In a filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Wednesday, Alcoa Power Generating Inc. (APGI) outlines the reasons why FERC should reject continued efforts to delay the relicensing process and instead promptly issue a new long-term license to APGI for the Yadkin Project.
“The present effort to block the issuance of the license via the challenge to the Section 401 Certification is yet another attempt to end-run around the Commission’s long-established relicensing procedures,” the filing states.
The 11-page filing reiterates that FERC has all of the information necessary to issue a new license and says there is no compelling reason to delay the relicensing process by an additional year (or longer) while an appeal of a required state water quality certificate (the 401 certificate) is heard.
“The Commission’s precedent is clear: its practice is to issue a license to the applicant when its record is complete and a 401 certification has been received, regardless of whether an appeal of a Section 401 water quality certification is pending before state administrative agencies or courts, even if the certification has been stayed,” the filing states.
The filing points out that if the requirements of the 401 certificate change as a result of the appeal, FERC will incorporate those new requirements into the license conditions.
The filing also notes that FERC could determine that the State of North Carolina has waived its rights by failing to file an effective 401 certificate before the May 7, 2009 deadline. The state waited until the last possible moment to act on APGI's application, then issued a conditional certificate that could not become effective before the deadline.
A complete copy of APGI's filing is available at www.ferc.gov.
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