Anchorage Assembly to meet with Eklutna Village leaders to sign mutual goals to destroy hydropower
By Suzanne Downing,
2024-08-31
The Anchorage Assembly Democrat majority has prioritized the removal of the hydro dam and associated Anchorage electricity and drinking water from the Eklutna River and will meet with the leaders of the village of Eklutna on Sept. 5 to advance those goals with a formal joint resolution.
The Democrats controlling the Anchorage Assembly want to delay a decision that Gov. Mike Dunleavy must make soon on whether to remove the dam; members hope to wait until a Democrat governor is in office — one who will take action to dismantle the dam, originally built in 1929, and rebuilt twice after that, which powers more than 24,600 residential homes for an entire year.
Eklutna hydroelectric power is the lowest cost renewable energy in Southcentral Alaska; it also provides power to areas of the MatSu Valley and nearly all of the water or Anchorage.
The governor needs to make a decision by October on the 1991 reauthorization of the dam. There has been a public comment period that now ended, and there is no legal language to delay the process, which is what the Assembly majority wants; it is asking for a two-year delay.
As much as it is trying to assert authority, the Assembly doesn’t have legal standing in the decision-making process, as the municipality has no member or voting rights on the ownership committee, which is made up of Chugach Electric Association and Matanuska Electric Association.
The Assembly has sent up every smoke signal possible to indicate it is likely to sue the governor and other related entities, such as the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, if it doesn’t get its way.
Rick Whitbeck, Alaska state director of Power the Future, said that it’s time for rational voices to prevail.
“Like petulant children crying over a toy at the supermarket, the Anchorage municipality leadership continues to whine over a process they have no legal standing in. Their continued tactics will only lead to taxpayer and ratepayer expenditures on a cause they have no hope of winning legally.”
Whitbeck called for the reauthorization and its five-year process to be approved “and for Eklutna to continue to provide always-on, always available, low-cost power and water to Anchorage”
The village of Eklutna is reported to have around 70 members, although the exact tribal roll is hard to determine. Most, if not all of the members live throughout the municipality and depend on the power and water from the Eklutna project. The municipality has lifted the village to a government-to-government status and now meets with village leaders on a formal basis, which is what the Aug. 5 meeting is scheduled as.
On the agenda for the joint meeting on Sept. 5:
“Resolution AR No. AR 2024-276, a resolution of the Anchorage Municipal Assembly authorizing the Anchorage Assembly Chair to sign a Joint Resolution of the Anchorage Assembly and the Native Village of Eklutna in support of exploration of alternative solutions to attain our shared policy goals for full restoration of the Eklutna River.”
• Motion from Tribal Council authorizing President Leggett to sign Joint Resolution AR 2024-276
• Briefing re Gathering Place
• Eklutna River Restoration
• Update from Anchorage Hydropower Utility
• Placenames – changing the names of places around Anchorage to Native names
• Property Taxes
• Education
• Public Safety
• Boarding School Investigation
• Use of Alcohol Tax Funds for Culturally Relevant Programming for Youth Prevention Activities – Municipal Employee Training
• FY2025 Budget
• Cultural Tourism/Moose Loop Increase
• Other items
The tribe has been working “behind the scenes” with Anchorage, it says in a recent newsletter: “The Land and Environment Department has been working hard on the Eklutna River project – doing the behind the scenes work that is needed to work with our partners.”
Thus, it appears the Anchorage Assembly and/or the mayor have been having consultations and possible meetings “behind the scenes” with the tribe that the public has not been made aware of.
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