What is the Yadkin Project?
The Yadkin Project involves hydroelectric stations, dams and reservoirs along a 38-mile stretch of the Yadkin River in central North Carolina. Stanly, Montgomery, Davidson and Rowan counties have shorelines along the four water reservoirs that include: High Rock, Tuckertown, Narrows (Badin Lake) and Falls. The Yadkin-Pee Dee Watershed as a whole includes twenty-one counties and contains ninety-three state municipalities. In 1958, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted a 50-year license to Alcoa, the world’s leading producer of primary aluminum, for the Yadkin Project. Alcoa wants to continue reaping the benefits of the Yadkin River, including selling electricity generated by hydropower for its own profit, so it has applied for another 50-year license. If the FERC grants the relicensing, Alcoa, a private multinational firm, will own and use the Yadkin’s hydro water rights for its private benefit. It will have a monopoly and make money on using the water that belongs to
