Electrical Power for Valdez and the Copper River Basin-1981

-2-'2. Most of the State 1 and encompass i ng the project atAllison Lake is classified Watershed under the StateClassification system. This area was identified asan alternative source of water for the City of Valdez."3. The t~ansmission line now under construction byCopper Valley Electric Association was finallypermitted following widespread controversy and wassubject to numerous stipulations pertainina toenvironmental impact. Would this line as it isnow being constructed be sufficient to handle theadditional power to be generated by these additionalsources, or would it have to be upgraded or alteredin any way?"4. It apPears that there would be a significant impacton the fisheries resource th~t utilizes this stream.This aspect of the project needs to be more thoroughlyreviewed."5. Installation of a Pressure Reducing Turbine in thelrans-Alaska Pipeline for electrical powe~ generationshould certainly be taken advantage of for the reasonsstated in the report. In light of the potential powerthJt can be developed from this source, a closer lookshould be given to the projected popula.tion and powerdemands in the near future. It is rep~rted that thefacility being constructed at Valdez by Alpetco willgenerate, via gas turbines run by by-products of thepetro-chemical process, more power than could beconsumed by the operation of that facility. Therefore,during the life of that project, no additional electricalpower would be required for its operation. Giventhat the Alpetco facility as well as much of theother development in this area is based on theexistence of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, and giventhe finite amount of oil available for transportthrough the pipeline, it follows that after the oilis depleted, such facilities as Alpetco and thePipeline Terminal will no longer exist to support thepopulations of this area. It is conceivable thatelectrical power requirements will decrease ratherthan increase as projected."6. The location of the power tunnel and appurtenancesfor the Allison Lake Project is within an active faultzone identified during pipeline construction. Hasthis been taken into account in the design of thisproject?2. If the water from Allison Creek were needed at a future date Dy the cityof Valdez, it would be possible to extract it from the tailrace.3. Tnf power line between Valdez and Glennallen would be a6~q~ate fortransmitting power from the proposed projects without rurtner upgrading.4. The Alaska District will perform physical and biological studies duringthe Advanced Engineering and Design (AE&D) p~ase when a thorOllgh analysisof the fishe~ies impacts will be accomplished.5. It is possible that the energy demand for the study area would decreaseafter the oil is depleted; however, it is doubtful that ~emand would fallto present levels when considering increases in other business activitiesin the study area such as the port expansion. Even if demand did fall tothe current level, the output from the Solomon Gulch hydroelectric projectwould be exceeded, forcing the study area to once again depenq on dieselgeneration as a primary source of power. Also, with construcUion of a newoil refinary in Valdez, it is likely that oil would be brough~ in fromelsewhere rather than allow the refinary to lie idle after ju~t a fewyears of operation.6. The fault zone has been taken into account in the feasibility study.Additional detailed geotechnical work will be undertaken during theAdvanced Engineering and Design Phase to identify specific problem areas.To date, the primary problem is with tsunamis rather than rupturedbedrock. Because of this, the powerhouse is located at +100 feet MLLW.Appendix G, Foundations and Materials includes additional information.