Why its a bad idea
more resources
Action Alert!
PLEASE SEND A SHORT EMAIL TO KPB OFFICIALS BY JUNE 22
Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Dave Carey and KPB Assembly Member Sue McClure are introducing a resolution in opposition to the controversial hydropower projects Homer Electric Association plans for Grant and Falls creeks, which are important fish-bearing tributaries to the Kenai River. The resolution will be introduced at the June 22, 2010 KPB Assembly meeting in Soldotna.
If you oppose these projects, don’t want to see the Kenai River industrialized, and value healthy fisheries and the businesses and communities that depend on them, please email strong support for this resolution to Mayor Carey, to the KPB Assembly Clerk, and to all KPB Assembly members.
Mayor Dave Carey: dcarey@borough.kenai.ak.us
Assembly Clerk: jblankenship@borough.kenai.ak.us
Link to internet page for the Assembly Clerk and all KPB Assembly Members:
http://www.borough.kenai.ak.us/AssemblyClerk/Assembly%20Member%20Information/Assembly%20Info.htm
(Once at the above internet page, simply click on PUBLIC COMMENT – EMAIL THE ASSEMBLY located near the top of the page to open a blank email message that will already be addressed to the Clerk and to all of the Assembly Members.)
The resolution will likely be posted on the KPB Webpage on or about June 14, 2010.
For more information about why these hydropower projects are a bad idea please go to the Alaska Center for the Environment:
www.akcenter.org
Please feel free to email Mike Cooney at mcooney@arctic.net if you have questions or require additional information.
PDF of this action alert
Thank You !!
Sign a petition in support of wild Kenai River headwaters.
Here's the petition language:
"We, the undersigned, believe that Homer Electric Association’s proposal to dam Grant Lake will adversely affect the Kenai River watershed by industrializing this popular local tributary.
The Kenai River is beloved by many and widely known to be one of the most productive salmon rivers in the world. The area is also rich in wildlife, recreational opportunities, and a unique way of life.
The costs of losing fish habitat in one of Alaska’s favorite and most productive local watersheds is too high of a price to pay for the insignificant amount of power which will be generated as a result of this project. The Kenai River system supports 34 species of anadromous and resident fish.
For these reasons I oppose any dams and/or roads on Grant Lake and Falls Creek or any other tributary of the Kenai River. I support the NO ACTION ALTERNATIVE which would prevent a hydropower license from be in issued for the proposed Grant Lake hydroelectric project."
Kenai River Headlands Hydroelectric Project Update (June 12, 2010)
Several meetings occurred in Moose Pass on June 2 and 3 that have changed the course of the proposal to dam Grant Lake.
On June 2, a capacity crowd wedged into the MP Community Center to participate in a FERC-sponsored public hearing about damming Grant Lake. About 50 public and 25 agency, NGO or contractor types were present to hear from the FERC representatives and also get an update from Homer Electric Association. More importantly, FERC was there to hear from the public about the benefits and costs of the proposal. The public expressed concern about fishery issues, transmission line location and impact of air traffic, who makes the final decision, the definition of pristine, why HEA gets the energy and Moose Pass residents/public have to pay the intangible costs, how many jobs would be created, and others. The mood was sincere and emotional and gave FERC and honest impression of how the public feels about the proposal. YOUR EFFORT MADE A HUGE IMPACT!! Most there - perhaps 75-90% - opposed the project. Moose Pass resident Mike Cooney presented FERC petitions that 199 people from Fairbanks to Seward to Homer signed in opposition to the dam. Valerie Connor of the Alaska Center for the Environment provided FERC with an online petition of 100 names.
Earlier in the day, agency and NGO folks were flown to Grant Lake to get a sense of the place. All were met with the grand vista of a perched glacial lake and a cascading creek dropping into the Grant Creek gorge. They toured the shoreline where a 3.4 mile access road would end. They looked offshore about 100 feet to imagine a tall intake tower. They looked at the exact spot a 120 foot concrete plug would restrict the natural flow of Grant Creek.
Plus they met a simple statement of how the public feels. A blue tarp with the message, "NO DAM WAY" printed in red tape hung at the exact spot a 10 foot diversion dam will hold back Grant Lake.
Why the dam is a bad idea
If faraway Homer Electric Association has its way, Grant Lake will be flooded 9 feet above its natural level by a hydroelectric dam. The 4.5MW maximum power generated is not meant for Seward or Moose Pass. It will get dumped into the railbelt grid with the unsupported hope that Homer Electric Association ratepayers will benefit. However, the residents of Moose Pass and Cooper Landing will lose some of the wild land that supports traditional local lifestyles and businesses. That lifestyle and, its promise for future local generations, includes free flowing streams crucial for salmon (and everything else aquatic).
