Alcoa Says Legislation Allows Relicensing Of 4 Dams

Dow Jones & Company, Inc. - Oct 19

PITTSBURGH -(Dow Jones)- Alcoa Inc. (AA) received government approval for a plan to relicense four of its hydroelectric dams with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The dams, which are in Tennessee and North Carolina, are part of the aluminum company's Tapoco project.

In a press release Tuesday, the Dow 30 component said the dams provide power to its operations in Blount County, where Alcoa employs about 2,000 people.

The relicensing agreement should include the means to preserve more than 10, 000 acres of land in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the company added.

"The signed legislation is another step resulting from seven years of discussions with federal and state agencies, surrounding communities and environmental organizations," noted Kevin Anton , president of Alcoa Materials Management.

Tapoco is a division of Alcoa Power Generating Inc., which supplies electric power to Alcoa's aluminum smelting and rolling operations in Tennessee. The four Tapoco Project dams are located on the Little Tennessee and Cheoah Rivers in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina. The four developments involved in the project are Santeetlah, Cheoah, Calderwood and Chilhowee.

Alcoa's plan calls for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to transfer 110 acres of land submerged under Chilhowee Lake to Alcoa in exchange for 186 acres of land that is already within park boundaries.

Also, Alcoa agreed to grant a permanent easement for 5,700 acres to The Nature Conservancy, an environmental conservation agency. The Nature Conservancy has the option to buy this land, which sits between the Park and Cherokee National Forest, from Alcoa and and re-sell it to the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service , or Tennessee Wildlife Resources.

Additionally, Alcoa agreed to give The Nature Conservancy a term easement on another 4,000 acres of land that will continue until the new license from the FERC expires.

New York Stock Exchange-listed shares of Alcoa traded as low as $31.25 earlier Tuesday and changed hands more recently at $31.46 , down $1.03 , or 3.2%, on composite volume of about 3.2 million shares. Average daily volume is almost 4.4 million shares.

Company Web site: http://www.alcoa.com

-Jacquie Jordan ; Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5400; AskNewswires@dowjones.com

Dow Jones Newswires 10-19-04 1422ET