In addition to discussing vetoed items in the state budget, Governor Bill Walker used this Wednesday morning’s press conference to announce that he is shutting down two mega-projects in the Mat-Su: the Knik Arm bridge, and the Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric Project.
Large projects can often be contentious, and two of the more controversial projects in the last few years have been the Knik Arm Crossing and the Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric Project. Governor Bill Walker said those projects will now come to an end, not necessarily due to their controversial nature—Governor Walker describes himself as “pro-construction”—but due to the state’s financial situation.
“I ran for governor to build Alaska, not to balance the checkbook,” Walker said. “We’re balancing the checkbook because that’s the hand we were dealt. It pains me to shut down anything involving a construction project or an infrastructure project.”
Governor Walker said that the studies and prep work that have gone into both mega-projects will be preserved. Susitna-Watana alone has spent nearly $300 million on studies as part of its federal licensing process, and Walker does not want that data to be lost.
While the news of both projects’ shutting down represents potential future savings, neither has seen a great deal of activity of late. Susitna-Watana has not received funding for two years, and a deal struck last year tied large-scale funding for the Knik Arm Bridge to securing federal loans established by the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, or TIFIA.
The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities is the agency in charge of the crossing project. Shannon McCarthy, spokesperson for DOT, says that some preliminary work is ongoing, including continuing attempts at securing a TIFIA loan, but the level of fieldwork has been low.
”The tasks that are in progress right now, if those can be quickly…completed and brought to a halt, we would be doing that,” McCarthy said. “The other ones, we’ll have to see where they’re at in terms of their progress.”
Both DOT and the Alaska Energy Authority, which handles the Susitna-Watana project, are still processing exactly what the implications of Governor Walker’s shutdown are. The limited fieldwork being done by AEA for the proposed dam has used leftover funds from previous years in the absence of new appropriations, and the federal licensing process for the project has continued, albeit with delays. The Alaska Energy Authority plans to release a statement soon about what the next steps will look like.
Susitna-Watana’s opponents, however, were very clear in their response the Governor’s announcement. Mike Wood, President of the Susitna River Coalition’s board of directors, says his group is “ecstatic” about the news.
”On behalf of 13,000 Alaskan members of the Susitna River Coalition, we couldn’t be more pleased with the governor’s announcement,” Wood said. “It’s phenomenal.”
Wood says the Susitna River Coalition will continue to watch Susitna-Watana until it winds down completely, then will focus on making sure the idea of a dam on the Susitna, originally proposed six decades ago, does not come back for a fourth time.
