Anchorage Daily News

In her State of the State speech, Gov. Palin floated an idea that would improve the energy situation in the Railbelt. She'd like to see all Railbelt electric utilities join together in a single organization for planning new generators and transmission lines. It would supply power at a uniform wholesale rate throughout the region. Most energy experts agree Gov. Palin is right: Having six different utilities makes a fragmented and inefficient system. In the Lower 48, an area like the Railbelt would typically have a single, medium-size electric utility.

Instead the Railbelt gets the worst of both worlds: We don't get the economies of scale that can come from a single large electric project serving the whole region. And we don't get the advantages of doing the opposite -- having many electricity suppliers that pursue a diversity of power sources and build a wider, more reliable network of transmission lines.

What Railbelt Alaskans get is utility empire building and turf wars.

Matanuska Electric Association recently spent a lot of time and money unsuccessfully pursuing its own coal-fired generators, Meanwhile other utilities worked on adding cleaner, relatively cheap natural gas units. Until recently, Homer Electric and Golden Valley Electric in Fairbanks were at odds over who'd get power from the mothballed Healy "clean" coal project.

Anchorage enjoys relatively cheap electrical rates, thanks to the nation's lowest-cost natural gas, while Fairbanks is stuck with more expensive, dirtier power sources. But Southcentral utilities aren't sure where they will find enough gas to keep running existing turbines.

Geothermal power from Mount Spurr is getting attention as a renewable energy option. So is hydro power from Lake Chakachamna. A scaled down version of the Susitna mega-hydroelectric project has its fans, while others favor smaller, more dispersed projects, like the wind turbines planned for Anchorage's Fire Island.

Somebody needs to sort through all the competing options and chart a coherent path forward.

So far Gov. Palin hasn't offered details on a Railbelt utility coordination proposal. A recent state study recommended doing it through a state entity like the Alaska Energy Authority. In her speech Palin spoke of creating a "joint utility corporation" to do the coordinating. Chugach Electric spokesman Phil Steyer spoke favorably of using a working arrangement similar to the one the state employs with the Bradley Lake hydro project near Homer.

And there's the dilemma. To ensure coordination requires giving the new utility organization centralized powers. But the more autonomy utilities are asked to surrender, the less likely they are to join the effort on their own accord. And good luck forcing them to do it -- each major utility has powerful political allies in Juneau.

If Gov. Palin is going to make this useful idea work, she's got some hard work ahead.

BOTTOM LINE: The Railbelt needs turf-conscious electric utilities to chart a common path forward.

Volcano watch

A woman sitting behind me in the short stack of bleachers Monday night at Chugiak High pool was complaining about the Mount Redoubt stories in the Daily News.

She said she was sick of Page One stories every day that say the volcano hasn't erupted.

Now I didn't set out to eavesdrop. But it's hard not to listen when someone is talking about your outfit. And it's nice to know that she's reading. Better to talk about us like that than not at all.

As a friend here pointed out, we usually don't publish stories about what hasn't happened.

Volcanoes on the verge are an exception.

So is the Nenana Ice Classic once we hit mid-April and the Tanana wants to flow.

You can argue whether a story is overplayed, but a gathering storm can be newsworthy before it breaks.

Has the ice gone out?

Is the levee holding?

Has the volcano blown?

Redoubt's trembling lent urgency to the alarm that interrupted KLEF FM on the Glenn Highway commute Tuesday morning. All we heard in the front seats at first was "Emergency Broadcast System," then static. For a second or two, we thought this might be the volcano. We relaxed at the words, "This has been a test ..."

-- Frank Gerjevic

ADVERTISEMENT