SB 42 heads to Finance committee

Lawmakers in Juneau reviewed Senate Bill 42 Monday and took public testimony.   The Senate Resources Committee passed the bill on to the Finance Committee to review.

Senate Bill 42 is the senate companion bill to House Bill 103, which would allow the Alaska Energy Authority to proceed with studies, construction and ownership of energy projects along the Alaska railbelt.  The bill was introduced by Governor Sean Parnell to jump start the Susitna Hydro project.

At the same time, a new committee of the Talkeetna Community Council met to discuss how to proceed with discussions on the Susitna Dam and how to get input on feelings the community has on the proposed project.

Discussion on the bills in the legislature and the proposed project lasted for a couple of hours. Discussion ranged from how to ask AEA for more information, to potential other renewable energy projects and it was clear that not everyone at the table felt the same about the proposed project.

In the end, the committee decided to write a letter to the entire legislature detailing a concern for the lack of information on the project at this point. The draft letter will be available for the public to review at the upcoming Talkeetna Community Council meeting on April 5^th.  The committee will try to have the draft letter available on the council website prior to the meeting.  That link is tkacouncil.org.

At this point, the Susitna Dam committee has not taken a position on the proposed project.