June 22, 2007

By Russell Stigall

Frontiersman MAT-SU - Is coal the new coal bed methane?

A Mat-Su Borough memorandum introduces an ordinance to regulate proposed electrical generation or power plants on both plant operation and impacts on location.

According to the borough's memo the ordinance is a “framework and regulations to guide electrical power generation alternatives as well as for the location and operation of electrical generation facilities or power plants 50 megawatts in size or larger.”

Local wholesale power purchaser Matanuska Electric Association plans to build two new 100 megawatt electric generators, one coal-fired and one fired by natural gas. MEA spokesperson Lorali Carter said the borough drafted its plan in response to pressure from the Valley planning group Friends of Mat-Su.

“The borough and Friends of Mat-Su want expensive, imported power from Anchorage,” Carter said.

Borough Manager John Duffy said the borough acted independent of FoMS.

“The Friends of Mat-Su did not speak to me and did not ask me to develop [an] ordinance,” he said. “And I have not heard that they asked Tom [Kluberton]. We do not want expensive imported power from Anchorage, we want affordable energy that is produced without major or significant impacts to public health or the environment.”

Duffy said the ordinance would provide residents with timely, understandable information. “We want an open and transparent process for the citizens of the borough.”

The ordinance also puts more focus on renewable energy sources and energy conservation or efficiencies, Duffy said. At 71 pages, the power plant ordinance is longer than the borough's intricate coal bed methane ordinance. Assembly member Tom Kluberton advised Duffy to draft the ordinance.

The power plant ordinance will require potential power providers, which in the near future appears to be MEA, to supply the borough with descriptions of the visual impact of the installed facility, the number of out-of-state employees the facility would bring to the Valley, the number and grade-level of new students these employees would bring, sound level increases for up to a mile radius around the plant.

The ordinance also requires potential power providers to predict and monitor emissions from the proposed plant of sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, mercury, Sulfur hexafluoride, particulate matter 10, particulate matter 2.5.

The new regulations will be before the Mat-Su Borough Planning Commission July 16 and before the borough assembly July 17.

For more information about the borough's power plant ordinance visit www.matsugov.us.

Learn more about the ordinance in Sunday's Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.

Contact Russell Stigall at 352-2267 or russell.stigall@frontiersman