CJ’s Don Carrington has the story. Gov. Bev Perdue could be backing off the bid to take over Alcoa’s dams in favor of a company bringing in 250 new jobs:
Until now, Perdue was one of the obstacles to a Clean Tech deal. She wanted North Carolina to take over the Alcoa facilities, claiming the state would be in a better position to control the water, sell power from the dams, and deal with environmental issues related to the aluminum smelting operations that took place there for nearly a century.
Since Alcoa is not interested in selling the facilities to North Carolina, Perdue’s strategy was to convince the federal government not to renew Alcoa’s license to operate the dams and instead give the license to the state. Legal challenges and water quality questions initiated by the Perdue administration have stalled the relicensing process.
Yadkin Riverkeeper says via Twitter “we are trying to keep the Governor from caving into Alcoa and their false promises. If so, getting ready to go on our next offensive.”
