The Best Path Forward

I’ve been spending a lot of time traveling across North Carolina in recent weeks talking with people about the Yadkin Project. When I returned to Badin, I was struck once again by the sheer beauty of this place.

Looking out at the Badin Lake shoreline on a bright winter morning, you can see the wintergreen and the bare hardwood trees along the shore with a ray of sun shining on their branches. There’s a ripple in the water from some creature stirring below and a bird majestically flying overhead.

It is a wonderful reminder of what a great resource the Yadkin Project is to North Carolina. And, I believe, it demonstrates the care with which Alcoa has managed this great resource for the past 100 years.

North Carolina is a natural wonderland — with the Smoky Mountains to our west, and the Outer Banks to the east — and we are lucky to have this historic and scenic spot in the heart of the state.

This is where North Carolina’s first people settled 10,000 years ago. The Hardaway Site, one of the oldest and most significant archaeological sites in North America, was discovered in the shadows of Morrow Mountain in the 1940s.  

The hydroelectric dams along the Yadkin River have helped define this area today. The dams control flooding. They generate renewable energy. And they provide unlimited opportunities to hike, fish, camp, and boat along the lakes on the Yadkin River.

All of this reminds me of a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche, the 19th-century philosopher: “All credibility, all good conscience, all evidence of truth come only from the senses.” 

When you stand along the shoreline, in a boat on the water, or in the forest around these lakes, pay close attention to your senses: the taste of the morning air, the sight of the undisturbed lands along the shore, the smell of the pines, the sound of an eagle crying overhead and the feeling of peace.

Do that, and you will know that Alcoa is the best path forward.