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Stanly County wants Alcoa to do more
Officials fear pollution at old plant; they want some of power revenue
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Published: September 3, 2007
BADIN - BADIN - Alcoa and the town of Badin have been inextricably linked for the last 90 years, with the smelting plant looming large over the small town.
But these days, the plant that once provided hundreds of jobs stands virtually empty.
Stanly County officials are mourning the loss of jobs from one of the county's largest employers.
But they also say that Alcoa has not done enough to clean up pollution left behind.
And as Alcoa tries to get a new 50-year license to run four reservoirs along the Yadkin River, Stanly County officials say that the pollution needs to be considered.
"We have a real brownfield up there," Stanly County Manager Jerry Myers said.
Alcoa officials disagree, saying they have spent $8 million to identify and clean up polluted sites on its property. Gene Ellis, the licensing and property manager for Alcoa, said that the company started to look at old waste sites 20 years ago.
"We didn't have to do that," Ellis said. "It was voluntary."
Badin Works has operated since 1917 and would routinely dispose of spent batteries that often contained cyanide and fluoride. Cyanide is the more hazardous of the two pollutants, state officials say.
About 50 sites where waste had been dumped have been identified on Alcoa's property, said Cathy Akroyd, a spokeswoman for the N.C. Division of Waste Management.
State officials required Alcoa to investigate 16 of those sites to see if any contamination had been released into the environment. Alcoa and the state found that eight of those 16 sites needed to be cleaned up or contained.
Officials with the state and Alcoa say that the contamination is contained and there is little chance that pollution has been released into the air or gotten into people's drinking water.
County officials, however, fear that there may be more waste sites that Alcoa hasn't even identified.
"Alcoa owns about 3,000 to 4,000 acres of land," Myers said. "They're not just a little bitty landowner."
Alcoa argues that the pollution should not be an issue in the application for a new license with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. But Stanly officials are not backing down from their position.
Alcoa draws hydroelectric power from the reservoirs and has for years used that power to operate the smelting plant. Now that the plant has closed, it sells the power on the open market, generating about $44 million a year in revenue.
Stanly County commissioners also want some of that revenue to come back to the county and help promote job growth.
"It doesn't cost a lot to produce electricity when Mother Nature is doing it for you," Myers said.
Alcoa officials say they are working hard with town officials to bring new industries and jobs to the area. Alcoa has asked a consultant to do a study on what the best uses might be for the former plant.
"This is what a responsible company does in response to circumstance," Ellis said.
■ Michael Hewlett can be reached at 727-7326 or at mhewlett@wsjournal.com.
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