The story behind Knowles' veto …

A Spectrum, by Wayne Carmony

Years ago the Railbelt Energy Fund was created to fund big projects to benefit the whole railbelt. It was a tempting pot of money. While others spent the last two sessions trying to figure out how they could spend nearly every remaining penny of it, MEA lobbied to preserve the fund. Where was the Anchorage Daily News then?

While others suggested to MEA that we play along to get along, we continued to try and protect the integrity of the fund.

We successfully helped block the spending spree until the final days of the second session. Unfortunately, those desiring to raid the fund finally prevailed.

Once it became clear the train was leaving the station, Eagle River and Mat-Su legislators made a compelling case that if the fund was going to be spent, then at least the people of the Eagle River/Mat-Su areas should be given their share. Thanks to the efforts of our local legislators, and support from the overwhelming majority in both the Senate and the House, $16.2 million was appropriated from the Railbelt Energy Fund to the area MEA serves.

Then the veto of $15.5 million. Gov. Knowles' "explanation" for targeting the people of Eagle River/Mat-Su does not pass the red face test. The governor claimed in his veto message that the projects were added at the end of session and not enough information was provided. That's absurd.

What the governor failed to mention is that neither he nor anyone in his administration ever asked MEA for any information about those projects.

The truth is that his veto is exactly what the Anchorage Daily News reported: a veto targeted at the districts of certain Republican legislators.

Yet, the Anchorage Daily News editorialized in support of Gov. Knowles' vindictive veto of more than $15 million in electrical projects for the Eagle River/Mat-Su area. They did not mention that the governor left undisturbed $2 million for new power in Seldovia, $1.5 million for pioneer line extensions in the Fairbanks area (half added during the last week), $19 million for a premature upgrade of an Anchorage transmission line, $20.3 million to double the capacity for power sold from Anchorage to Fairbanks and millions more for electric projects in Kodiak, Cordova, Copper Valley, etc.

A closer look at the $15.5 million vetoed would reveal that $10 million was simply a hold-harmless provision so MEA consumers would not have to pay at least an additional $7-10 million as a result of AIDEA's questionable intertie upgrade scheme.

The remaining $5.5 million Knowles vetoed would have allowed relocation of the Lucas substation away from a busy intersection on the Glenn Highway in Palmer, under-grounding of some troublesome lines in downtown Eagle River, Palmer and Wasilla and extension of pioneer lines to people in rural Mat-Su who at this time are not even connected to the electric grid.

I hope that in the future, the Daily News editors will at least provide the people of the Eagle River/Mat-Su and MEA the courtesy of an inquiry before jumping to these startling conclusions.

Wayne Carmony is the general manager of MEA.