Advocates: keeping Healy 1 running is 'sensible decision'; opponents, environmental 'crisis,' urge shutdown
Updated: This story has been revised. See Editor's Note, below.
More than 50 Golden Valley Electric Association members weighed-in last week on the question of whether the co-op should upgrade its oldest power plant, or shut it down and replace it with renewable-energy sources like wind and solar. But most of those who spoke during two public meetings on the issue want the co-op to keep the coal-fired Healy Unit 1 operating.
Golden Valley’s board of directors will decide next month whether to install a 30-million-dollar emissions-control system on the 55-year-old Healy 1 or shut it down by 2025. So the board held two meetings, in Healy and Fairbanks, to explain the issue and get feedback from members.
“This is an incredibly challenging decision,” said board Chair Tom DeLong during his introductory remarks to those attending the meetings in Healy and Fairbanks. He said the directors will be guided by Golden Valley’s mission statement, which calls for providing electricity to members reliably, at a fair and reasonable price.
Most of those who spoke out were from Healy and nearby communities, and those who spoke all said they supported keeping the plant in operation because it’s provided cheap power ever since it went online in 1967 -- and because it provides jobs and revenue.
“Let’s make a sensible decision to reinvest in Healy 1 and meet the mission of providing reliable and cost-conscious power,” Denali Borough Mayor Clay Walker said during his comments to the board.
Christopher Stainbrook agreed, adding, “I think it’s a no-brainer, personally. The plant runs like a Swiss watch, and it’s great for the community,”
Andy Davis also concurred. “This particular unit’s got a lot of time left in it, it’s got a lot of years, and I hope we keep it open,” he said.
Both Stainbrook and Davis, like most of those who spoke during the meeting in Healy, are either past or present employees of Golden Valley or the Usibelli Coal Mine. The mine provides fuel for Healy 1 and all other coal-fired power plants in Alaska.
Many co-op members say Golden Valley relies too heavily on coal, which emits more climate-changing carbon dioxide than any other fossil fuel. But Usibelli mine General Manager Alan Renshaw says technology can solve that.
“They take the CO2, they liquify it and they put it back in the ground where it came from,” he said.
Renshaw said Golden Valley should study the feasibility of so-called carbon sequestration and capture. It’s a costly process, however, that carries its own environmental risks. But climate change wasn’t a concern for those at the Healy meeting, all of whom supported keeping the power plant running. And so did most of those at the Fairbanks meeting.
“There’s absolutely no reason not to keep Healy 1 going,” said Randy Griffin.
“Healy 1’s been in service for 55 years and provided stable, low-cost power,” added Brad Van der Plas
“Let’s keep it going,” said Andrew Labar “It can go away when it has to. Now is not the time.”]
Both Van der Plas and Labar work for Golden Valley.
A few of those who spoke at the Fairbanks meeting, like Kenzley Defler, said there may be some logic to temporarily keeping Healy 1 operating.
“I am here to encourage you all to shut down Healy 1, but not to shut it down,” she said. “It’s a transition -- a transition away from coal and towards renewables.”
But nearly a dozen others, including members of local environmental organizations, said the threat of climate change is too great to give Healy 1 any more time.
“We are at a moment of crisis right now, and we are in desperate need of a transition,” Arleigh Hitchcock said. “There is no if we go to renewable energy; it is when we go to “
David Bantz added, “We need to build the kind of community for our kids and grandkids to still live and thrive here. And to do that, we don’t be able to rely on 19th and 20th century technologies.”
“Everyone who’s spoken tonight is right,” Savannah Benitez Fletcher said. “Healy 1 is very reliable. It reliably emits a ton of carbon dioxide. It reliably fails to meet out environmental standards … We need to close Healy 1.”]
A Golden Valley spokesperson said Tuesday that board members are reviewing the ratepayers’ comments and will make a decision on whether to upgrade or shut down Healy 1 during a special meeting to be held in June.
The spokesperson said in a followup email that about 80 members of the public talked about the issue during the two meetings, and that Golden Valley received another 90 written or emailed comments.
Editor's note: This story has been revised to correct the date of the meeting in which Golden Valley's board of directors will decide the future of Healy Unit 1. It's also been updated to report the total number of public comments submitted about the issue.
