Voters uphold Borough power plant ordinance

PALMER — Matanuska Electric Association’s efforts to repeal a power plant ordinance passed by the Mat-Su Borough in August 2007 failed Tuesday by about 900 votes.

The utility has maintained since the ordinance passed last summer that the permitting process the ordinance requires would tack $11 million to the price tag of the electricity cooperative’s efforts to build power generation plants in the Borough. MEA sponsored the ballot initiative with a signature-gathering campaign.

Tuesday, the initiative failed with 4,311 voting not to repeal the ordinance and 3,429 voting in favor of repeal. The utility’s board of directors on Sept. 8 voted to halt an advertising campaign urging voters to repeal the ordinance.

Late Tuesday night, MEA spokeswoman Lorali Carter said that the ordinance failed mainly due to lack of education.

“I do think, though, that had we been able to continue the public awareness campaign that we would have had a different outcome,” she said. “It’s unfortunate that our Mat-Su Borough Assembly is so anti-development that they would create regulations that would purposely shut-down a natural gas plant in the Valley.”

MEA board member Janet Kincaid said the outcome was the right one.

“I think anything of the magnitude of building a generation plant needs to have some public oversight,” Kincaid said. “Revise the ordinance, let’s just don’t cut it out.”