Crevasse-Moraine power line discussed

MAT-SU -- Matanuska Electric Association officials, representatives of the University of Alaska and Mat-Su Borough staff planned to meet Monday to try to come up with a suitable route for a transmission line that may provide more stable service to Valley residents.

MEA and borough officials for months have been discussing a potential route for a 115-kilovolt transmission line that would run from the Palmer-Wasilla Highway to the new hospital being built just off Trunk Road near the Parks Highway.

The project has changed its look a number of times since MEA first applied for easements along borough-owned land east of the Mat-Su Borough Central Landfill. That application was revoked after borough staff asked questions about, but did not approve or deny, the request for easements.

In its place, MEA submitted an alternative application, along section-line easements, that would have extended the transmission line without requiring the Mat-Su Borough planning commission and assembly to approve the route. Although the matter is in dispute, state law allows utilities to use section lines as easements.

The problem, according to borough officials and concerned community members who spoke at the Oct. 19 meeting, is that the section-line easement would cross both the landfill and a portion of the Crevasse-Moraine trail system.

Throughout the process, according to both MEA and borough officials, communication has been lacking. MEA spokesman Tuckerman Babcock, when speaking to the assembly on Oct. 19 about a resolution pertaining to the route, said borough staff had knowingly violated the assembly's own ordinance in delaying a decision on granting the section-line easements MEA requested.

"We filed for a permit in August, and the borough has 20 days to respond," Babcock said. MEA did not receive a yes-or-no response, he said, so the co-op moved forward on surveying the section-line easement route.

Borough Community Development Department Director Ron Swanson said he anticipated public concern about the project and informed MEA officials of plans to take public comment about the proposed section-line easement route. Swanson said it was the second time borough staff had suggested MEA allow the public to comment on the proposal.

"We did call MEA up and … said there were concerns, but did they want to take it to public notice," Swanson said. "MEA did consider that and … came back with a new application that goes along section lines. The current application … does not require public notice. It does require the borough to act within a certain number of days."

Swanson said he recognized that there would likely be public outcry about a 100-foot easement running through the popular trail system, so he told MEA officials the borough planned to give public notice and take comments on the application.

Swanson said the borough public works department received more than 80 e-mails, plus more that were blocked by the borough's e-mail firewall protection. There were a lot of walk-in comments, he said, and many telephone calls from people concerned about seeing a transmission line cutting through Crevasse-Moraine trails.

"The borough has recognized Crevasse-Moraine as a tourist destination and cultural resource by way of giving $16,000 for the development of trails," said Jack Dunlap, a trail user who asked the borough to find another route for the transmission line.

"Not only should the utility extension be denied as currently proposed, but also, the borough should take steps, as identified in their own [Parks, Recreation and Open Space plan] document to secure all the property in the area through land acquisition/swap with UAA and designate the trails and surrounding area as parkland," Karol and John Kolehmainen of Palmer wrote.

Babcock said an Oct. 25 meeting was set up between MEA and University of Alaska officials, and he anticipated university officials may have some alternative routes proposed to extend the line through its property. He invited borough representatives to take part in the meeting as well -- and borough assembly members, through a unanimous vote, passed a resolution directing borough officials to attend the meeting.

Contact Rindi White at rindi.white@frontiersman.com.