Duke presses for answer on hydro license

Duke Energy is pressing federal regulators to issue a new hydroelectric license for the Catawba River that is now five years overdue and snarled in legal limbo.

The license gives Duke authority to operate its 13 dams on the Catawba in both Carolinas. The original 50-year license expired in 2008.

Environmentalists challenged the renewal terms, saying Duke's dams would hurt the recovery of endangered shortnose and Atlantic sturgeon. That issue appears to have been resolved last year when a federal agency agreed the dams wouldn't threaten the survival of the fish.

South Carolina has posed a thornier challenge. Duke can renew its federal license only after the state agrees that the dams won't hurt the Catawba's water quality.

South Carolina initially refused to make that finding amid the turmoil of a U.S. Supreme Court case, later settled, between the two states over rights to the river.

Now before South Carolina's Supreme Court is whether the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control suspended a 180-day deadline to act on the water-quality certification.

This week Duke asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to ignore the court case, saying it could take years to resolve. Duke asked FERC to rule that South Carolina has waived its right to grant or deny the water certification.

"The commission has a federal mandate to act now and it has everything it needs to do so," Duke wrote. "... Every licensee and every license application deserves due process and continued delays are not warranted for this project."

Approval will unleash millions of dollars in recreational improvements and land conservation Duke promised in negotiating the license terms.

Silence so far from FERC.