They include a self-described civilian “bureaucrat” working for the Alaska National Guard, a farmer/linguist whose Palmer operation employs green energy, a former secretary for the Army, a homesteading lawyer, a retired schools superintendent and a Vietnam veteran and Alaska energy industry gadfly.
With such a variety of experience, it’s no surprise the candidates differ on what they see as the right path for the co-op. Though there is one point they all agree on — the tumult the board saw in 2009, when it fired the utility’s general manager and installed a new one — is more or less over. It’s time now, they all said, to roll up their sleeves and get to work keeping the lights on.
  
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Incumbent Larry DeVilbiss is facing off against challenger Bill Tull. The seat represents Palmer and the surrounding area.
DeVilbiss came to the board as an appointee. If elected, he would be taking on his third elected term. He is a farmer in Palmer and employs wind and solar power generators in his operation.
He said his primary goal at the utility is to hold down expenses. Which, to him, means the co-op should build its own power plant and get out from under its contract to buy nearly all of its energy from Chugach Electric Association.
On the board right now, “Everybody else’s philosophy is, ‘Well, we’ll just get all the power from everybody else that we can and only generate what we absolutely have to,’” DeVilbiss said. “I think our cheapest, most reliable power is going to be what we generate right here.”
He has started a blog for his campaign — LDformea.blogspot.com.
His challenger, nearly retired attorney Bill Tull, said keeping rates down is also very important to him, but he isn’t so sure building a plant is the way to go.
“It’s nice to be independent, but you have to look at the finances,” Tull said. “It seems to me if we can develop co-operation amongst at least four of the Railbelt utilities, everybody would be in a better position. We could buy en masse.”
Both agreed on one thing, though. MEA should not rule out the possibility of generating power using coal.
Susitna District
Incumbent Katie Hurley is squaring off against challenger Bob Doyle. The seat represents Wasilla and the surrounding area.
Hurley served as secretary to the Alaska Constitutional Convention. She also once chaired the state Board of Education, served a term in the state Legislature and ran for lieutenant governor.
She said she wants a second term on the board because she hasn’t finished her work there yet.
On the generation issue, she said that in the broadest terms the board has to select the right manager who can be trusted to give board members good information and steer them in the right direction. She said the current general manager, Joe Griffith, is that man.
“He’s great to work with and I feel that we’ve made a lot of progress,” she said.
Her opponent, former superintendent of the Mat-Su Borough School District, Bob Doyle said he thinks the board needs to be very careful when deciding how to proceed on the question of where the co-op will get its power. Building a natural gas-fired plant at Eklutna, he said, might not be the most cost effective solution, considering the current state of natural gas production in Alaska and the projections that the state may someday have to import gas from Outside.
“There’s natural gas probably in the ground, but we’re not doing a lot of drilling right now,” he said. “I think we just need to be going in there with our eyes wide open making sure that we are getting a good deal.”
Hurley said she hopes to keep rates steady or at least not increase them too much. She said she feels the board has done a good job of that in her tenure.
“You never know what forces are at work that make it so that you have to. But we have not had to have big rate increases,” she said.
Doyle disagrees.
“I see a lot of rate increases. They’re scheduling rate increases for the third and fourth quarters,” he said. “When the cost of natural gas is going down the cost of power should go down.”
Eagle River District
Incumbent David Glines will battle opponent Tom Staudenmaier. The district represents Eagle River and the surrounding area.
Glines has been on the board for going on three years. Like his opponent, he is retired military. He has worked for the General Electric Company and for FedEx. Currently, he works in a civilian role for the Army.
“There’s more to do. Certainly we’ve had our issues on that board, but we’ve worked through most of them and we’ve got to move on,” he said of why he wants to retain his seat. “Probably, really, the next 12 to 18 months are crucial.”
Crucial, he said, because this is the time when the co-op is going to have to decide what it’s going to do for power when its contract with Chugach expires. If that means a new plant, the work will have to be done very quickly.
As for Staudenmaier, he doesn’t favor a new plant. Nor does he favor the continued existence of MEA. At least not in its current form.
He wants to consolidate all the Railbelt utilities into one organization to save on overhead and tie the grids together.
It’s a drum he’s been beating for years. And, in some ways, it’s a dream that looks closer now than it ever has to fruition. The state is looking at a plan called the Greater Railbelt Energy and Transmission Corporation, which will consolidate the generation and transmission of power and leave the co-ops to distribute it.
But Staudenmaier doesn’t like it. He thinks it’s a move to nationalize the power industry under a semi-private corporation.
“It is just plain garbage,” he said bluntly in his candidate’s statement.
Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.
Comments
7 comment(s)PT wrote on Mar 30, 2010 11:05 AM:
to Think Clearly... wrote on Mar 17, 2010 9:30 AM:
To think clearly wrote on Mar 16, 2010 3:52 PM:
simba wrote on Mar 16, 2010 3:45 PM:
think clearly wrote on Mar 16, 2010 8:45 AM:
Lots of wind wrote on Mar 15, 2010 9:36 PM:
A power plant in the valley will eliminate that waste. The wisest thing MEA could do is to buy ML&P as they own their own gas well. Developing coal seam gass would provide local dependable gas supplies here in the valley. Lots of details to work out but it works. Where is our wind farm. Certainly the wind blows and its renewable. "
Go Bill Tull wrote on Mar 15, 2010 9:20 PM: