North Carolina ex rel. North Carolina Department of Administration v. Alcoa Power Generating, Inc.

135 F. Supp. 3d 385, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 130213, 2015 WL 5703520
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. North Carolina
DecidedSeptember 28, 2015
DocketNo. 5:13-CV-633-BO
StatusPublished

This text of 135 F. Supp. 3d 385 (North Carolina ex rel. North Carolina Department of Administration v. Alcoa Power Generating, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
North Carolina ex rel. North Carolina Department of Administration v. Alcoa Power Generating, Inc., 135 F. Supp. 3d 385, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 130213, 2015 WL 5703520 (E.D.N.C. 2015).

Opinion

ORDER

TERRENCE W. BOYLE, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on defendant’s second motion for summary judgment. A hearing was held before the undersigned on August 27-, 2015, in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the matter is ripe for ruling. For the reasons stated herein, defendant’s motion is granted.

BACKGROUND

At the outset, the Court incorporates by reference the background laid out in its earlier orders on summary judgment [DE 142] and making findings of fact and conclusions of law [DE 177]. Beginning in 1893, the North Carolina General Assembly approved several Acts incorporating companies to develop hydroelectric power within the state. [DE 90-11 to 90-14]. These Acts granted the companies, which are either Alcoa’s corporate predecessors or predecessors in title, the ability to. privately purchase or condemn land in order to construct hydroelectric projects. The Acts authorized construction of dams on the Yadkin River, “vested” ungranted land in Alcoa and its predecessors, and repealed all inconsistent laws. [Id,] The State asserts that it took this action with the “understanding and expectation that Alcoa and its Predecessors could and would use the Yadkin. River and its bed to develop industry in this part of the State, thus creating and thereafter maintaining large numbers of high quality jobs for people living in this region.” Compl. ¶ 13. [DE 1-1]. Neither in these Acts nor anywhere else, however, was this, “understanding” memorialized, though Alcoa • operated an aluminum smelting plant powered by the Yadkin River in Badin, North Carolina from 1916 to 2010. Alcoa Badin Works, available at http://www.alcoa.com/ locations/usa_badin/en/home.aspl; Compl. ¶ 16 [DE 1-1].

In the early 1900s, Alcoa began acquiring title to land to develop a hydroelectric project (the Project) using the water of the Relevant Segment of the Yadkin River. [389]*389Ellis Decl. ¶7 [DE 91-1], Barham Tr. Test. [DE 181 at 310:3-11], The last of the title transactions occurred in 1960, when Alcoa purchased and recorded the deed for the last parcel of land necessary to form the Tuckertown Dam reservoir. Gallimore Decl. ¶ 8 n. 2 [DE 100-2], Alcoa presently has deeds that encompass 99% of the land within the Relevant Segment. Id.; see also Ribelin Rept. [DE 86-9]. Today, the Project encompasses the entire Relevant Segment and includes four dams: from north to south, High Rock, Tucker-town, Narrows, and Falls. The State does not dispute that Alcoa owns title to the land surrounding the Relevant Segment and underneath the portions of the Relevant Segment now flooded by operation of the dams.

In 1937, Alcoa filed a declaration of its intent to construct the Tuckertown dam, which it believed would impound the last untapped power resource within the Relevant Segment, with the Federal Power Commission (FPC). The other three dams were -constructed and opened prior to the enactment of the Federal Power Act. Ellis Decl. ¶7 [DE 91-1]. In the administrative proceedings, the North Carolina Attorney General stated that “grants have been and may be made up and down the [Yadkin River], including the area affected by this project to the bed of the stream.” 1937 FPC Hearing Proceedings [DE 89-3]. The dam wás not constructed at that time, but Alcoa again filed an application for a license from the FPC in 1956. As part of the licensing process, Alcoa publicly stated that it owned “title to all the land and appurtenant water rights” for the High Rock, Narrows and Falls projects and owned “title to approximately 60 per cent of the land and water rights” for the Tuckertown project. 1956 FPC License Appl. [DE 90-3]. It also prepared a document listing every conveyance of fee simple ownership of the riverbed and a survey identifying the location on a map of each conveyance. Id. The FPC issued a 50-year license in 1958, which gave Alcoa permission to operate the dams as part of the Project. The Tuckertown dam was constructed and opened in 1962. Ellis Decl. ¶ 7 [DE 91-1].

Since 1958, Alcoa has. paid property taxes to five counties .for the riverbed, impounded the water and flooded the surrounding areas, and has operated and maintained the dams and the surrounding land. Id. at ¶¶ 9-13; see also Barham Tr. Test. [DE 181, 322:9-13]. It has spent over $175 million on the Project and has flooded the riverbed to create reservoirs. Ellis Decl. ¶ 11 [DE 91-1]. It created and implements a Shoreline Management Plan that regulates the terms and conditions of property ownership around and use of the impounded waters and states that the Project lands are privately owned, .Alcoa has posted “no trespassing” signs and has excluded people from the riverbed. Id. at ¶¶ 18-19; see also Barham Tr. Test. [DE 181, 319:16-20, 322:17-18]; Shoreline Management Plan [DE 91-2]. The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission has marked the Relevant Segment as “private property,” although it does manage the area. Thompson Dep. 42:19-25, '43:1-6 [DE 192-6]. In 1956 and 2010, the State paid Alcoa or its predecessor in title for the right to cross the bed of the Yadkin River within the Relevant Segment.' 1956 Right of Way Agreement [DE 90-7]; 2010 Deed of Easement [DE 90-8]. In 2006, Alcoa filed an application to renew its license with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The State has admitted that the 2006 application put it on notice of Alcoa’s claims to ownership of the riverbed and that its current interest in the riverbed is non-possessory. Compl. ¶ 148. [DEI-1],

[390]*390The State did not, however, file suit upon learning that Alcoa claimed ownership of the riverbed in 2006, but instead waited until after Alcoa’s 2010 decision to close the Badin aluminum smelting plant. Id. at ¶ 22. Following its, closure, Alcoa moved its aluminum smelting operations overseas, thereby removing jobs from North Carolina, though it continued to operate the dams and sell the electricity on the wholesale, out-of-state market. [Id. at ¶ 21-22], Following Alcoa’s continued claims of ownership of the subject property, the State filed this lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court, approximately seven years after it first learned of Alcoa’s ownership claims. See, e.g., Carraway Aff. [DE 60].

The Court held a1 bench trial in April 2015 solely on the issue of navigability of the Relevant Segment. Following trial, the Court ruled that the Relevant Segment was not navigable at statehood. Accordingly, the ownership of the riverbed is determined by ordinary North Carolina real property laws.' As the Court noted in an earlier order, North Carolina law vests a presumption of title in the State in suits for land title to which the State is a party.N.C: Gen. Stat § 146-79. Accordingly, the burden is on Alcoa to demonstrate that it has valid title. Following the- Court’s ruling on navigability, the parties were permitted to submit renewed motions -for summary judgment, and Alcoa moved for summary judgment on three separate grounds, arguing that it can prove valid title via North Carolina’s Real Property Marketable Record Title Act (MTA), adverse possession, and the equitable doctrine of laches. .The State opposes Alcoa’s motion.

. DISCUSSION

Summary judgment is proper dnly when, viewing the facts in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, there is no genuine issue of material fact, and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56; Celotex Corp. v.

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135 F. Supp. 3d 385, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 130213, 2015 WL 5703520, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/north-carolina-ex-rel-north-carolina-department-of-administration-v-alcoa-nced-2015.