Our view: What now on energy?

Both the state Senate and the state House are heeding the call.

The Senate Energy Policy Group has worked up a 50-page list of ideas for how Alaska can get more reliable and more affordable energy to residents and businesses. It's a useful list of possibilities, but it's still a work in progress.

Some ideas have price tags; some don't. There's no attempt to parse the benefits vs. costs of each idea. If the suggestion seems at all promising for Alaska, it's in there. The Senate document is a wish list, and a long one at that -- a lot longer than even Santa Claus can deliver.

Now the challenge is to winnow the list down to a practical, affordable package that's fair to all parts of the state. Alaskans are invited to share their thoughts with the Senate Energy Policy Group through Dec. 15. (See www.energy.aksenate.org.)

Alaska doesn't lack for ideas to cope with today's energy problems. What we lack is information on the most cost-effective strategies. And without that, we lack agreement on what are the best priorities for spending limited resources.

"It's a pretty ambitious list. ... (But) everything on that list is pretty good policy, frankly," says Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, co-leader of the Senate energy group, along with Republican colleague, Sen. Lesil McGuire.

"We're not going to be able to afford to do everything on it, clearly," Wielechowski says. He and Sen. McGuire will be looking to the public for advice on what the priority ideas should be.

"If the public says 'This is a terrible idea,' we'll respond to that," Wielechowski says.

The House Energy Committee is also working on an energy policy. Led by Reps. Cherisse Millet of Anchorage and Bryce Edgmon of Dillingham, the House panel has also traveled around the state to hear from Alaskans. A stakeholders' group is working on a draft policy that covers many of the same themes as the Senate, though with far less in the way of detailed proposals.

Sen. Wielechowski is right when he says, "What's been lacking in Alaska is an overarching set of (energy) policy recommendations that will move us in the direction we need to go." One area of agreement seems clear:

Like the Senate energy group's list of ideas, the House draft gives high billing to energy conservation and efficiency. Finding ways to use less energy is usually the fastest way to save money and expand energy supplies. The Senate list would continue or expand programs like weatherization, home energy retrofits, LED lighting conversions, and more efficient electric utility operations.

Other goals on the Senate's list include promoting a North Slope gas pipeline, encouraging more oil production, preventing energy price gouging, and coordinating the state's various energy programs. Few would argue with those goals, but Alaskans don't necessarily agree on how to achieve them.

Other ideas are more vague, such as "technical assistance" to businesses and "public education" about energy, including school children, or keeping the Flint Hills refinery in North Pole "viable."

This round of work on energy is not intended to produce a report that just gathers dust on the shelf. Rep. Millet and Sen. Wielechowski want their work to guide the Legislature's decisions next year on what energy bills to pass and what energy projects to fund.

Both the House and Senate panels are making a worthwhile effort to guide Alaska's energy future. Alaskans should speak up.

BOTTOM LINE: Legislature's interim work is encouraging, but tough choices lie ahead.