Alcoa Welcomes Study of Water Issues Along Yadkin River

     N.C. Legislative Committee approves study by Environmental Review

                                 Commission



    RALEIGH, N.C., July 16 /EMWNews/ -- Alcoa announced that it fully

supports a proposed study of water issues along the Yadkin River by the

state's Environmental Review Commission. The study was approved by a key

N.C. House committee Tuesday.



    "We recognize the growing importance of water issues in North Carolina,

and welcome the opportunity to work with the state to protect its water

interests along the Yadkin River," said Gene Ellis, licensing and property

manager for Alcoa Power Generating Inc. (APGI), which operates the Yadkin

Hydroelectric Project along a 38-mile stretch of the Yadkin River.



    Ellis said the company was assured that it was not the legislature's

intent to delay the relicensing of the Yadkin Project or pursue a takeover

of the project.



    Alcoa had opposed previous legislative study proposals that focused on

delaying the company's relicensing effort and exploring a state

condemnation of the Yadkin Project.



    For more than five years, Alcoa has worked with the State of North

Carolina and other stakeholders on a plan for the future management of the

Yadkin Project. The effort resulted in a Relicensing Settlement Agreement

that was signed by 22 organizations representing a number of diverse, and

often conflicting, interests on the Yadkin watershed. Signatories include

the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the town of

Badin, and the city of Albemarle, the largest water user on the Yadkin

River and environmental interest groups such as American Rivers and the

Nature Conservancy.



    "We believe the relicensing agreement effectively balances many

competing interests along the Yadkin River, while protecting North

Carolina's water interests at the same time," Ellis said. "We believe this

study's narrow focus on water issues will complement the previous

relicensing studies that have been conducted during the past five years."