VALDESE—Dennis A. Benfield of Hudson was one of only three speakers from Caldwell County to address a public hearing Thursday night, opposing an inter-basin transfer (IBT) of water from the Catawba River.
Benfield, a candidate for Caldwell Soil and Water Conservation District supervisor, waited some 5½ hours to speak to a crowd of some 2000 attending the hearing held by the N.C. Division of Water Resources on a proposal by the cities of Concord and Kannapolis to divert up to 38 million gallons of water per day from the river.
More than 170 people signed up to speak at the Old Rock School community center in Valdese—the large majority against the IBT proposal—including N.C. Sen. Jimmy Jacumin (R-Burke/Caldwell) and Caldwell County Commissioner Dr. John Thuss.
“Make no mistake,” Benfield told the crowd, “This IBT is about ‘haves’ and ‘have nots.’ It’s about wealth and political power, about who has it and who doesn’t.”
“In Caldwell County, our furniture and textile industries are gone. It’s awfully hard for us to care about economic development in Cabarrus County or to get teary-eyed over Pillowtex employees who lost their jobs.”
“We have a number of times had the highest unemployment rate in North Carolina,” he stated.
“What are we doing about it? We are working very hard to bring in new industries, new jobs, new communities, tourism, and retirees. We need that water for economic development, too.” “Some of the industries we’re recruiting now are massive users of water. Is it fair to ask us to give up the natural resources we have left? We’re fighting for our economic survival.”
Benfield added that the IBT for Kannapolis and Concord is “only the first of many such requests to come” from cities south and east of Caldwell County which need more water.
“Where’s the common sense here?” he asked.
“Rather than moving the water to the people and the jobs, why not let the people and the jobs move to the water? Send those jobs to Caldwell County!”
Benfield challenged the Division of Water Resources, which conducted the hearing on behalf of the N.C. Environmental Management Commission (NCEMC), to “listen to the voices of the majority here tonight. They’re telling you they’re against this transfer.”
Speaking just before 10 p.m., Benfield said “it is shameful” that only one NCEMC commissioner was still in the audience. “What kind of message does it send when you don’t attend your own hearing?”
Earlier, Benfield pointed out, “if every city south and east of us gets all the water it wants, the Catawba River will be dry. Mountain Island Lake and Lake Norman already pump out more water every day than flows in.”
A number of speakers questioned “the science” behind the Division of Water Resources assessment of the Kannapolis and Concord IBT request.
The Catawba River basin, it was noted, is only half as large in square miles as the Yadkin River basin, which serves Concord and Kannapolis. The Yadkin basin takes in more than twice the ground water runoff as the Catawba basin.
Benfield, 57, is a semi-retired insurance agent running against six other non-partisan candidates for one of two seats as Caldwell Soil and Water Conservation District supervisor in the Nov. 7 election.
The candidate also owns a wooded tract around his home which borders Big Gunpowder Creek in southern Caldwell County, which flows into Lake Hickory.
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