Anchorage Daily News

WASILLA -- A $4 million hydroelectric project proposed for Hatcher Pass is getting re-energized but is facing questions about its impact on a premier salmon stream in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.

Fishhook Renewable Energy originally hoped to build the project last summer. Now plans call for construction to start in spring 2009, a more realistic timeline, said engineer Dan Hertrich of Polarconsult Inc., an Anchorage firm.

The company is working with Matanuska Electric Association, as well as Chugach Electric Association in Anchorage, in hopes of securing contracted buyers of the power, Hertrich said.

The run-of-river dam would straddle Fishhook Creek, high up the pass near the road to Willow. The so-called dam would not create a reservoir. Water would flow through a long pipeline to a powerhouse along the Little Susitna River.

Potentially capable of powering upwards of 1,000 homes, the Fishhook project represents a small step away from conventional energy such as natural gas or coal.

But it's also generating concerns about the insects in the creek, which empties into the Little Su, a silver salmon stronghold and popular fishery. Salmon feed on those insects.

Fishhook Renewable has also applied for a loan from the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, a state lending agency, for about $3 million, Hertrich said. The company also applied for about $1 million in grants from the Alaska Energy Authority, another state agency.

SWARM OF INSECTS

But the bugs kept coming up during a presentation at the Matanuska-Susitna Borough planning commission Monday evening, baffling engineers who say they don't understand why their project is being singled out.

Wal-Mart must have killed plenty of bugs when it was built, Hertrich said.

"Even though we're removing a lot of surface water from this creek, there's still going to be water," he said. "To think it's suddenly going to turn into a bone-dry desert and all the bugs are going to disappear is a real stretch."

Planning commissioner Mark Masteller said the emphasis on insects should come as no surprise given the Little Su's status as a coho fishery. But state regulatory agencies lack experts to study them, Masteller said. There's also little mechanism in place to weigh the cumulative effect of future hydroelectric projects.

"The whole dewatering issue is a big deal," he said. "At the same time, we need renewable energy. I think these guys are headed in the right direction, we just need to figure out the impacts in that creek."

NO BUG ISSUE

The borough at this point, however, has little regulatory authority over the project because the Assembly has yet to approve a special land-use designation for the area.

Protecting fish -- but not bugs -- falls under a state habitat permit required of the project, said Mike Bethe, Mat-Su area manager for the Office of Habitat Management and Permitting. Fishhook Creek holds a small resident population of Dolly Varden, Bethe said.

At this point, Bethe said, the state has seen no reason to address insect populations.

He said the state is hoping to create more fish-friendly conditions by using water coming out of the powerhouse to restore a dry section of the original Fishhook channel previously diverted by state transportation officials.

Biologists also asked the company to restore a nearby culvert if necessary and make sure that enough water bypasses the powerhouse that the creek doesn't run dry.

"It's pretty obvious this is not a huge hydro project," Bethe said. "It may be controversial from the standpoint of this location but the fact of the matter is, if done properly this thing can end up being a contributor to the overall power grid ... and if we're lucky, provide for a method to really improve fish habitat."

Find Zaz Hollander online at adn.com/contact/zhollander or call her in Wasilla at 1-907-352-6711.

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