NC Files Legal Challenge Over Alcoa’s Claims It Owns Bed Of The Yadkin River, NC Department Of Administration Defends Citizen Ownership Today the NC Department of Administration stood up for the citizens of North Carolina by defending the State’s title to the river bed of the Yadkin River. By filing a Petition for Declaratory Judgment in Wake County Superior Court, the State has asked the Courts to put to rest the claims that a private company—Alcoa— owns the bed of the Yadkin River. Yadkin Riverkeeper has been disputing these claims and challenging Alcoa’s ownership claims for years. This is a critical turning point as we enter the 5th year of our campaign to prevent Alcoa from receiving a 50-year license. Yadkin Riverkeeper applauds Secretary Daughtridge and the NC Department of Administration for defending the public trust resources of our state and the Yadkin River. It is important for the state to find out who owns this important resource rather than just take Alcoa’s word. Alcoa could have provided the proper deeds of ownership and put this whole issue to rest more than a year ago when Yadkin Riverkeeper asked the Department of Administration to claim the bed of the Yadkin River as public trust property and defend its title back in December 2011. At the time, the former Secretary of Administration denied Yadkin Riverkeeper’s request, but they did not abandon the issue. A report issued by the Program Evaluation Division of the North Carolina General Assembly on January 14, 2013 stated that under state law, the North Carolina Department of Administration “has a statutory duty to prepare and keep current an inventory of all state-owned lands” and that the Department currently “operates under the assumption that all lands beneath navigable rivers are sovereign lands of the State” and “presumes that all lands under navigable rivers are owned by the State.” This past April the Uwharrie Regional Resource Commission passed a resolution requesting the Attorney General, the Department of Administration and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources determine “whether the state or Alcoa owns the Yadkin riverbed.” Alcoa responded by dispatching a team of eight lobbyist to slip a law into the budget, permanently shuttering the commission to silence their opposition. Alcoa also paid off Stanly County to drop its opposition to Alcoa receiving a 50-year license. YRK’s persistent efforts are a primary reason we are still alive in this important fight. We have held this bridge for long five years. We are grateful the state is defending the Public Trust Doctrine and people’s right of ownership of the Yadkin River and all waters of the state. We wanted to share the press release and the filing with you. We are grateful the state is defending the Public Trust Doctrine and people’s right of ownership of the Yadkin River and all waters of the state. This is an important National precedent. A similar case, State of Montana vs PPL Montana went to the Supreme Court two years ago. Twenty six states and dozens of environmental organizations supported the state of Montana. Many of our National environmental laws currently under attack are based on the principal of citizen ownership and providing citizen standing. Water is life and clean water is a right every North Carolinian should expect. The right to take drinking water from our rivers to meet this basic human need is the birthright of all North Carolinians and citizens across the United States. No FERC license and no settlement agreement should give that exclusive right to a single corporation. Today we see this important principle defended by the Secretary of Administration, but there is much left to be done on the Yadkin River. We have called upon NC DENR to deny the 401 Certification Application of Alcoa because the Yadkin River is still not fishable due to extensive contamination linked to Alcoa’s aluminum smelter. Alcoa is still not complying with dissolved oxygen standards, critical to all life in the river. Our members remain concerned that the Relicensing Settlement Agreement will continue to be used as a shield to preserve the status quo from enforcement efforts for years to come. In 2009 Yadkin Riverkeeper supported the State of North Carolina to get the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to give back the Yadkin to the people of North Carolina. In June 2013, Yadkin Riverkeeper asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reopen the relicensing process so that competing proposals could be evaluated. We ask the State to seek to reopen the proceedings as well. Public trust resources should be used for the benefit of the public to provide drinking water and to create wealth and prosperity throughout the region, not for outsourcing profits for investments overseas as Alcoa has done. Yadkin Riverkeeper fully supports the Department of Administration’s outstanding leadership for taking this critical stance. It is their duty under the NC Constitution. “It shall be the policy of this State to conserve and protect its lands and waters for the benefit of all its citizenry” --N.C. Constitution, Article XIV, Section 5 Sincerely, Dean Naujoks, Yadkin Riverkeeper
Posted on: Fri, 02 Aug 2013 18:30:57 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015