SPECIAL HEARING— State legislators came to the annual AFN convention to listen to invited testimony on energy issues, on Friday, Oct. 23 at the Dena’ina Center in Anchorage. Photo by Diana Haecker

The joint House and Senate energy committees gathered on Friday afternoon to hold an unprecedented special hearing at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention in Anchorage. The 17 senators and representatives present  listened to invited testimony of Native community leaders. Cook Inlet Region Incorporated’s energy expert Ethan Schutt said that Southcentral faces real challenges in the near future as 90 percent of the energy producing turbines are spun with natural gas and it’s supply is waning.

In order to get away from a sole energy source, Schutt said, Southcentral needs a diversified energy portfolio. He said the state needs a clearly formulated energy policy and that it would make sense to favor local resources over imported energy resources. In this context, CIRI recently announced a plan to build a new 100-Megawatt  power plant powered by an emerging underground coal gasification technology. The plan is to drill wells into buried coal seams located in West Cook Inlet between Beluga River and Theodore River, then injecting compressed air into the wells, causing the coal to combust and create gas to feed the new power plant.  CIRI began the permitting process this month for resource assessment testing.

Schutt also testified that renewable energy should be in the mix and that CIRI is in process of installing 46 wind turbines on Fire Island and started with clearing land last week. He also said that part of the energy solution is to update the inefficient transmission line system, a problem not well understood by the public.

Matanuska Electric Association’s spokeswoman Lorali Carter said that MEA welcomed CIRI’s news regarding the coal-gasification and the proposed 100-Megawatt powerplant. Carter said, MEA is certainly optimistic about CIRI’s plans, but MEA will continue with its own plans to build a new natural-gas powered plant at Eklutna. Carter said that the request for proposals is out and a number of companies already have shown interest to submit proposals to build the new power plant. A pre-bid meeting is scheduled for next week and the deadline for handing in proposals is January 29, 2010.