Susitna Council files motion to intervene with Susitna Dam project

The Susitna Community Council has joined the Talkeetna, Trapper Creek, and Chase community councils in filing a motion to intervene with the Alaska Energy Authority’s license application with the Federal Energy Regulation Authority for the Susitna-Watana Dam. The Motion to Intervene is a step that allows interested parties to become participants in the permitting process, and is not a statement of being in favor or opposed to the dam’s construction. Once filed, they will have the right to request rehearing of Commission orders and seek relief of final agency actions in the U. S. Circuit Courts of Appeal. The motion to intervene will also require the Alaska Energy Authority to provide the Council with regular progress updates. Susitna Community Council approved the measure, becoming the fourth Community Council in the area to do so. The Talkeetna Community Council agreed to file a Motion to Intervene at their last meeting on December 6th.

The Alaska Energy Authority filed the Preliminary Application Document on December 29^th, formally initiating a rapid timeline for the process for collecting studies and developing plans for the dam.