We like hydro that has greater benefits than costs. This proposal will cost Alaskans in terms of loss of fish and wildlife habitat, and the loss of wildlands due to 3.4 miles of new roads and lighted gatehouses and penstock routes and a powerhouse and the destruction of parts of at least four historical sites. There are other projects that can provide all the energy requirements of the railbelt with far fewer environmental costs like Mount Spurr geothermal and wind energy projects such as Fire Island.
Scenery will take a poke in the eye
Parts of the new 3.4 mile road and a 110 foot tall surge tank will be seen from several points on the Seward Highway, from dozens of places on the Alaska Railroad route and certainly from the air.
Roads
Roads attract all the bad habits of humans: litter, poaching, oil spills, vegetation damage, dumping, trail widening, further incursions into wild land on side trails, multiple trails, encounters with brown bears, an increase in DLPs, stray fires (90% of wild land fires are started by humans), noise, and loss of the sense of wilderness,vandalism, soil erosion, litter and abandoned cars. Despite efforts to make roads impassable, the determined four wheel drive enthusiast will find a way around the initial barrier.
Here's 500 feet of road clearing. The dam proposal calls for 17,952 feet (3.4 miles) of access road
We'll see more of this kind of irresponsible behavior if more roads are built
Loss of recreation opportunities
The wildness of Grant Lake attracts hikers because, in part, of its wild pristine condition. A scoured-out low water lake will eliminate the attributes the hiker expects. Its not clear how the dam would impact the National Historic Iditarod Trail
Loss of historic sites
At least four historic sites would be partially flooded. Intact cultural deposits - accumulations of undisturbed artifacts - would be eroded and destroyed. The loss of these intact repositories of early 1900's life on the frontier could eliminate the answers to hundreds of research questions about diet changes, economic ties to Moose Pass and Anchorage and Seward, the influence of the railroad and technical and mechanical strategies. The lake and the benches between Grant Lake and Falls Creek have not been adequately surveyed for cultural sites.
One of the structures at the Case Mine on the north shore of Grant Lake. If the dam were built, the higher lake level could undermine the cabin's foundation.
Loss of wildlife habitat, particularly salmon
The proposal is within the headwaters of America’s greatest salmon stream, the Kenai River. Millions of government dollars have supported and thousands of private tourism-related jobs are dependent upon the health and productivity of the Kenai River ecosystem. The watershed quality has been steadily reduced over the years by development. There will be an impact to water quality. Brown bear habits have changed over the past five years. What impact will this have on bears?
Proposals are predatory
While the residents of Moose Pass, Seward and, more broadly, all of southcentral will suffer the loss of environmental attributes, the potential economic benefits will go to the distant Homer Electric Association.
Damage to scenery
The road from Falls Creek to Grant Lake above Lower Trail Lake, a 110 tall surge tank, transmission lines, access roads, a power house would all be visible from several points along the Seward Highway (National Scenic Byway). Security lighting would mar the nightime sky and view.
Loss of wilderness values and wildland
High-impact proposals will not only destroy the sense of wildland one can enjoy in Upper and Lower Trail Lakes, but would destroy the wilderness characteristic of 44 square mile Grant Lake watershed and the lake's surface area of 1,888 acres.
Contrary to several plans
Kenai River Comprehensive Management Plan, the Kenai Area Plan, the Kenai Peninsula Borough Comprehensive Plan and the USFS Chugach National Forest Land Management Plan, the Iditarod National Historic Trail Comprehesnive Management Plan, 2000Report of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Trails Commission. The Kenai River has been nominated as an Area Which Merits Special Attention (AMSA) under the Alaska Coastal Management Plan and the KPB Coastal Management Plan.
Construction impacts
The industrial project will transform the rural homesites on the Falls Creek road.
Process
The Grant Lake proposal is one of four proposals funded by the Alaska Energy Authority (AEA) without adequate accountability. The other three proposals - Crescent Lake, Ptarmigan Creek and Falls Creek - have been thankfully been withdrawn.
Economics
All HEA can promise to ratepayers is "stability" (not cost reduction). How the project would be funded is a mystery even to the HEA General Manager who admitted that to build any of the projects would require "grants or creative financing".
