ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - In a resolution that passed unanimously by all eight members present at a special meeting on Friday, the Anchorage Assembly stated their opposition to the Draft Fish and Wildlife Program for the Eklutna Hydroelectric Project unless the full length of the river is restored.
The Municipality of Anchorage, Chugach Electric and the Matanuska Electric Association all own the Elkutna Hydroelectric Project, a dam about 30 miles northeast of Downtown Anchorage.
The project produces about 44% of MEA’s renewable generation and 25% of Chugach Electric’s renewable energy portfolio, according to the project’s Draft Fish and Wildlife Program. Eklutna Lake is the source of nearly 90% of Anchorage’s drinking water.
The draft program was a requirement by the federal government in the 1990s to address concerns, at the time, raised about the project’s impacts on fish and wildlife. The deadline for that plan to be submitted to the governor is April, and the governor has until October to make a final decision.
The president of the Native Village of Eklutna has asked for the entire Eklutna River to be restored.
The Eklutna River has been largely dry since the reconstruction of the dam in the 1950s, and now the Assembly is also calling for the river’s restoration, which could include taking the dam apart.
Assembly member Kevin Cross, who represents Chugiak and Eagle River, said almost all the community councils in his district have come out in favor of full restoration. He compared the situation between the project’s owners and the Native Village of Eklutna in frank terms.
“If you stole my car, and then only offered me back a bicycle or unicycle, I would not be too happy about it,” Cross said. “We know that the owner’s group purchased it at around 10 cents on the dollar with the agreement that they were going to restore, make efforts [to restore],” Cross said. “I want to make sure that we’re giving more options and my concern is that the options are really good for the owners but not so good for the people whose car was stolen.”
Restoration of the Elkutna River was never a requirement in the federal agreement to address fish and wildlife concerns of the dam, said Julie Hasquet, Chugach Electric’s communications manager.
“We’ve been working with the Native Village for about three years,” Hasquet said. “They were part of our technical working groups, they were part of our alternatives analysis. We did a study in the field with them. They do have a different desire and outcome they’d like to see from this process. We feel like we’ve come up with a good compromise that will create some fish habitat.”
A statement from Rep. Jamie Allard, R-Eagle River, blasted the Assembly’s decision, writing that there “are no reasons to risk 90% of the Municipality of Anchorage’s water supply, nor gut a reliable, dispatchable and low-cost, low-carbon-footprint energy solution for Southcentral Alaska.”
The Native Village of Eklutna supports the Assembly’s resolution.
The final fish and wildlife proposal will be sent to Gov. Mike Dunleavy in April. He has until October to make a decision.
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Anchorage Assembly opposes hydroelectric dam fish and wildlife proposal - Alaska's News Source
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