What will be the best power-line route?

DAWN De BUSK/Frontiersman reporter

The Mat-Su Borough Assembly offered the public an open house Friday to review alternate routes for Matanuska Electric Association's electrical-line extension from the Palmer-Wasilla Highway to the Parks Highway and Trunk Road Intersection, where Mat-Su Valley Medical Center is being constructed.

Community members who attended this fact-gathering event held at Mat-Su College moved around the room from map to map and studied charts explaining three proposed routes being considered by the borough.

Less feasible routes and explanations why those alternatives aren't viable at this time were included in information packets. Also listed, simply as additional information, were different types of line configurations and a cost estimate of each.

The information supplied to the public was provided by HDR Inc., a company hired by the borough to evaluate MEA's proposed project, which would supply a second source of power to the hospital now under construction.

The objective of the weekend's open house was to give Valley residents an opportunity to become more educated about the available options and have adequate time to digest all the information before the issue is addressed at tonight's borough assembly meeting, according to Deputy Borough Mayor Jim Colver.

MEA planned to begin installing transmission lines in January through the borough's central landfill, but halted the project voluntarily after the borough filed in court for a temporary restraining order. Palmer Superior Court Judge Beverly Cutler has given the borough more time to find a route that is in the public's best interest. So, in an effort to gain input from a more informed public, the borough contracted with HDR to study alternative routes for the lines.

HDR concluded in its report: "There does not seem to be an immediate need for any additional power service to be built into the hospital service area since the area already has a sufficient connection to the Lazell Substation and the hospital has its own stand-by emergency back up power. Therefore, it appears to us that there is time available to perform these additional tasks."

"A lot of people would like to see this not happen at all; but that wouldn't resolve the impending legal action set for trial in July," Colver said.

That sentiment was echoed by members of the Crevasse Moraine Trail Association.

"We're not in favor of any power lines east of Trunk Road," said Kathy Thompson, with CMTA and Valley Mountain Bike Alliance.

"At this time, there's no need for any power lines. It hasn't been proven that the hospital needs power," said Trula Acena, also with CMTA. "We need more studies, more public planning and due process. After all, MEA is a co-operative, owned by the people. I would like to think they would take that into consideration."

MEA personnel realize the hospital already has a power source as well as stand-by power, but doubt it will be enough power for the hospital's future needs.

"Every amount of time that goes by will be another day that the lines won't be there," said MEA spokesman Tuckerman Babcock. "As long as things work well, the hospital will have power. It's just not as reliable power as we think it should have."

The assembly will choose from three proposals.

€ Section-line route: These are current plans for excess soil piles to be located directly on the section line area of the Central Landfill, which the new line would have to go through, if built. The new line would also go over the landfill scale house and public dumping bin area, and affect various monitoring activities. Electrical structures may have be located in the driving areas in the landfill operating area. The court has not yet allowed this route to be used despite MEA's request and pending a court hearing in July.

2.) Eminent-domain route: This route begins at the central landfill but approximately 760 feet to the west of the section-line route, and parallels the section-line route. This route likely avoid conflicts with the central landfill operations and almost all trails. The route does go in straight lines and does not take into consideration the use of existing terrain and natural vegetation to minimize impacts.

3.) Lower gully route: If the line is to go through the Crevasse Moraine area, this routing is preferred by MEA and borough staff because it avoids the central landfill operations; is the least perceptible, as it would be located in the deepest gully; minimizes possible trail conflicts and avoids private property. It is also the most direct route to the proposed area for the new substation site.

HDR favored the route through the lower gully because it has the least impact on the so-called "scenic view shed."

MEA also told the borough in December that the lower gully route was suitable, according to Babcock, who said MEA representatives didn't attend the open house.

"We can't keep jumping through hoops. It's been a year since we first asked the borough to hold a public meeting regarding our proposal," he said.

One route, which can't be pursued at this time, hinges on the completion of the Trunk Road realignment. That project, however, won't be in its construction stage until 2007, according to Judy Dougherty, design section project manager for the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities.

If the hospital could wait until 2007 for a second supply of electrical power, that plan would be feasible and go rather quickly, since many rights of way would have already been acquired by DOT.

"MEA should wait until the Trunk Road construction is done," said CMTA-member Acena, who says she plans to speak at the assembly meeting.

HDR also reviewed the idea of buried lines along the future Trunk Road.

With either plan, overhead lines or buried lines along Trunk Road, construction could be done concurrently with the road construction, according to HDL's report.

However, burying lines is a much more expensive process, the report said.

"I would prefer them buried, but it's 10 to 15 times more expensive," said homeowner Gene Bourdeau Jr, who lives about three-quarters of a mile off Trunk Road.

Bourdeau's comment was in response to a question by Assembly Member Lynne Woods, who attended the open house and was walking around talking to people affected by the proposals. She said she was trying to get a better idea on how to vote.

Woods told Bourdeau and his father about a trip she took to Scottsdale, Ariz., where city residents are overwhelmed by electrical wires and substations.

"Now the city wants to bury the lines. It's way more expensive to do that now, instead of when the power was first put in," Woods said, adding that some electrical projects in Anchorage propose buried lines.

Gene Bourdeau Sr. and his son both expressed concern over the impact of sandhill cranes that land in the field by Trunk Road. The cranes spend two weeks at the beginning of summer and two weeks at the end of summer in that field. They said they had no idea if overhead power lines would cause the cranes to bypass their annual stop-over spot.

"I don't think it would bother us (to have lines along Trunk Road) because we're so far back," Bourdeau Sr. said. "[MEA] will put it [the lines] where they want," he said.

Mari E. Montgomery, director of land management with the University of Alaska, indicated MEA's proposals weren't troublesome to her either.

"They've been very agreeable," she said. "We don't know where exactly the lines will hit university land, but we've asked them to drop the lines into the gully to keep it low profile. We asked them to move the transmission line and distribution lines onto one pole system to eliminate the distribution line from running though our research field. We've asked them to put a substation at the end of the gully so it's more screened from view."

During discussions with UAA, MEA agreed to honor those requests, according to Montgomery.

The issue of finding the most appropriate transmission-lines route - or not having transmission lines running to the hospital at this time - will be one of the items addressed during the borough Assembly meeting, beginning at 6 p.m. today in the assembly chambers. Public comment of up to three minutes per person will be allowed. The Assembly is scheduled to vote on a route.

"We're waiting in anticipation for the borough to come up with a reasonable proposal," Babcock said.