Sealaska Action Addresses Southeast Alaska Energy Crisis

• Sealaska was a major sponsor of the AFN Energy Summit.



• Sealaska’s pending Haa Aaní land legislation includes sites to develop low-cost hydroelectric energy.



• Reynolds Creek is a hydroelectric project on Sealaska lands near Hydaburg and is being developed by Haida Corporation. The project's economic feasibility was improved by Sealaska's construction of road access that removes many of the economic impediments to this project.



• Reynolds Creek has received a $2.0 million grant. Sealaska Chair and Alaska State Senator Albert Kookesh along with Representative Bill Thomas were successful in setting these funds aside for the Reynolds Creek project.



• Sealaska employee Katherine Eldemar has been assigned exclusively to energy issues. She is working closely with state agencies to be sure those funds remain available.



• Approximately 29 million kilowatt hours of hydroelectric electricity is being produced annually from Sealaska’s Prince of Wales Island, Black Bear Lake complex. The project was built by Alaska Power and Telephone in cooperation with Sealaska, the property owner. The project was economically feasible due to Sealaska's roads that provided access to the power site.



• Sealaska is involved in evaluating new energy technologies. Examples include: conversion of wood into ethanol; a potential bio-fuel for home heating oils; evaluating strategies to convert wood residue into burnable bio-bricks that can be burned in home wood stoves, fireplaces and boilers.



• Sealaska, in cooperation with APT, also evaluated wind energy potential at several locations on Sealaska lands. Although there is a stable wind supply, due to the distance from the wind generation sites, the existing transmission lines (interties) render wind energy economically marginal. With better electrical interties built and an increase in local demand it may become feasible.



• In cooperation with the local village corporations, Sealaska is providing free firewood in Hoonah, Craig and Klawock. Sealaska is seeking cooperation with other village corporations to provide land near communities for stockpiling of firewood for home heating.



• Sealaska commends other Native institutions, like Tlingit and Haida Central Council, for recognizing the energy situation in rural Alaska and also taking action. Many of the region’s rural energy initiatives for the past 30 plus years were a result of the former Tlingit Haida Regional Electrical Authority now the Inside Passage Electrical Cooperative, or IPEC. This is a vital organization and needs to continue to be part of future energy solutions.



• Sealaska organized the first Southeast Alaska Native Economic Summit in 2005 that brought leadership together from Southeast Native institutions, municipal, state and federal agencies to address the economic and energy crisis in the region. The attendees passed resolutions pertaining to energy and economic development and formed the Southeast Native Economic Futures Coalition. Through these initial efforts the Tlingit and Haida Community Council recognized the importance of attacking the energy issue and eventually formed the Tlingit and Haida Energy Department.