah rivers. These dams are: Calderwood, Cheoah, Chilhowee, and Santeetlah. They provided power to Alcoa's aluminum factory in Alcoa, Tennessee. The TVA helps manage the water levels of these dams. Together, the four dams can produce 380.1 megawatts of power.
Around 1910, Alcoa started looking for places to make hydroelectric power for aluminum production. They bought several power companies, which all became part of the Tallassee Power Company. The name "Tapoco" came from the first two letters of "Tallassee Power Company." The aluminum factory started working in 1913.
During World War I, there was a greater need for aluminum. The Southern Railway built a railroad extension to the planned Cheoah Dam in 1916, and the dam began operating in 1919.
Construction of Santeetlah Dam started in 1926, and its power plant began operating in 1928. Calderwood Dam was finished in 1930. Chilhowee Dam was the last one completed, in 1957.
Alcoa received its federal license to operate these dams in 1955. However, they faced issues renewing it due to concerns about flooding in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park caused by the Chilhowee Dam. A special law in 2004 helped solve this by trading land. Alcoa received a new 40-year license in 2005.
The aluminum factory stopped production in 2009. In 2012, Alcoa sold its dams to Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners of Canada for $600 million. This sale included the four dams, transmission lines, and land. The company then became Brookfield Smoky Mountain Hydropower.
The Cheoah Dam is famous because it was used in the movie The Fugitive, where Harrison Ford's character jumps from it.
Long Sault Project
The Pittsburgh Reduction company, which later became Alcoa, started its operations in Massena, New York, in 1902. This location was chosen because it had a lot of potential for hydroelectric power. It has been making aluminum continuously for a very long time. The power comes from the New York Power Authority (NYPA).
Alcoa's Long Sault Division owns and operates five large transmission lines. These lines connect NYPA to Hydro-Québec, a Canadian power company. Alcoa pays another company to operate two of these lines.
