Anchorage deputy municipal manager Mark Spafford describes Southcentral’s looming natural gas shortage as a train that has been barreling toward the region for decades and now — it’s almost here.
“This isn't just, like, political posturing or somebody, you know, Chicken Little-ing it,” Spafford said. “It's a real thing, and we need to do something about it. And we're 20 years behind the curve in my opinion.”
Earlier this month, Anchorage Assembly members held a retreat to hear from a variety of stakeholders involved in addressing the impending shortfall. The shortage, if not addressed, will put at risk the ability for residents to heat and power their homes and businesses.
While officials have pointed to a need for addressing the region’s natural gas supply for a long time, the problem has become more apparent in recent years, with experts predicting a major shortfall as early as 2027. However, city officials say most of the solutions to the issue won’t be solved by the government.
“The utilities are by far the biggest players in the space, and I think that solutions really do start and end with them,” said Nolan Klouda, a policy advisor for Mayor Suzanne LaFrance’s administration.
During the retreat, city officials heard about a host of proposals to address the shortage, ranging from investing in existing natural gas production to propping up more renewable energy projects. None have firm commitments signed.
Officials say utilities like Enstar Natural Gas and Chugach Electric will be the main drivers of which projects go through. Enstar recently announced it had signed a contract with a small natural gas producer that could help.
Still, Klouda said the city does have a role to play.
“We have a powerful voice that we can advocate for solutions at the state level when it comes to things like transmission line upgrades that are really necessary to bring new sources of power online, including a lot of renewable sources,” Klouda said.
In addition to advocacy, Klouda said the city can take a look at its own energy usage, and find ways to conserve power. When it comes to total energy usage in Anchorage, the municipality uses about five percent, according to the city’s climate action plan.
Spafford said the city has already taken steps over the past several administrations to find efficiencies in how it uses power.
“Do energy audits on buildings, you know, and change light bulbs and try to get people to turn down thermostats at the end of the day, and turn off their lights and turn off monitors,” Spafford said.
Spafford also said the city has a few opportunities to generate its own power to offset the need for natural gas. One example is the hydropower generated by the Eklutna River. The other involves the capturing of methane from a waste-to-energy project at the Anchorage landfill.
“We're selling 7.2 megawatts on a somewhat regular basis, to JBER already, to the Fort Richardson side of that,” Spafford said. “There's the capacity and the ability there to literally, like, double the capacity of that plant.”
Assembly leaders like vice-chair Meg Zaletel say the presentation they heard at the retreat highlighted the severity of the impending energy crunch. She said one major takeaway she got was that many solutions are years away. Another is how the crisis intersects with existing Assembly priorities, like increasing housing and reversing years of outmigration.
“A huge part of housing affordability is keeping it heated and running, and so we really need to make sure we're taking and factoring that in when we look at our housing strategy,” Zaletel said.
Zaletel said she was also encouraged by the work the city has already done to address energy consumption, including changing tires on city vehicles to all-weather ones in order to conserve fuel usage.
“I think we're doing some quiet, innovative things already within the municipality,” Zaletel said. “We just don't often take the time to publicize them, and I think that by doing so, we can lead by example with what other people might be doing, or other businesses might be doing.”
Zaletel added that as an Assembly member, a major priority is making sure that the public’s tax dollars are being spent wisely, and she’s hopeful that addressing energy issues in the short term will prevent the city from having to spend even more in the future.
