Electrical co-ops ready for eruption

MAT-SU -- For more than a month, nearby Mount Spurr has been the focus of a lot of squinted observation from people in Southcentral Alaska, and with good reason.

It's been 12 years since Spurr last erupted, and scientists with the Alaska Volcanic Observatory tagged Spurr with a yellow label, a sign they've increased the level of monitoring on the mountain, and a potential forewarning of volcanic activity.

"Nobody's saying it's going to erupt tomorrow … but it's been a while since we've had an eruption overall … and it's unusual for us to go a year without at least one documented eruption -- maybe we're overdue," said Jim Dixon, a geophysicist with the observatory.

Spurr, 80 miles from Anchorage, is about 40 miles from Chugach Electric Association's primary source of power, the Beluga plant. Chugach provides power for Matanuska Electric Association, and shares power, at times, with other electrical cooperatives from Fairbanks to Homer, including Municipal Light and Power, which serves Anchorage.

The Beluga plant weathered Spurr's 1992 eruption with little disturbance, according to Chugach representative Patti Bogan, and the co-op's staff are confident it will do so again in the case of another eruption.

The plant is equipped with pulsating filters that filter out most of the ash, Bogan said, and winds during the 1992 eruption carried most of the ash to the northeast, away from the plant.

That wasn't the first run-in Chugach has had with ash outfall.

In 1986, Mount Augustine erupted and winds weren't in Chugach's favor. Ash was carried in the direction of Chugach's Bernice Lake power plant, but the filtration system installed the year before at the plant allowed it to continue operating with no shut-downs, Bogan said. And although production was scaled back, when Redoubt erupted in 1989, Chugach was able to continue operating with no shutdowns -- again, due largely to the filtration system in place.

If Spurr erupts, Bogan said, and the Beluga plant is forced to shut down, Chugach would first attempt to purchase power from other cooperatives or increase activity from areas not generally used.

"We may run units that wouldn't normally run, that are not as economic," Bogan said. "If there was a lot of ash, and we couldn't run the other units, we may be asking people to curtail their usage."

Anchorage residents may be requested to curb usage as well, said Gary Fife, public information officer with Anchorage's Municipal Light and Power. Although ML&P has filtration systems in place, Fife said the ash could cause damage to the generators at their George Sullivan plant, located off the Glenn Highway, or at their Hank Nikkels plant, located at Ship Creek.

"We would be extremely concerned about having major machinery running with volcanic particles in the air, and may have to shut things down to preserve our machinery," Fife said.

Fife said in the case of such an emergency, they may also begin asking their customers to reduce electrical usage.

"We caution against running [computers and other electrical appliances] in heavy ashflow because it can affect them," Fife said.

Ultimately, both Fife and Bogan said, the electrical needs of the Southcentral area would be weighed along with the generation ability.

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