State to host energy town hall meetings

A new statewide energy plan currently under construction will focus on the smallest communities in Alaska and on developing localized sources of energy, according to a draft version of the plan posted online on April 18.

“Our goal is simple: We must reduce the cost of energy in Alaska by using locally available energy resources,” new State Energy Coordinator Steve Haagenson said in a statement on April 22. “To reach that goal we are engaging Alaskans in the process of creating and deploying solutions that will not only provide stable-cost energy now, but will help ensure affordable, reliable energy for our children and grandchildren as well.”

Over the next two months, Haagenson and several teams of representatives from state government plan to visit 25 major cities and hubs around Alaska to hold meetings with community leaders, utility managers and the general public.

The meetings started in Palmer on April 28 and end in Anchorage on June 4, and in between visit communities as far flung as Dillingham, Kotzebue, Wrangell and Tok.

The representatives will be from the Alaska Energy Authority, the Department of Natural Resources, the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development and the Denali Commission.

The goal of the meetings is to learn about local energy resources that might be used with existing infrastructure to lower costs for Alaskans, and also to find out what resources local residents would prefer to use in creating new energy production.

That information will be used to craft the final energy plan, which Haagenson hopes to complete by December and immediately put into action.

Using a method Haagenson devised as chair of an energy task force in Fairbanks, the final plan will include financial models to determine the cost of nearly 20 different energy options from traditional fossil fuels to alternative fuels to renewable energy.

To view the draft plan or see meeting dates and times, visit www.akenergyauthority.org and to comment on energy issues in Alaska, e-mail Haagenson at [email protected].

—Eric Lidji