Anchorage and tribe push for more studies on Eklutna River restoration as governor moves toward decision

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy will soon make a historic decision that could restore water to the long-dammed Eklutna River.

The decision could mark a turning point in a dispute between two electric utilities on one side, and the municipality of Anchorage and Native Village of Eklutna on the other.

The Chugach and Matanuska electric associations have proposed restoring water to most but not all of the river northeast of Anchorage, under a proposed $57 million program sent to the governor in April.

The utilities say the program was developed after five years of study and is the best plan to protect energy and costs associated with the Eklutna Hydroelectric Project and earthen dam at Eklutna Lake. The utilities say the plan won’t reduce the city’s drinking water that comes largely from the lake. Water could begin to flow in the dry riverbed as early as 2027, they have said.

The city and the Eklutna village oppose the program that’s before the governor. The tribe has argued that it lost a valuable fishing and cultural resource when the river was dammed long ago for hydropower use, without the village’s input.

In an unusual meeting on Thursday, the Anchorage Assembly and Eklutna tribal government unanimously passed what they say is a first-of-its-kind government-to-government resolution.

The city and tribe want water returned to the full river, according to the joint resolution.

They also want the governor’s office to allow more analysis of alternative concepts that aren’t part of the utilities’ program. They say other options weren’t studied enough.

[Previous coverage: What’s behind the fight over the Eklutna River?]

On Monday, the governor’s office will take input from those parties and state and federal agencies that are part of the process, according to a letter from his office.

The meeting will not be open to the public, said Jeff Turner, the governor’s spokesperson.

A written transcript of the meeting and legal briefs will be posted to the project website in the near future, Turner said by email.

The governor has an Oct. 2 deadline to make the decision, Turner said.

The governor’s decision and the process leading up to it stems from a 1991 agreement. That agreement calls for the electric utilities and the city’s Anchorage Hydropower Utility to present the governor with a program reducing the environmental harms of the hydroelectric project.

The system was built by the federal government in 1955, but the utilities now own it. It provides the cheapest electricity in Southcentral Alaska and 6% of power used in the region. But the dam dries up most of the river.

Tribe: Fighting ‘the good fight’

The Chugach and Matanuska electric associations have proposed restoring 11 of the river’s 12 miles, leaving one mile dry downstream of the lake and hydroelectric project.

But the city argues in its brief that returning water to the full river will create habitat not only for salmon such as kings and silvers, but also for sockeye salmon that typically rear in lakes. The loss of sockeye in the river was the problem that led to the 1991 agreement, the city argues.

The joint resolution that passed Thursday is an “invaluable” step that helps the tribe present a united front for the river’s full recovery, said Aaron Leggett, president of the Native Village of Eklutna, during the meeting.

The Assembly has provided crucial support for the tribe’s position, he said.

“For the first time in our history, we really had someone backing us up to fight the good fight,” Leggett said.

Newly elected Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance said on Thursday she supports the Assembly and tribal government’s position.

City says program needs its approval

A key question the governor’s office wants answered is whether the Anchorage Assembly must approve the utilities’ proposal.

As part of their proposed program, the utilities would employ a portal valve to remove water from the pipe owned by the Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility. The pipe diverts Anchorage’s drinking water from Eklutna Lake.

The Anchorage Assembly has not approved the use of the city’s property, the city says in its brief.

“Nor did the (utilities) present the proposed program to the municipality for its formal approval,” they argue. “They have instead imprudently asked the governor to approve a program that, without municipal approval, could not be implemented.”

If Dunleavy approves the utility plan, that will create “litigation risk that could upend the entire program,” the municipality argues.

A municipal attorney on Thursday declined to describe the potential legal risk.

“We look forward to making our case” to the governor, said Joe Busa, deputy municipal attorney.

The city and tribe are seeking analysis of other options to replenish the full river. The city wants that analysis to happen during the first two years of the program’s required three-year “pre-implementation period,” according to it brief.

One specific concept the city and tribe want to see studied is known as pumped-storage hydropower.

Pumped-storage hydropower relies on two water reservoirs at different elevations to move water and generate power, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

It would “essentially be an enormous battery” that would support “variable wind-and-solar power for later usage,” according to the city’s brief.

“It could re-water all 12 miles of the Eklutna River, reconnect the river to the lake, create the conditions for the return of sockeye salmon to the lake, and provide improved fishing and recreation for all Alaskans,” the city’s brief says.

It comes atop other proposals that have been put forward by the tribe during the process, including a replacement dam to meet their goal of full water restoration. That was deemed by the utilities to be too expensive.

Utilities: Assembly approval not needed

Chugach and Matanuska electric utilities argue in their brief that Assembly approval isn’t needed for the proposed program.

While the city owns the majority of the hydropower project, the city surrendered its voting rights in the decision-making process for the program, as part of the sale of Municipal Light and Power to Chugach Electric in 2020, the electric utilities say.

The Regulatory Commission of Alaska approved the surrender of voting rights, the electric utilities argue.

“In short, the Assembly has no approval authority” over the program, they say.

The municipality says in its brief it has petitioned the state commission to regain its voting rights.

The 1991 agreement also does not require full restoration of the river, the utilities say. Nor does it give the governor the authority to allow the “two-year delay” they say the city wants.

They say the program will lead to estimated increases of less than 1% in rates for Chugach and Matanuska ratepayers, less than other ideas that were much more expensive or “operationally infeasible,” they said.

The proposed program “capitalizes on existing infrastructure efficiencies,” provides manageable impacts on energy and costs, and provides “for meaningful instream flows, habitat increases, and benefits to fish and wildlife,” they say in the brief.

In an email this week, spokespeople with the electric utilities said they’re “confident” in the results produced after five years of study.

“We look forward to briefing the governor’s team on the legal questions they’ve posed next week,” said Julie Estey, a spokesperson with Matanuska electric, in an email.