Anchorage Daily News

The Homer Electric Association is backing away from its previous agreement to help start up the troubled Healy Clean Coal Plant.

The Homer-based electrical co-op had been working with the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, the state agency that owns the Healy plant, and the Golden Valley Electric Association to revive the plant.

The experimental coal plant has been inactive for the past 10 years after mixed results from startup tests and a long-running dispute between AIDEA and Golden Valley.

In January, Golden Valley agreed to purchase the plant, which cost $300 million to build, from AIDEA for $50 million. HEA agreed to purchase 50 percent of the power generated beginning in 2014. The plant is designed to produce about 50 megawatts of electricity, making it small to medium-sized in the region.

At the time, HEA board president Debbie Debnam said the Healy plant would provide diversification of local fuel sources and reduce utility prices in the Railbelt.

But environmental groups opposed the agreement to revive the Healy plant, calling it a "black hole" for public money.

At a board meeting Tuesday night, HEA board members passed a motion 8-1 saying that the utility's general manager should transition the co-op away from involvement with the Healy plant.

"The action of the board means Homer Electric will begin reassessing its rights and responsibilities under the various agreements" it entered with its partners, the co-op said Thursday.

Joe Gallagher, spokesman for Homer Electric, said the board was concerned "about potential litigation tying up the Healy project, thus making it difficult to plan for our power supply needs in 2014. That is when HEA's current power supply contract with Chugach (Electric) ends and HEA plans to take care of its own generation needs."

An AIDEA spokesman said Thursday that it is too early to determine the consequences of Homer Electric's decision, but AIDEA is still committed to bringing the Healy plant on line.

Find Elizabeth Bluemink online at adn.com/contact/ebluemink or call 257-4317.

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