MEA has worked hard for power line solution

Matanuska Electric Association is building a high-voltage electrical transmission line from the new generation plant at Eklutna to the Valley’s load center — the city of Wasilla.

This project should have been constructed years ago when it became apparent there was substantial growth in that area. It was not, and now we have run out of time and ideas for resolving the problem of bulk electrical movement in the Valley. When MEA’s new generation plant comes on line, the risk to the system of a failure in the existing weak transmission system will be too great to tolerate, first for major outage results and secondly for potential equipment damage.

MEA has been working for many months to advise all affected parties of our transmission plans and deal with the permitting agencies. At this time, the future doesn’t look too bright for completing this important connection in time. I am dismayed by the city of Wasilla’s seeming disregard for the implications of not having adequate power levels and reliability, with necessary protections, in the city center.

MEA has conducted five public meetings, with the first in September 2012 and the most recent at the end of March of this year, to ensure that local residents have a seat at the table. In review of public and written comments, it is clear the public overwhelmingly supports the route along the Parks Highway. Of the five options still under consideration, the originally proposed Parks Highway Route is $3.65 million less expensive than any other option, and $4.17 million less than the Fairview Loop route preferred by Wasilla Mayor Verne Rupright.

The city administration’s alternative preference, undergrounding the transmission lines within its boundaries, would increase the cost of the project by more than $31 million. The Parks Highway Route is by far the path of least cost and least negative impact. It allows us to continue meeting the increased demand of the commercial corridor along the Parks Highway, and will ultimately increase the number and size of businesses Wasilla is able to attract. Given the dozens of public comments submitted in support of the Parks Highway route, it appears it is also the path of least opposition in the community as a whole.

MEA must move forward in a way that does not impose additional costs on MEA’s membership just to accommodate the city of Wasilla’s desires. The cost of more expensive approaches to meet specific, but not technically necessary, modifications must be borne by Wasilla residents and not the overall MEA membership.

MEA has serious concerns about the manner in which the city of Wasilla has handled this process. The tactics employed by the city staff in preparing a Wasilla Planning Commission information packet on the project filled with hundreds of pages of irrelevant information and cartoonish drawings is nothing short of government employees obstructing required legal procedures. Public employees should not act as gatekeepers using positions of authority to impose personal opinions on required actions in the permitting process.

In conclusion, this necessary project must proceed and MEA will pursue it in a businesslike manner. Mayor Rupright apparently believes there are alternative routings that may better meet the needs of his community. I am willing to undertake an alternative approach for meeting these concerns, with one proviso: MEA will not pass the additional costs of such alternative approaches on to the rest of the membership. Hence, I have proposed to Wasilla that we collectively define an alternate approach, and that MEA will petition the Regulatory Commission of Alaska for a rate increase in the form of a surcharge on all electric sales within the city of Wasilla to fund the difference in cost from our base case. The city of Wasilla hasn’t responded to my proposal.

Joe Griffith is general manager of Matanuska Electric Association.