Susitna-Watana project secures some funding

After up-and-down movement on proposed financial-year-2015 funding for the state’s Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric Project, the budget that the state Legislature eventually passed includes $20 million for the project, Emily Ford, spokeswoman for the Alaska Energy Authority, told Petroleum News in a May 1 email.

Gov. Sean Parnell’s original proposed budget had included just $10 million for the project. Parnell had expressed concern about the impact on the project of delays in obtaining land use permits from the Native corporations that own land at the project site.

In early January Wayne Dyok, the project manager, told the governor that the project needed $110 million in the 2015 financial year to enable the completion of a study plan and the preparation of an application for a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license for the hydropower system. A shortfall in funding would lead to delays in some fieldwork, Dyok said.

Parnell subsequently increased the proposed funding to $32.7 million, contingent on the land access permits being obtained. And in April the project successfully completed negotiations with the Native corporations, with the permits being duly issued.

But the Legislature did not incorporate Parnell’s proposed amendment in the budget, Ford said. Nevertheless, additional funds were added for the Susitna-Watana project, bringing the total funding for financial year 2015 to $20 million, she said.

—Alan Bailey