High Point Enterprise criticizes N.C. Senate vote, says bill amounts to "forced takeover of private property by state government"

The High Point Enterprise published an editorial today criticizing the N.C. Senate’s vote last week to approve a bill that would pave the way for a government takeover of Alcoa’s privately-owned hydro business along the Yadkin River.  The editorial harshly criticizes the “forced takeover of private property by state government in order to reap financial benefits of that company's business.”

The entire editorial is posted below:

State government takeover of hydroelectric power generating property along the Yadkin River moved a step closer to a disappointing reality last week as the N.C. Senate voted 44-4 to approve a bill creating the Yadkin River Trust.

If approved by the House and signed into law, that innocently enough sounding entity would move to take over Yadkin River dams and lakes owned by Alcoa Power Generating Inc. Alcoa, however, prefers to continue owning and operating the plants to produce electricity as it has for more than 70 years.

Unfortunately, all of our area state senators supported this bill, which amounts to a forced takeover of private property by state government in order to reap financial benefits of that company's business.  We've heard it said many times that the citizens of the state own their water resources, such as the Yadkin River, and this is true.  But this argument over the federal relicensing of Alcoa Power Generating has become a move by state government to take over that business and its assets to grab the tens of millions of dollars worth of electricity that Alcoa generates each year.

Certainly, there are issues with Alcoa that still need to be addressed during the permitting process, particularly cleanup of the company's abandoned aluminum plant at Badin Lake in Stanley County. There also are unresolved issues related to High Rock Lake in Davidson County, including agreements on lake levels throughout the year. And then there's the question of how much Alcoa should pay federal, state and local governments under terms of a new permit, if granted.

But none of these issues rise to levels that justify a state government takeover/buyout of private property and a private business - especially one that is producing huge amounts of clean energy - just because the state sees potential profit there.