Renovation Gives Historic Conference Center Fresh New Look

Alcoa’s Badin Conference Center has a fresh new look, thanks to a renovation project nearing completion.

The center, owned by Alcoa, is benefiting from $45,000 in improvements, including restoration of the building’s single-pane windows, fresh paint on the interior, and an exterior pressure wash.

The work was performed by Stokes Construction Co. of Albemarle.

“The Badin Conference Center provides an important service to the community, in addition to supporting Alcoa’s need for meeting space,” said Mark Stiffler, Director of Asset Management for Alcoa. “This project protects this historic building and ensures it will be available for years to come.”

The conference center was built by Alcoa in 1916 and operated as the Badin Hospital.  After the Hospital stopped operating, Alcoa utilized the facility for various office and administrative purposes. In 1988, Alcoa spent $288,000 to complete a historically correct renovation to the facility and converted it into a conference center and training facility.

Since that time, various Alcoa, Town of Badin and retiree group meetings have been held there.  During the Town of Badin’s Strategic Planning project in 2009, funded by an Alcoa Foundation grant, monthly planning meetings were held in the Badin Conference Center.

Remaining work on the restoration project, expected to be completed in the coming weeks, includes repointing and sealing bricks on the exterior of the building.

Alcoa Power Generating to Challenge State’s Effort to Revoke Water Quality Certificate

Alcoa Power Generating Inc. is disappointed and surprised by the state’s plans to start proceedings to revoke the Yadkin Project’s 401 Water Quality Certificate and will immediately challenge the state’s effort, the company announced today.

The certificate, which lays out a plan for APGI’s Yadkin Project to meet water standards, was issued in 2009 by the North Carolina Division of Water Quality and is currently under appeal by APGI and other parties.

“Our team of experts developed a comprehensive plan to improve water quality and we are already seeing improvement,” said Rick Bowen, president of Alcoa Energy. “We do not believe the state’s decision is justified or appropriate.

“We believe that rather than continue litigation, it would be better to work together toward an outcome that protects the environment and promotes economic development and jobs for residents of North Carolina.”

APGI, a subsidiary of Alcoa, is currently applying to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a new operating license for the Yadkin Project. FERC will not issue a license until a 401 Water Quality Certificate is granted by the state of North Carolina. 

In May 2009, the state’s Division of Water Quality issued a certificate that included a plan to install new technology at APGI’s Yadkin Project to improve dissolved oxygen (DO) levels. The installation is not yet complete, but already DO levels are meeting the state’s standards much of the time. At the Falls Dam, for example, DO standards were met 97 percent of the time in 2009

“This same technology is widely and successfully used in the hydropower industry, including more than 15 locations in North Carolina and surrounding states,” Bowen said.

Throughout the 401 application process, APGI worked with state officials, supplying information in the form of monitoring data and other reports to document our approach to meeting water quality standards. No material information was withheld from the state of North Carolina.

“Alcoa Power Generating understands that meeting water quality standards is not optional,” Bowen said. “If the state of North Carolina is concerned that this technology is not adequate, the current 401 certificate contains a ‘reopener’ that allows new conditions to be imposed.

“The state’s decision to revoke our current certificate is unreasonable and was taken without adequate notice or opportunity for response. We plan a vigorous response.”