A controversial Alabama Power Company (APC) proposal to build a 15,000-acre pumped storage facility between St. Clair and Etowah Counties has been nixed by the company after landowners, the community, and an increasing number of elected officials came out against the Chandler Mountain Pumped Storage Project.
The company said in a statement:
“After careful consideration, Alabama Power has decided to withdraw its Notice of Intent to seek a license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to operate a Pumped Storage Hydro facility at Chandler Mountain.”
The controversial proposal would have involved the construction of five reservoirs on Little Canoe Creek north of Steele. The power company’s plan was to force water from one reservoir to another and back again to the first to start the process over again to produce hydroelectric power. Alabama Power already owns a number of manmade lakes on the Coosa River System, but this one would have had rapidly fluctuating water levels and a return that could have made the system self-perpetuating in periods of low rainfall and slow water flow.
The communities along both sides of the Coosa River were staunchly opposed to the plan. The Company had requested a license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The first public comment period on this proposal ended just a week ago, and the comments were overwhelmingly negative.
Family farms would have been taken for the project, and numerous families would have been forced to relocate forever altering the lives of people in the community. There were also concerns that the project would adversely affect the wildlife in the river system, including reportedly an endangered species of freshwater mussel that lives in Canoe Creek. as well as concern that an initial drawdown of Neely Henry Lake to start the system would adversely affect lake residents.
It appeared that Alabama Power Company had hopelessly lost the debate on this project when Public Service Commission President Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh expressed her public opposition to the project.
“Alabama families and Alabama industries and businesses demand innovative solutions to fuel our future,” said PSC President Cavanaugh said on Twitter. “By the time this cost-prohibitive project could come online, our evolving technologies will make it antiquated.”
This was followed by PSC Commissioner Chip Beeker’s announcement of his opposition to the project. State Representative Craig Lipscomb, who represents the affected communities, had already vowed to oppose the project. U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville’s staff recently told a group of concerned St. Clair County farmers opposed to the project that they were closely monitoring the project.
Beeker and Cavanaugh blamed the Biden Administration’s energy policies which are forcing utilities to close affordable coal and natural gas-burning power plants in favor of less reliable carbon dioxide-free power sources like wind, solar, and in this case – hydroelectric.
“First of all, we have now forfeited our sovereignty as a nation,” Cavanaugh told Yellowhammer News. “We’re letting all these European countries dictate our energy policy. They no more care about the environment than they do our high school football scores. Since they can’t beat our economy and our natural resources, they simply want to drag us down to their level.”
Critics claimed that the Chandler Mountain Pumped Storage Project if built, would produce less electricity than a medium size coal plant would.
Construction on this project would not have begun until 2031 – and that construction could not begin until FERC permitted the project. The regulatory process for such an ambitious project would have taken years – and given the public response, there was little confidence that FERC approval would have been forthcoming.
The Alabama Power Company and other electric utilities are in a difficult situation due to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed new rule that the cut carbon emissions by 90% by 2030, while electricity demand sources due to high levels of immigration and the coming transition from internal combustion vehicles to electric vehicles (EVs) that have to be charged from the grid in order to function. These new rules will force electric companies to close coal, oil, and natural gas-powered power plants – the plants that produce most of the electricity used by this country. Nuclear power is another option, but nuclear power plants are very expensive to build, and the regulatory process is even more difficult than building a hydroelectric project.
“Our guiding purpose is to provide clean, safe, reliable, and affordable power to the 1.5 million people and businesses that depend on us,” APC said. “As we look to the future, we recognize that alternative resources, as well as energy storage options, will be key in meeting the ever-changing needs of our customers.”
Alabama Power acknowledged that public opposition played a role in the decision to abandon the project.
“Alabama Power will continue to explore all available technologies with due diligence, striving to power a better Alabama in ways that align with the evolving needs and expectations of our customers,” APC said. “We appreciate the feedback received by all parties involved with the exploration of the Chandler Mountain project.”
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