Petersburg Pilot

Intertie between Kake and

Petersburg enters next stage

May 20, 2010

An electrical intertie to connect Petersburg to Kake, a diesel dependent town on Kupreanof Island has been in the works since the 1970s. And last week another step was taken, as two possible routes will undergo a draft Environmental Impact Study (EIS).

Kake is having a hard time paying close to $.70 per kilowatt-hour for electricity, and hopes an intertie will help the town, Kake Mayor Henrich Kadake Sr. said.

At an open house meeting on May 13, involving the U.S. Forest Service, Southeast Conference, Alaska Department of Transportation, engineers and political figures from Kake and Petersburg, approximately 35 community members hovered over maps of the two routes and asked questions of all parties involved.

The northern route, which crosses the Wrangell Narrows near downtown Petersburg to Kupreanof Island, hugs the northeast shoreline of Kupreanof for about 10 miles before heading west to Kake.

The southern route crosses the Wrangell Narrows eight miles south of Petersburg and crosses the Lindenberg Peninsula before once again going underwater to cross Duncan Canal before heading northwest to Kake.

Both routes follow parts of existing Forest Service roadways, however new ground will be covered by both in order to connect the two towns.

A primitive roadway is also essential for construction and maintenance of the lines, John Heberling, vice president of D. Hittle & Associates said.

D. Hittle & Associates was hired in 2005 to study the two routes.

The next step in the process is to conduct a public meeting and comment period, called a “scoping period,” conducted by the U.S. Forest Service.

Following that period, U.S. Forest Service personnel will be on the ground this summer surveying the two routes to collect data for an EIS, Chris Savage, U.S. Forest Service district ranger said.

Those studies should be published by the end of 2010, Savage said.

Adding to the complexity of the situation is the Alaska Department of Transportation plan to develop a roadway from Kake to Petersburg.

Andy Hughes, Southeast Region Planning Chief for the Alaska DOT&PF said that while DOT plans are on hold at the moment, the project will move forward if $4.5 million in funding is approved by the governor.

Hughes said the only route that is plausible for DOT development is the northern route. He said crossing two bodies of water is not a viable route.

Conversations during the May 13 meeting touched on Kake developing renewable energy sources of its own instead of relying on the intertie. However Kake Mayor Henrich Kadake Sr. said there are few options and the town has no money for that kind of development.

Kadake Sr. said finding a way to lower the near $.70 per kilowatt-hour price is a priority for the town of 500 that only four years ago had a population topping 1,000.

He said that due to the high energy price, the younger generations in the town have moved elsewhere to find jobs.

“We’re having a hard time,” he said. Freight costs and getting processors to buy the little fish that comes into the town has been difficult recently, Kadake Sr. said.

He said the town recently held a community meeting and all those attending were supportive of the northern route road and intertie connecting the small town to Petersburg.

“We are behind the northern route,” Kadake Sr. said.

Heberling, whose firm published the final study of the Kake-Petersburg Intertie, said there have been talks of eventually connecting Kake to Sitka and then eventually Juneau to make a completely interconnected Southeast.

Part of the study looked at possible ways to cross the Wrangell Narrows. Heberling said that if the southern route is taken, the line will be trenched into the bottom of the narrows to limit exposure to the heavy tides and traffic. He said that crossing is expensive and has a limited lifespan of about 30 years.

If the northern route is used, a directional boring method will be used to create a small tunnel to hold the transmission line. Heberling said that the boring method is cheaper and extends the transmission line life.

Heberling said that method makes it easier to replace transmission lines if problems arise.