Like the study proposals themselves, the long term operation will use public money to advance private gain.
Not for the locals
The potential 4.5MW energy generated is not meant for Seward or Moose Pass. It will get dumped into the railbelt grid with the unsupported hope that Homer Electric Association ratepayers will benefit.
A better way
Here’s an example of a good hydro project: Lowell Creek in Seward. An independent energy engineer has done preliminary studies on an in-stream intake structure and penstock brought to tidewater where a power plant would produce up to four megawatts of power. None of the environmental problems connected with the Grant Lake/Falls Creek dam proposal exist at Lowell Creek. There is no fish habitat, no existing recreational use, no new roads would be required, it’s immediately adjacent to the utility lines, it would produce energy for local consumers (unlike the Homer Electric Association invasive plan). Plus it could help reduce flooding risk in the town of Seward.
FERC sponsored meetings planned for June 2 and 3
On January 13, 2010, Homer Electric Association held a public meeting in Moose Pass to discuss with residents their latest plans for studying and constructing a hydroelectric project on Grant Lake and nearby Falls Creek in the Kenai River watershed. At that meeting HEA officials told the public that their grant money was running out and that without further funding, the studies would not proceed. We all breathed a sigh of relief, thinking maybe HEA had come to their senses, and that this was their way of quietly backing out of these misguided projects.
Fast forward three months to May 11th 2010. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) announced a public scoping meeting for the Grant Lake hydroelectric project on June 2nd and 3rd. This is the only meeting where FERC will be present, and it is imperative that we let them know in no uncertain terms that high-impact; low-output dams on tributaries of the Kenai River are unacceptable. The Kenai River is nationally recognized as one of the most productive salmon rivers in the world. Why would we want to put it at risk for an insignificant amount of power?
If you love the Kenai River, now is the time to speak up! Please plan on attending one of the scoping meetings in Moose Pass (schedule below), or submit scoping comments. Deadline for filing scoping comments is July 6, 2010. Here's a link to the FERC scoping document: http://www.kenaihydro.com/documents/GrantLake_Scoping1.pdf
Environmental Site Visit
The Applicant and FERC staff will conduct a project environmental site review beginning at 8:00 a.m. (Alaska ST) on June 2, 2010. All interested individuals, organizations, and agencies are invited to attend. Participants should meet at Scenic Mountain Air boat launch, 31702 Depot Road, Moose Pass, AK 99631. Participants should be in good health and prepared/able to hike without assistance in unimproved trail conditions for the entire day (+3 miles with 200 feet of elevation gain). Participants should also pack their own lunch, snacks and water, wear waterproof, rugged footwear, and be prepared for inclement and potentially cold weather conditions. Anyone with questions about the environmental site review (or needing directions) should contact Jenna Borovansky at (208) 765-1413 or jborovansky@longviewassociates.com. Those individuals planning to participate in the environmental site review should notify Ms. Borovansky of their intent, no later than May 23, 2010.
Scoping Meetings
FERC staff will conduct one daytime scoping meeting and one evening scoping meeting. The daytime scoping meeting will focus on resource agency and non-governmental organization concerns, while the evening scoping meeting is primarily for public input. All interested individuals, organizations, and agencies are invited to attend one or both of the meetings, and to assist the staff in identifying the scope of the environmental issues that should be analyzed in the EA. The times and locations of these meetings are as follows:
Evening Scoping Meeting
DATE Wednesday, June 2, 2010
TIME 7:00 p.m.
PLACE Moose Pass Community Hall
ADDRESS Mile 29.5 Seward Highway Moose Pass, AK 99631
Daytime Scoping Meeting
DATE Thursday, June 3, 2010
TIME 10:00 a.m.
PLACE Moose Pass Community Hall
ADDRESS Mile 29.5 Seward Highway Moose Pass, AK 99631
January 13, 2010 public meeting in Moose Pass reveals a positive trend
The public meeting held in Moose Pass on January 13, 2010 produced some positive results. Here are edited summaries provided by ACE (Alaska Center for the Environment) and Mike Cooney, citizen of Moose Pass.
Mike Cooney
Below are highlights from my notes for the meeting hosted by KHL in Moose Pass.
- About 25 members of the local public from Seward, Moose Pass, Crown Point, Cooper Landing.
