A draft environmental review for a proposed electrical power line between Kake and Petersburg is out this month, a major milestone for the long-discussed project. The document could lead to the selection of a route for the transmission line across Kupreanof Island in central Southeast Alaska.
The intertie could make cheap hydroelectric power available to the 600 residents of Kake, who rely on costly diesel generators. Businesses in Kake pay five to six times the amount for electricity that customers in Petersburg do. It’s cheaper for residents there thanks to a subsidy from the state, but still more costly to turn on the lights.
The new power line would run between 52 and 60 miles long, depending on the route. It would need to make one or two water crossings and would cut through some remote parts of the Tongass National Forest. Beside other state and federal permits, the project will require a special use permit from the U.S. Forest Service to cross national forest land on Kupreanof Island.
The Southeast Alaska Power Agency owns hydroelectric plants near Ketchikan and Wrangell along with a transmission line linking those communities and Petersburg. SEAPA is looking into the power-line extension to Kake. Leaders in that community have lobbied for a power connection for decades.
The line would require construction of around 700-800 wooden power poles. Clearing of the route would impact between 350 and 500 acres of productive forest land and more than one and a half million board feet of timber would be removed from the regional timber base. In addition, construction of the line would require temporary shovel trails, matting panels and stream crossings to bring in equipment.
A 45-day comment period on the draft document begins on December 26th. The Forest Service expects to schedule open house meetings on the document in Kake and Petersburg on the 13th and 14th of January. A final decision could be out in July.
To comment on the draft EIS, email the U.S. Forest Service with Kake-Petersburg Intertie in the subject line at comments-alaska-tongass-petersburg@fs.fed.us
