Electrical Power for Valdez and the Copper River Basin-1981

Comnents received from the city of Valdez, Copper Valley ElectricAssociation, Alaska Power Authority, and the Governor's Office basicallyconcur with the findings of the repor~. The primary concern voiced byvarious resource agencies related to the environmental impact of warmerwater being discharged over the developing salmon eggs in winter.Appendix J, "Public Views and Responses," includes comments received onthe draft report and Corps of Engineer's responses.CONCLUS IONSBased on the analysis and proceedings used in this report, thecombined plan of the pressure reducing turbine and hydropower fromAllison Lake appears to be the best solution to meet both National andlocal objectives. Implementation of the PRT at the earliest possibledate should be pursued jointly between the local utility and AlyeskaPipeline Service Company. This represents a rare opportunity for anunusual energy source to provide low cost power to a region with minimalenvironmental impact.Detailed analysis and final design should resume on the Allison Lakehydropower project by 1984. This would allow adequate time for designand construction to provide needed power by 1990. Approximately 4 yearswould be needed to construct the Allison Lake project.RECO~I:~ENDATIOIJI recommend that the Allison Lake Hydroelectric Project be authorizedfor construction generally as described in this report, with suchmodifications as in the discretion of the Chief of Engineers may beadvisable, at a Federal cost estimated at $30,871,000. The estimatedannual operation and maintenance cost and replacement is $200,000.Former President Carter, in his June 1978 water policy message toCongress, proposed several changes in cost-sharing for water resourcesprojects to allow states to participate more actively in projectimplementation decisions. These changes include a cash contribution frombenefiting states of 5 percent of the first costs of constructionassigned to nonvendible project purposes and 10 percent of first cost ofconstruction assigned to vendible project purposes. Contributing stateswould share with the Federal Government the revenue from vendible outputsin proportion to their shares of project costs.Application of this policy to the Allison Lake Hydroelectric Projectrequires a contribution from the State of Alaska of an estimated$3,430,000 in cash (10 percent of $34,301,000 total estimated first costsof construction assigned to vendible project purposes, based on October1980 price levels). The State of Alaska will share 10 percent of the netpower revenues from the Allison Lake Hydroelectric Project. Net powerrevenues are defined as the gross receipts from power outputs less all51