Borough takes MEA power plans to task
Matanuska Electric Association did too little analysis
before embarking on plans to build two new power plants to serve Matanuska-Susitna Borough residents, borough officials say.
Borough Assemblywoman Michelle Church asked borough officials to study the electric cooperative's plan to build a new 100-megawatt coal-burning power plant and a second 100-megawatt natural gas-fueled plant south of Palmer.
The borough last year paid MEA about $4.1 million for power, according to Borough Manager John Duffy.
Duffy reviewed MEA generation plans and concludes that a report recommending a combined coal-and-natural-gas approach to new power generation "leaves many questions unanswered and may also have seriously underestimated the true cost of operating the proposed power plants."
Duffy recommends that the Assembly ask the state Regulatory Commission of Alaska to investigate MEA plans and prevent the cooperative from taking "inefficient or unreasonable practices" that might result in higher power bills for the borough and, as a result, higher property taxes.
The Mat-Su Assembly will consider Duffy's recommendations when it meets 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Mat-Su Assembly chambers at 350 E. Dahlia Ave., Palmer.
Chickaloon tribe's school to go year-round
The children aren't cheering, but their parents might be.
Starting this year, the Chickaloon tribe's Ya Ne Dah Ah School is going year round.
Teacher Kari Shaginoff said students at the small school near Sutton on the Glenn Highway will still attend classes for the standard 36 weeks a year, but vacations will be more spread out.
The switch, officials hope, will keep students more "academically fresh," and give instructors more class time in the summer to teach the traditional subsistence practices that are a focus of the school's curriculum such as how to cut and store fish, and how to hunt moose, she said.
While called a school, Ya Ne Dah Ah is not officially recognized as such by any federal or state agency. Rather the students are considered home-schooled.
The school is small with only 12 students currently, but has received national accolades, including a $10,000 grant from Harvard University in 2002 after being selected as one of eight outstanding tribal programs in the country
The school is open to anyone -- Native or non-Native -- willing to pay the tuition fee and meet requirements for volunteering in the school.
-- Daily News staff reports