- NGO and Agency included: ACE, RBCA, MP Advisory Planning Commission, USFS
- Project engineer, Brad Zubeck explained Alaska Wind Energy was in process of separating from KHL. When asked if KHL was seeking public sources of funding for the project Zubeck said no because of internal problems with KHL. Mr. Zubeck confirmed that KHL had not applied for funding in round lll of the renewable resource funding from the Alaska Energy Authority. Mr. Zubeck also stated KHL was not pursuing any other hydro projects.
- Mr. Zubeck stated that unless additional grant funding was obtained, study plans and future project work was on-hold. After the study report from the 2009 field season is completed and posted on the KHL website (end of Jan./first of Feb.) no more work will be undertaken. Mr. Zubeck said they have notified the FERC that Scoping Meetings should not be held until a future and unspecified time. It seems that unless KHL gets funding to continue studies and other work in the next 3-4 months, then field studies could not be completed during 2010 and a license application could not be prepared prior to expiration of the preliminary permits.
- Mr. Zubeck stated generators at Grant/Falls would include a 1.2 MW for low flows and a 3.0+ for maximum flows, and said it would be technically feasible to provide some of the power locally, though the price might not be good.
- Mr. Zubeck stated power from Grant/Falls would equal approximately 4% of HEA's 2008 demand.
ACE
Two thirdsof the original grant money has been spent, and that KHL has no immediate plans to seek additional funding, partially due to CIRI’s pullout from the project. This also means that further studies during the 2010 season are unlikely.
· The FERC scoping meetings are on hold until further notice.
· At the same time, there is a push to consolidate utilities in the State which would change the dynamics considerably.
· Baseline reports from 2009 studies are projected to be completed soon and available for public review.
· There were about 25 local residents at the meeting and most of them were skeptical about the proposed projects. The issues raised included the lack of socioeconomic studies, visual disturbances, noise, fish and wildlife habitat, water quality and quantity issues, a lack of a cost/benefit analysis, increased access to backcountry and the problems typically associated with roads. One point that folks keep making is that this project has a big footprint for such a small output of power.
· Homer Electric Association recorded at least ten pages of additional studies that the public in Moose Pass suggested needed to be completed before licensing.
· These projects highlight the need for a comprehensive plan to protect the Kenai River, acknowledged by HEA to be “one of the most productive salmon rivers in the world”.
No More Public Funding for Kenai Hydro Projects
The following article appeared in the Redoubt Reporter on December 2, 2009. In Alaska’s critical endeavor to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, Alaskans deserve professional, carefully considered development of our renewable energy resources to ensure that the scope of any negative economic, social and environmental impacts closely justifies appreciable new energy production.
Since 2008, amidst enthusiasm to develop hydropower projects, the Alaska Energy Authority (AEA), and the Alaska Legislature have authorized Kenai Hydro LLC (KHL) to use over $1 million in very poorly directed public money to perform feasibility studies and federal pre-licensing activities for four hydropower dams KHL envisioned for Kenai River headwaters near Moose Pass and Cooper Landing.
KHL is a for-profit hydropower development consortium established in Delaware. Originally, KHL involved Homer Electric Association (HEA), Cook Inlet Region, Inc. (CIRI), and enXco — a French-owned company. CIRI recently announced it would no longer be a KHL partner.
In October, KHL abandoned its proposed Ptarmigan and Crescent lakes dams, and relinquished Federal Energy Regulatory Commission preliminary permits for those projects due to negative financial and environmental feasibility findings. Yet despite growing public opposition and legitimate, widely held concerns over project impacts, feasibility and funding, including future construction costs, KHL obstinately pursues its project to dam Grant and Falls creeks. In his October report to HEA’s board of directors, HEA General Manager Brad Janorschke acknowledged problems with the Grant/Falls hydropower dams: “… we are seeing economic challenges with both projects and their future will be dictated by the availability of grant funds for study work and, if licensed, grants to offset a portion of the capital costs.”
In obtaining authorization for upwards of $900,000 of our money for its Grant/Falls proposal, KHL optimistically portrayed the combined dams as a 5- to 7-megawatt project. HEA now concedes Grant/Falls is a 4.5-megawatt project, and to continue studies KHL needs even more public funding. Neither AEA nor the Legislature should authorize any more money for what remains such a highly speculative and only faintly conceptual project. Never mind KHL’s $27 million project construction cost estimate.
Ethan Schutt, CIRI’s Senior Vice President of Land and Energy Development, characterized KHL’s proposed hydropower dams, and CIRI’s decision to end its involvement in the projects, during an October Legislative Energy Committee Hearing in Anchorage: “Projects must be locally acceptable, as well as commercially viable. These projects don’t appear to be either.”
