Concluding, for the moment, a 14-year battle by North Carolina residents—joined by local politicians—and national environmental groups against the nation's largest utility, American Electric Power, President Ford on September 11 signed into law a bill that formally includes a 26.5 mile segment of the New River in North Carolina in the national wild and scenic rivers system.¹ The law effectively vacates a license granted by the Federal Power Commission (FPC) to an American Electric subsidiary, Appalachian Power Company, to build a 40,000-acre pumped storage project that would have flooded 70 miles of the New River, including part of the now-protected portion. Not willing to concede the outcome of the controversy, however, Appalachian has threatened to sue the government for $500 million compensation for the added cost it says is necessary to construct a comparable coal-fired electric plant.²

President Ford's signature confirmed the conditional designation of the New as a scenic river by Interior Secretary Thomas S. Kleppe on April 13.³ The effect of this administrative action, which was proposed on March 12, was placed in doubt by the D.C. Circuit's ruling on March 24 in North Carolina v. FPC⁴ upholding the license against a NEPA challenge by the state. Following the court's decision, the North Carolina congressional delegation introduced several bills to designate the New River under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.⁵ In August, Congress passed one of these bills, H.R. 13372, by overwhelming margins,⁶ having rejected amendments that would have left the FPC license undisturbed.⁷