Rick Whitbeck: If extremist Anchorage leadership has its way, the Eklutna Dam will be removed

I’’ve written before about the Anchorage Assembly’s fascination with threatening the infrastructure that allows for 90% of the Municipality’s water supply and approximately six percent of Southcentral Alaska’s overall power generation.

The Eklutna hydroelectric project is currently in the final phases of a reauthorization of its fish and wildlife mitigation and enhancement plan. The final plan, as developed over a five-year process by the voting members of its ownership group, is in the hands of Alaska’s Gov. Mike Dunleavy. The governor is set to make a final decision on whether to accept the plan, no later than early October.

However, the Anchorage Assembly and the current mayor are telling the governor that he needs to stop that process and delay it up to two years. On Friday, at a hastily called special Assembly meeting, the liberal supermajority will pass a resolution codifying those demands.

The language of the resolution nearly mirrors the draft comments by new Mayor Suzanne LaFrance, who, while serving as chair of the Assembly herself, showed a propensity to kowtow to now-Assembly Chairman Chris Constant on many issues.

While many hoped that being elected mayor would change that, it is clear that Constant is still pulling LaFrance’s strings as Anchorage’s overall puppet master.

Their reasoning for delaying final authorization borders on ridiculous: the Municipality, which lost voting rights years ago, doesn’t believe they and other non-voting organizations have had enough time or influence in the process.

When they ultimately pass the resolution tomorrow, they’ll ask Anchorage voters to conveniently forget that five years of studies and public input – including hundreds of hours the owners spent with the Assembly, Native Village of Eklutna, various environmental groups (ENGOs) and other non-voting members – not to mention $8 million in ratepayer and taxpayer money has already been invested in the process.

The Assembly has gone on record wanting full restoration of the Eklutna River, but that was never required under the terms of the fish and wildlife agreement, would threaten the water supply and cost hundreds of millions of taxpayer and ratepayer dollars.

They believe the wishes of the Native Village of Eklutna and its 100 members should be given equal consideration to the 275,000 other residents of the Municipality.

They believe that other energy solutions (i.e., wind and solar) can more than make up the power produced by the Eklutna system. Ask Anchorage residents what that might have looked like this past January, when the current wind solution would have powered less than 700 homes on the coldest day of the year, while the Eklutna supply powered over 28,000 between Anchorage and the Mat-Su Valley.

It is clear this isn’t about fiduciary responsibility, nor is it about process. This is a power-grab by an Assembly and Mayor more interested in kissing up to special interests than it is in sound public policy.

Here’s hoping Gov. Dunleavy dismisses the resolution and its demands, reauthorizes the project’s revised fish and wildlife agreement, and puts this issue to rest for another 35 years.

Rick Whitbeck is the Alaska State Director for Power The Future, a national nonprofit organization that advocates for American energy jobs and fights back against economy-killing and family-destroying environmental extremism. Contact him at [email protected] and follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @PTFAlaska

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