KHL’s proposed industrialization of Kenai River headwaters at Grant and Falls creeks would prove expensive, irreversible and wrong. At a minimum, KHL’s Grant/Falls dams and their attendant environmental impacts would depress the regional and local economies that depend so heavily on the hydrological and biological integrity of the Kenai River watershed, its world-class fisheries and its wildlands.
Expenditure of public money to develop and degrade such vital public resources, lacking any broad expressions of community and public support, and in return for only negligible new electrical power benefits, simply should not happen. As former Gov. Walter Hickel pointed out in columns published by the Anchorage Daily News earlier this year, Alaska’s Constitution requires rational development of our commonly owned natural resources to yield clear public benefits; resources must not be developed haphazardly or for the private benefit of multi-national corporations like enXco.
The Grant/Falls hydropower dams are also contrary to the vast body of protective and progressive public policy established around the Kenai River and its tributaries. Provisions of the Chugach Forest Plan, the Kenai Area Plan and the Kenai River Comprehensive Management Plan express clear policy intent that, at a very minimum, strongly discourages any new hydropower dams in the Kenai River watershed. Residents of the Kenai Peninsula and Southcentral Alaska will not soon forget that the Cooper Lake hydropower dam caused the extinction of Cooper Creek’s pacific salmon stocks and destroyed what was once one of the best rainbow trout fisheries in Alaska.
By ending its involvement in KHL’s ill-conceived hydropower proposals, CIRI fulfilled its corporate responsibility and affirmed its support for the value system held by most Alaskans.
KHL, including HEA’s management and board of directors, should follow CIRI’s excellent lead as soon as possible.
As a forestry technician, Mike Cooney, of Moose Pass, has been involved in natural resource management and planning in both the public and private sectors in Alaska since 1979.
(June 12, 2010) Note: The changing details of HEA's proposal has made some of the statements below historic. Details will soon be updated.
Winter view of proposed Falls Creek/Grant Lake dams access road
View from Lower Trail Lake on November 21, 2009 toward the east. Falls Creek is right and center below the shadowed peak. The proposed road (in red) winds from Falls Creek northward through conifer forest and then disappears behind a ridge that blocks the view of the road (white/red).
Dams on Grant Lake and Falls Creek discussed at public meeting
On Thursday, Nov 12, about 70 people - mostly folks from north of Seward - Crown Point, Moose Pass and Avalanche Acres - attended a meeting presented to the public by Homer Electric Association/Kenai Hydro LLC, the folks who propose damming Grant Lake and Falls Creek to generate hydroelectric power. Some questions were raised, some concerns noted, details forthcoming.
HEA/KHL wanted information from the public, like what sort of concerns need to be addressed as HEA/KHL develops its study plans. These plans will theoretically address the excruciating ecological and sociological details like the impact of a Grant Lake dam on water temperature (fish care about that) or the sound of a dewatered creek. The public, mostly people who live in the immediate area, were willing to give the HEA more information than Brad Zubeck, KHL Project Engineer, needed. He was grateful for the attention and attendance but more open to receiving information than giving it. Many of his comments were not fully satisfactory to the audience. After numerous responses like "I couldn't tell you at this time" or that statements made in the FERC Pre-Application Document were "tentative" and specific details were "to be determined", the affected residents grew frustrated. HEA/KHL wanted information from them, but they wanted information in return.
HEA was invited to meet with residents of the Moose Pass area at a later date and Mr Zubeck might have signaled a positive consideration of the invitation. If such a meeting occurs, he can expect more questions and more concerns and a greater demonstration of the community's desire to play a major role in determining the use of the public lands near their homes.
A dam on the headwaters of the Kenai River?
more photos
All the industrial magic of a hydroelectric dam will drown Grant Lake. This photo montage shows the south end of Grant Lake from the historic Solars Sawmill site. Imagine the gravel and vegetated shoreline under an additional 10 feet of water and during drought periods, drained of 24 feet of water.
The left side of the photo montage looks north up the west arm of Grant Lake. In the middle, directly behind the car-sized rocky island and driftwood log at the end of the small peninsula, an 80 foot tower intake would be erected complete with industrial lighting, walkways and roads. An active beaver lodge is located on the shoreline. Grant Lake drains into a spectacular cascading falls at the right side of the photo. That's the exact spot that a 10 foot tall concrete plug dam would be wedged to raise the water level, restrict flow and direct flow toward the intake tower. The Solars Sawmill site, active from the late 1920's to 1941, consists of several collapsed buildings, ceramic and glass and metal artifacts, several pulleys, and timber framework. The site, like at least three other historic sites on Grant lake shoreline, would be destroyed by the rising lake level.
