Support for the Reynolds Creek Hydropower Project
April 21, 2014
Members of the Alaska Energy Authority Board:
The purpose of this letter is to express the Greater Ketchikan Chamber of Commerce’s support for AEA Board approval of the January, 2013 terms which Haida Energy and the AEA staff negotiated for the Reynolds Creek hydropower project on Prince of Wales Island.
The economies of Ketchikan and Prince of Wales are highly interdependent. Travel between the two communities is frequent, and residents of both communities purchase goods and services from each other. Many Ketchikan businesses conduct commercial activities on Prince of Wales Island, and sharp increases in Prince of Wales’ electrical rates could create economic “shockwaves” in Ketchikan. Thankfully, the January, 2013 terms for the Reynolds Creek project protect against these adverse effects. Indeed, these terms support a project which is financially viable for project partners and which provides Prince of Wales with more of the affordable renewable energy needed to catalyze new economic growth and support the further development of key industries such as mining and the marine sector.
We urge you to please support Prince of Wales – and southeast Alaska’s interdependent economies – by issuing approval of the January, 2013 terms.
If, however, agreement to these terms proves unlikely and prohibitive to moving the Reynolds Creek hydropower project forward, we ask that you instead consider reasonable terms that make the project financially feasible for both the lenders and project partners and which protect and benefit the ratepayers living on Prince of Wales Island.
Thank you for your time and consideration of this very important matter.
Sincerely,
Chelsea Goucher, Executive Director
Greater Ketchikan Chamber of Commerce
P: (907) 225-3184
C: (907) 220-2133
E: chelsea@ketchikanchamber.com