State lacks access to Susitna dam lands

SUSITNA VALLEY - Before work can proceed on the proposed Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric Project project, the state needs to deal with the fact that someone else owns crucial parcels of land in the area.

Cook Inlet Region Inc. and its associated villages hold surface and subsurface rights to a sizeable amount of the project area, including the dam site. A specific acreage amount wasn't available from CIRI or the Alaska Energy Authority, the state entity overseeing the project.

"There's access issues that need to be addressed up front - that's a goal of ours," said Emily Ford, the authority's public outreach liaison. "If those aren't resolved ... there's very little likelihood of having a successful project."

Tyonek Native Corp. owns surface estate at the dam site, and CIRI or village corporations own "a fair amount of the acreage" that would be flooded, according to Ethan Schutt, CIRI's senior vice president for land and energy development.

CIRI also owns the resource area for sand, rock and gravel for construction and owns "long stretches" of at least one of the routes proposed for an access road and power lines, Schutt said. The road also could bring potential trespass problems from an influx of recreational users entering what's now remote country accessible to few, he said.

"It is an important relationship to work out. That's very clear," Schutt said. "I think the AEA understands that. We certainly hold that view."

There's a certain amount of urgency to the issue because project researchers will need access to project lands to start studies, Ford agreed. Then, a bit later, project crews will need access to build roads and transmission lines, not to mention the dam itself. It's unclear what form the resolution might take.

Ford said of the project's currently estimated $4 billion price tag, which includes potential land acquisition costs.

Some of the lands in the potential project area haven't even been selected yet under the decades-old Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, which enabled construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. Land selection is at the center of a federal lawsuit between the Ninilchik Tribal Corp. and CIRI.

While it's no secret that CIRI and others own land in the project area, the state didn't really initiate substantive discussions on the issue until November, both sides acknowledged.

The Susitna project team didn't come on until then, and the authority also needed time to pinpoint what lands it needed, Ford said.

CIRI hasn't taken a position on the hydro project yet, Schutt said.

The relationship established during discussions "will certainly have an effect," he said.