PRLog (Press Release) –
Oct 09, 2009 – WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Yadkin Riverkeeper® has announced that the cleanup Alcoa performed at the boat ramp access below Narrows Dam on Badin Lake Oct. 10-12 is a direct result of the PCBs discovered and linked to the company’s operations below Badin Lake, which have traveled as far down river as the Falls Dam boat launch. Alcoa has temporarily closed the Falls Boat Access Area for three days to clean up an area behind the powerhouse where PCB laden capacitors were discovered and removed in 2002. The work included removing contaminated sediment on the boat ramp and repairing the concrete to provide easier launching and loading access for the boaters. Earlier this year, Alcoa appealed the states PCB fish consumption advisory on Badin Lake. Alcoa has repeatedly maintained that PCBs in Badin Lake are likely coming from other sources from upstream Badin Lake.
Dean Naujoks, the Yadkin Riverkeeper, said this sort of buildup and the time required to clean it reveal that Alcoa is responsible for dumping cancer-causing PCBs in the Yadkin River and that Alcoa’s PCBs are moving downstream contaminating Lake Tillery and down stream communities. Water quality data Alcoa provided earlier this year to NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources for its 401 Water Quality Certification suggested that PCBs were not being transported downstream below Badin Lake.
Falls Reservoir is one of four reservoirs that is part of the Yadkin Hydroelectric Project. Alcoa has applied for another 50-year license to continue to oversee the Project, which reaps the firm tens of millions in profits each year for Alcoa as the Narrows and three other dams generate hydropower for sale on the electrical grid. But Naujoks and other environmental leaders, as well as local government officials, have argued that Alcoa’s failure to address pollution it has generated and dumped in the water over the years make the company undeserving of approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
“Alcoa tried to bury this announcement, but it speaks volumes of how contaminated the water is that they have to shut down recreational operations for a weekend during what is a busy time of the year for boaters and fishermen,” said Naujoks. “I wonder how many people who visit the lake heard about this cleanup in advance and the reasons why it happened. More importantly are they aware cancer causing PCBs might be in the fish they are eating? This is one example of Alcoa’s toxic legacy we will continue to uncover as Alcoa attempts to ride off into the sunset with their FERC license.”
Badin Lake has had fish consumption advisory signs installed since August 2009, warning people, particularly children and pregnant women, not to eat catfish and largemouth bass from the reservoir due to elevated levels of PCBs found in samples in a study conducted by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. The study came out in February, but Alcoa fought to keep from having to put the signs up for several months, claiming among other things that PCBs could be found in all water supplies in North Carolina.
In late July, Dr. John Rogers, an internationally known water quality expert from Clemson University, issued a report linking the PCBs in Badin Lake with the PCBs found in Alcoa’s old smelting operations near the lake. Despite that study, Alcoa has insisted that it does not need to clean up the PCBs because the N.C. Department of Environmental and Natural Resources issued it a water quality certification for the Project in May.
However, Alcoa has questioned the validity of conditions placed on the certification itself, and even has tried to have it dismissed as a required condition of its relicensing by the FERC. Meanwhile, Naujoks has successfully prevented Alcoa from receiving the water quality certification thanks to a state judge’s injunction against issuing it until a full appeal is heard from both Alcoa and Naujoks about the water quality at the Project.
Naujoks remains steadfastly opposed to Alcoa’s relicensing effort, because his obligations as Yadkin Riverkeeper involve respecting, protecting, and improving the Yadkin Pee Dee River Basin, and the firm’s application fails to meet these goals for the river.
“This cleanup is just one more sign of how Alcoa fails to recognize the long-term damage in money and time that occurs by not addressing the PCBs it has left in Badin Lake,” concluded Naujoks. “The company’s failure to view a good environmental record with the Yadkin Hydroelectric Project as a positive aspect for itself and the community is depressing, and its decision to exploit the water for personal gain, no matter how poor the water quality becomes, ought to be reason enough for the FERC to deny the relicensing. No company is too big to fail North Carolina’s clean water requirements.”
About the Yadkin Riverkeeper®:
The Yadkin Riverkeeper’s mission is to respect, protect and improve the Yadkin Pee Dee River Basin through education, advocacy and action. It is aimed at creating a clean and healthy river that sustains life and is cherished by its people. To achieve this vision, it seeks to accomplish the following objectives: sustain a RIVERKEEPER® program, measurably improve water quality, reestablish native bio-diversity, preserve and enhance the forest canopy, bring legal action to enforce state and federal environmental laws, and teach and practice a “river ethic” of ecological respect to all ages. For more information, visit http://www.yadkinriverkeeper.org or call 336-293-8105.
About Dean Naujoks:
Dean Naujoks is the Yadkin Riverkeeper, employed by Yadkin Riverkeeper Inc. since the fall of 2008 to manage and implement a river advocacy program for the Yadkin Pee Dee River watershed in North Carolina that will keep it a healthy and vibrant river for residents and businesses in the long term. Yadkin Riverkeeper is a licensed member of the Waterkeeper Alliance, which connects and supports local Waterkeeper programs to provide a voice and champion clean water for waterways and their communities worldwide. A longtime water quality advocate, Naujoks became the first Upper Neuse Riverkeeper in 2001 at the nonprofit Neuse River Foundation. His job there was to monitor conditions and advocate for protection of the Neuse River from Falls Lake to Goldsboro. He was appointed by Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker to serve on the joint government PCB Task Force to address PCB contamination in Crabtree Creek from Ward Transformer. A graduate of N.C. State, Naujoks created his own major in environmental policy and sustainable development. He also worked for the NC Wild Life Federation from 1991-1999. Naujoks has received River Network’s 2009 National “River Hero” Award on behalf of his efforts.
Media Contact:
Dean Naujoks
Yadkin Riverkeeper®
2435 Westfield Ave.
Winston-Salem, N.C.
dean@yadkinriverkeeper.org
www.yadkinriverkeeper.org
# # #
MMI Public Relations
Patty Briguglio
(919) 233-6600
(919) 233-0300 (fax)
onlinenews@mmipublicrelations.com
www.mmipublicrelations.com
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