While stressing they were not advocating one way or another, the Macon County Commissioners unanimously voted on Nov. 12 to have the county Planning Board research the possibility and effects of removing the Lake Emory Dam.
Commissioner Paul Higdon, in his last regular meeting, got the motion passed by the board after talking about conducting a study for the last several months. Higdon has said that removing the 99-year-old dam would make the Little Tennessee River a free-flowing stream and turn the area into a great recreational asset.
“All shareholders should be involved,” Higdon said, saying there needs to be a broad study on the dam and the effects of removing it.
Commissioner John Shearl requested the agenda item at the start of the meeting. Shearl pointed out that in January, the board will vote on the floodplain ordinance. Since a possible Lake Emory Dam removal will impact the floodplain, it’s worth discussing, Shearl noted.
The Macon County Planning Board typically meets on the first Thursday of the month, meaning their next meeting would be Dec. 5. The Planning Board did not have a quorum at its Nov. 7 meeting, so it couldn’t vote on the proposed floodplain ordinance.
The 36-foot-high, 463-foot-long gravity dam produces around 7,817 megawatts annually, which is less than 1% of the area’s electricity needs.
Lake Emory, which is part of the Little Tennessee River before the dam, was created in 1925 by the Town of Franklin. It was later acquired by Nantahala Power & Light, which was bought by Duke Energy. In 2019, the Lake Emory Dam was among the dams that Duke sold to Northbrook Energy based in Arizona. The Lake Emory Dam sold for $35,000.
In 2021, a company called HydroLand announced they had purchased the dam. However, tax records show that Northbrook Carolina Hydro II LLC (a subsidiary of Northbrook Energy) is still the dam’s owner and has made the tax payments on the 179.83 acres, including the dam, boat ramp and stretches of the river and riverbank all the way past Wells Grove Road in Franklin.
When adding the dam discussion to the agenda, it was mentioned that the dam is in the middle of a sale, but no details were provided in the meeting.
Neither HydroLand nor Northbrook Carolina Hydro II returned requests for comment.
Ela Dam
Northbrook also bought in 2019 the dam on the Oconaluftee River in Swain County. According to a filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in November 2023, the company has applied to surrender the license for Ela Dam/Bryson Hydroelectric Project.
Calls for the removal of Ela Dam began in 2021 after a slug of sediment was released from the dam, smothering the streambed downstream. The removal has the support of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, N.C. Resources Commission, among other organizations.
Mainspring Conservation Trust based in Franklin has agreed to assume ownership when funding for removing the dam is secured and the dam is no longer subject to a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission hydropower license. The dam removal is estimated to cost $16 million, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission plans to do an environmental assessment for the project and is expected to complete that process in January 2025. There will be a 30-day comment period once the assessment is published.