This month AW is proud to acknowledge the incredible efforts of Rod Baird and Chris Bell to restore the Cheoah River in Western North Carolina to the romping big water run that it should be.
Rod and Chris work closely with AW’s Kevin Colburn on this project, and together form a strong and professional team. This team has been working tirelessly over the past few months (and years) as the February date for a settlement agreement on the Cheoah approaches. Both of these great volunteers participated in the flow study that was carried out on the Cheoah and have since put in countless hours to make sure that they will be able to paddle the now de-watered river for years to come.
Rod has attended virtually every meeting of the stakeholder group that is working its way through this dam relicensing process. These monthly multi-day meetings are a huge time commitment and are not always the most fun way to spend a few days in Graham County. Still, Rod is a consistent and invaluable player in the group dynamic, offering his solid and intellegent analysis on a wide array of topics that the group must deal with. Rod has put in incredible hours not only travelling to, and attending meetings, but also in co-writing AW’s comments on a variety of documents.
AW recieved a detailed economic analysis of the hydro project on the Cheoah a few months ago and knew that something wasn’t quite right about it. We dropped it by Chris Bell’s office for him to read and analyze, knowing that he was an economic guru. A couple of days later we recieved an excited phone call from Chris stating that the study, which claimed that expenses like recreational flows would lead to job losses in Tennessee, was totally eroneous. Chris went on to file detailed comments that showed that the study actually proved the opposite of what it claimed to. The power company has refused to agree with Chris’s analysis, but most of the other stakeholders have signed on to it and now it will be presented to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) with equal billing to the power company’s analysis. This several month long process showed that Chris is truly dedicated to AW and to the cause of rewatering the Cheoah River.
Without Rod and Chris, the future of the Cheoah would be far more in jeopardy. In a couple years when we get that first release on the Cheoah, be sure to thank these two volunteers for making the river run.
Thanks Rod and Chris!