April 6,2007

By Russell Stigall

Frontiersman MAT-SU - Supporters of Matanuska Electric Association's plan for a coal-fired generator may get a renewable resource in their stockings this year.

Some Valley residents consider tried-and-true power from burning coal a relic of the past. So when MEA released its plan to provide the Valley's future electric needs with coal, they responded with some skepticism, said Valley resident Bill Erickson.

MEA is currently asking for public comment on the location of its proposed 100-megawatt fluidized bed combustion coal plant.

Erickson doesn't think that is enough public input.

In an attempt to bring renewable resources into the conversation, Erickson and a group of Valley residents have put together a request form for Matanuska Electric ratepayers to sign. If enough valid MEA members sign the form, MEA must agree to hold a special meeting.

“Instead of asking where, we'll ask what,” Erickson said.

MEA, being a co-op, is beholden to its members and its bylaws.

Under article 3, section 2, MEA bylaws discuss special meetings. “Special meetings of the members may be called by resolution of the board, or upon a written request signed by 10 percent or more of all the members ... .”

Ten percent of MEA members equals about 4,500 needed signatures.

“We don't want the coal. We're taking coal down, but we're going to fill the void,” Erickson said.

He said he wants to fill that void with renewable resources.

Tim Leach, a Palmer resident who shares Erickson's distaste for coal, got fired up about the subject at MEA's annual meeting. There he heard about the co-op's future generation plans, spelled out in abridged form in an executive summary of MEA's Integrated Resource Plan.

Leach said he talked to several other concerned Valley residents after the meeting.

“Looking at a large amount of our power coming from coal has a lot of people concerned,” Leach said.

By limiting renewable power to 10 percent of MEA's total power production in 2015, Leach said he thinks the IRP is incomplete.

“It wasn't done as fully as it could have been, from MEA's standpoint,” Leach said. “Renewables have to be part of our lager vision in respects to our future.”

Leach is not an MEA member, since he is not connected to the grid.

“I'm getting my solar panels tomorrow,” Leach said during a phone interview Wednesday.

Though not an MEA member, Leach said he still has human and environmental health concerns that drive him.

“As a citizen and member of this community, I feel it is a good discussion to have on a community level,”

At MEA's last board meeting, March 19, board member David Dahms called for a workshop on renewables. The workshop will take place during MEA's board meeting, Monday at 2:30 p.m. at the MEA building.

“For anyone who would want to have information on MEA's consideration of renewable energy,” said Lorali Carter, MEA spokesperson.

Though renewables are an excellent source of supplemental power, Carter said, MEA's conclusion is that base-load power cannot be provided by renewable energy.

“To provide reliable service, we have to look at fossil fuels and gas,” Carter said.

MEA already produces about 17 to 19 megawatts of power from its shares in the hydroelectric projects at Eklutna Lake and Bradley Lake.

“We will have to add 5 megawatts as part of our 2015 plan,” said Tuckerman Babcock, MEA spokesperson.

That 5 megawatts could come from small hydro projects or by burning gas produced by the natural decay of the Anchorage landfill.

“Those seem to be two things on the horizon,” Babcock said.

On its Web site, MEA has available 2,400 pages on renewable energy sources.

Erickson, a self-described “pain in the neck,” said he's been fighting polluters and some developers in the Valley his whole life.

”Every time they dirty my Valley I stand up and stop them,” Erickson said.

In a prepared statement, Erickson said he doesn't want people in Alaska to follow the cheap and easy old way of coal combustion “with its poisons of mercury and pollution.”

“We of Alaska are wealthy. We have a wealth of monies, resources and people. Dynamic people of great minds, talent and imagination. We are one of the youngest states, and I want us to be known around the world as leaders - leaders of how to do it right, right for the times at hand,” the statement said.

Friends of Mat-Su, an organization that promotes responsible development, is promoting Erickson's special meeting request.

“Friends of Mat-Su believes in a thorough public process and is supporting the effort to request a special meeting so that the community can discuss options of future power generation with MEA,” Friends of Mat-Su spokesperson Kathy Wells said in a press release.

Signed special meeting request forms must be sent in before April 13.

Contact Russell Stigall at 352-2267 or russell.stigall@frontiersman.com