Here's a one minute riveting youtube video panorama taken from the tower intake location on the south end of Grant Lake.
Figure 1. This area-impact map shows the roads, pipelines, dams and transmission lines of the project overlain on a dim aerial photo
(from: Pre-Application Document; Grant Lake/Grant Creek and Falls Creek Project; (FERC No. 13211 and 13212); Kenai Hydro, LLC; August 2009)
Figure 2. This 6 foot red figure is dwarfed by the surge tank, transmission line poles and the tower intake.
These two photos of Cooper Lake above Cooper Landing show how Grant Lake could appear if Homer Electric is allowed to dam it.
Figure 3. Here are a few gems to ponder. These photos are from the mouth of Grant Lake (click on image to enlarge)
Low-impact hydro generates power by using a
waterway’s natural drop in elevation, keeping the
environmental impact of a site to a minimum. This
contrasts with the traditional hydropower systems,
such as dams, that can have adverse effects on river
ecosystems. (CIRI "Raven's Circle, vol 33, issue 5, May 2008)
The proposal
The proposed project envisions a dam (10 feet tall, 120 wide plus 40 feet of abutment) at the outlet of Grant Lake, an 80 foot tall siphon intake (Tower Intake on figure 1) in Grant Lake near the point at which it flows into Grant Creek, a 3000 foot penstock (pipeline) from the lake to a powerhouse near Upper Trail Lake, 3.4 miles of roads, 4100 feet of transmission line, a 110 foot tall surge tank and (13,000 foot diversion pipeline from Falls Creek into Grant Lake. Removed from consideration May 2010) The dam could produce 4.5 megawatts (MW).
Who
Kenai Hydro now (May 15, 2010) consists entirely of Homer Electric Association located in Homer. Previous business partners suffered winter die-off.
Kenai Hydro LLC (KHL), formed specifically to exploit the possibility of hydroelectric power, is owned by Homer Electric Association (HEA) and EnXco (a wind energy company). KHL is part of a larger complicated corporate scheme that includes Cook Inlet Regional Incorporated (CIRI), Wind Energy Alaska, Alaska Wind Energy, and two groups from France. HEA has taken the lead in public meetings and seem to be the entity that will most benefit from the hydroelectric power if it comes online. KHL hired HDR to assess the environmental impacts of the proposal. KHL also hired Longview to lead them and the public through a complicated bureaucratic process required by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
More resources
Redoubt Reporter articles. Editor Jenny Neyman has created the best description of the complexities of the proposal.
"CIRI venture backs out of Kenai Hydro — Company refocusing on several other energy projects" (October 21, 2009)
"Hydro sites dry up — Kenai Hydro passes on 2 sites, pursues combo project" (October 7, 2009)
"Traditional, yet not — Kenai Hydro requests nonstandard licensing process" (October 7, 2009)
"HEA details early plans for hydro sites" (January 29, 2009)
"Testing the waters — HEA’s proposed hydro projects have years of research to wade through" (January 6, 2009)
"Low impact sparks high debate — Cooper Landing residents voice concern over hydro projects" (January 27, ,2009)
"Green light — HEA hydro projects must be eco-friendly for low-impact certification" (January 13, 2009)
Watchdog Groups
Hydropower Reform Coalition is a coalition of more than 140 national, state and local conservation and recreation groups that care about rivers and work hard to protect them from harmful hydropower dams. They have produced an extremely helpful guide for activists interested in hydropower projects, especially relicensing issues.
Alaska Center for the Environment. ACE is Alaska's largest home-grown citizen's group working for the sensible stewardship of Alaska's natural environment. With 7,000 dues-paying members from around the state, they are a voice for public lands conservation, clean air, clean water, and livable places. ACE hydro page.
Friends of Cooper Landing (no website). FOCL weighs in on nearly all things that impact the quality of life along the Kenai River. FOCL has weighed in frequently on the dam issue. Here's links to many of the official filings they've made with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Dam proponents
Kenai Hydro LLC, (KHL) has an excellent collection of documents to review. For example the Grant Lake "Pre-Application Document" (PAD) which describes what they think they know about the Grant Lake area to date. A 1984 study of Grant Lake for hydropower potential is important because KHL's current proposal may be based largely on this document.
Homer Electric Association. HEA