Officials seek PR firm for Susitna dam process

MAT-SU - The Alaska Energy Authority is hiring a public relations firm to promote the dam proposed for the Susitna River.

The Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric Project, currently estimated to cost more than $4.5 billion, would be the largest state-funded project ever built in Alaska and among the tallest dams in the country.

The project involves a dam at least 700 feet tall, a 39-mile-long reservoir, a power plant and a road and transmission line connecting the plant with the Alaska Intertie.

It could supply half the Railbelt's electrical needs, meet a state mandate to supply electricity with renewable energy sources and create up to 1,000 construction jobs. But critics say the state is pushing the project without enough concern for potential downsides for fish and wildlife, particularly the Susitna River's prized salmon runs.

The authority reports it plans to pay an initial $500,000 this year to hire a team to conduct a "full range of public relations services and resources to help project offices with public involvement."

That includes media relations, publications and presentations, special event planning and "advocacy assistance," according to a request for proposals posted Jan. 24.

That word - "advocacy" - grates on Rick Leo, board president of the Coalition for Alternatives to the Susitna Dam, a 150-member nonprofit based in the Susitna Valley. The dam would sit about 90 miles upstream from Talkeetna.

Leo alledges the state is trying to "spin the dam" as a done deal instead of taking the time to study all aspects before going ahead.

"It's a lousy project and they're trying to do everything they can to make it look good," he said.

Officials with the authority call the request for proposals, or RFP, a standard process aimed at improving public outreach on an important project.

The agency isn't asking for additional money to fund the PR contract. The project received a little more than $7 million in state money before getting $68 million from the Legislature last year. It had spent $10 million at the end of 2011, according to a report submitted to the Legislature this month.

"The Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric Project has the potential to provide long-term, stable energy to Alaskans living throughout the Railbelt region," authority public outreach liaison Emily Ford wrote in an email. "It's a complex project and we've heard requests for frequent and timely access to information."

The authority anticipated hiring a PR firm at some point, Ford wrote, "but it's safe to say that increasing requests for information and the number of upcoming and anticipated public meetings made the RFP a high priority."

The state plans a series of meetings on the project in Southcentral starting in March. Public interest in the project is running high.

More than 40 people and organizations filed for "intervenor" status in the authority's preliminary permit application process. That gives them official standing with the project's licensing agency, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Of that number, 21 were individuals, 16 state and national non-governmental organizations, three community councils and two federal agencies, according to Becky Long, a Talkeetna-area resident who intervened in the project.

The state also is about to embark on potentially sensitive negotiations with a number of Alaska Native entities. Cook Inlet Region Inc. and several affiliated village corporations hold surface and sub-surface rights to large amounts of land in the project area, including the dam site itself.

The state spent several years and $145 million in the late 1970s and early 1980s on a Susitna hydroelectric project before scrapping it in 1986 due to financing difficulties and the low cost of gas-fired electricity.

The authority hopes to file for a federal license in late 2015 under an "aggressive" but doable schedule, project manager Wayne Dyok told state legislators with the House Energy Special Committee on Thursday. The dam could supply power within 11 years.

State and federal scientists last year expressed concern the federal licensing timeline didn't give them enough time to study the dam's impact on the Susitna's salmon alone. The authority added more studies this summer in response.

For more information on the Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric Project, visit susitna-watanahydro.org or susitnadamalternatives.org.