Raleigh

Lawyers for aluminum-maker Alcoa and most every other major business enterprise in the state would do well to read a little provision in the state constitution.

The provision begins, "It shall be the policy of this State to protect and conserve its lands and waters for the benefit of all of its citizenry"

Building dams along the Yadkin River to smelt aluminum, while employing hundreds of people for several generations, was certainly a benefit to the citizenry.

In one way or another, people who lived along the Yadkin River Valley south of Greensboro to the South Carolina border profited from Alcoa and its aluminum plant. The rest of the state benefited as Alcoa and its work force paid taxes into state coffers.

But there's not much aluminum made along the Yadkin River these days. The Badin Works smelting plant closed down. The jobs are gone.

And any benefit to all, as water runs through the dams that form High Rock, Badin and Tuckertown lakes, seems questionable. Today Alcoa doesn't generate electricity to run its plants. It sells the electricity on the open market.

With those questionable benefits in mind, state Sen. Stan Bingham, a Republican from Davidson County, filed legislation that would allow Davidson and Stanly counties to begin imposing a local tax on the power generation.

Bingham says it's the people's water, not Alcoa's.

He's right. It's that view that has caused people in his part of the world to fight Alcoa's request for federal re-licensing of the dams. Some opponents of re-licensing would like to see Alcoa just go away, with the state or some other entity paying the company for the dams and surrounding property.

Those opponents aren't likely to get their way. So far, federal regulators have shown no inclination to deny the company a license to operate the dams. They've never denied a re-licensing request in a case like Alcoa's.

And maybe they shouldn't. The company built the dams. It created the lakes and the valuable property that surrounds them. Without Alcoa's investment, those expensive lakefront homes on High Rock and Badin lakes, and the tax base that they create, wouldn't be there.

Still, a Republican legislator who is hardly considered a liberal has filed a bill to apply a specific tax to a specific company. Clearly, that company has a major public relations problem.

Now that it no longer provides jobs, Alcoa has no standing in the rolling hills around the Uwharries. The only goodwill that the company enjoys is based on free drinking water provided to some nearby towns.

Not long ago, an economist compared Alcoa to a tenant whose lease has expired.

It's a pretty apt analogy. To take it a little further, this tenant hasn't paid rent for years. The landlord was agreeable to the arrangement because of improvements made to the home (environmentalists might disagree) and some help given to the landlord that didn't involve a direct exchange of cash.

That help is gone now. The landlord wants some rent.

Scott Mooneyham writes for Capitol Press Association. Contact him at smooneyh@ncinsider.com