Mayor says greed spurs Alcoa fight

The Charlotte Observer published an article today that highlights arguments made by Mayor Whit Whitley of Albemarle in a letter to N.C. Gov. Beverly Perdue regarding the Yadkin Project relicensing. Reporter Bruce Henderson reports that Mayor Whitley is disturbed that Stanly County Commissioners have spent nearly $1 million of taxpayer money on lawyers and PR firms to fight Alcoa, claiming they are “motivated by greed.”

You can view the entire article below:

The Charlotte Observer, March 4, 2009

Mayor says greed spurs Alcoa fight

By Bruce Henderson

The nearly $1 million Stanly County has spent to fight renewal of Alcoa's Yadkin River hydroelectric license is "motivated by greed," says the mayor of the county seat, Albemarle.

The county is aggressively lobbying to reclaim the federal license, which Alcoa has held for more than 50 years, and place it in public hands. Alcoa's aluminum works, once Stanly's largest employer, has closed and its hydro power is sold on the open market.

This week Albemarle Mayor Elbert Whitley Jr. wrote Gov. Bev Perdue, who has expressed personal misgivings about renewing Alcoa's license, to defend the company.

Whitley questioned the county's spending $965,000 over three years on lawyers and public relations experts to make its case.

“Why is this issue even on the table?” Whitley wrote. “The only true consideration is greed, and I am appalled that the state of North Carolina is buying into this type of thinking.”

Whitley, a Democrat, charged in an interview that the Republican-majority county commissioners want Alcoa's millions of dollars in hydro revenue and thousands of acres it owns around the four Yadkin reservoirs.

If the commissioners win, he predicted, new industries that use natural resources will be afraid to locate in Stanly.

County manager Andy Lucas suspects Whitley also has a financial motive.

Alcoa's proposed license terms allow Albemarle to draw up to 11 million gallons of water a day from the company's reservoirs without charge.

“They've been given a financial incentive to go along with Alcoa on this,” he said.

“We believe we need to protect the water and that's why we've spent nearly $1 million on this. We think it's an investment in our future to protect that resource and keep jobs in this region.”

Stanly is paying law firms in Raleigh and Washington, D.C., as well as a Raleigh public relations firm to make its case. Lucas said he doesn't know what future costs may total. The county has a $60 million annual budget.

If the county gets what it wants, Lucas said, its expenses will be repaid “many times over.”