HomeMy WebLinkAboutAEA Grant Angoon Letters of SupportqrandCamp
Jl{askg Native Brotherhood
RESOLUTION #28-09
Title:Support for Angoon's Renewable Energy Developments
WHEREAS,Southeast Alaska has abundant energy resources which are untapped,
and where there is beginning to emerge Native corporation and Native
community ownership of these resources;and
WHEREAS,Angoon pays some of the highest energy costs in Southeast Alaska;
and
WHEREAS,the City of Angoon and Kootznoowoo Inc.have developed and
signed an Angoon Energy Plan which identifies priorities and goals
including a plan to reduce the cost of energy for Angoon through the
development of renewable energy;and
WHEREAS,the Angoon Community Association has provided strong letters of
support to Kootznoowoo Inc.to develop and construct Thayer Lake
Hydroelectric to its full potential and as the community's top energy
priority,and
WHEREAS,Kootznoowoo Inc.has successfully completed the environmental
work and record of decision necessary to secure a permit to construct
an environmentally sound run of river hydroelectric project in Angoon
in a Wilderness Monument;and
WHEREAS,Kootznoowoo Inc.has received grants and is developing the Thayer
Lake hydroelectric facility that it was granted rights to develop under
ANILCA,and
WHEREAS,The City of Angoon has filed on two FERC hydropower permits:
Ruth Lake and Scenery Lake to develop and bring low cost
hydropower to all communities of Southeast Alaska,
WHEREAS,there are important rural Alaska areas which are energy rich,but do
not benefit from harnessing these energy sources due to insufficient or
missing transmission assets,and
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED,that the Grand Camp of Alaska
Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood wholly supports the leadership of the
Kootznoowoo Inc.and the City of Angoon for claiming and developing energy
resources under Native leadership and Native ownership whereby Angoon is
seeking energy self determination for their Native community,for diesel
generation communities and for generations to follow.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED,that the Grand President and the Executive
Committee urge the federal government through the Department of Energy,the
Department of Agriculture,the Department of Interior and the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission;the State of Alaska and Southeast Conference to support
Native leadership and development of hydropower projects at Thayer Lake,
Scenery Lake and Ruth Lake for the benefit of all Southeast Alaskans by reducing
green house gas emissions,by creating jobs in rural Southeast Alaska and by
lowering the energy costs that Southeast Alaskan citizens pay to heat and fuel their
homes,schools,and iusinesses.
ATTEST:I certify that this resolution was adopted by the ANB Grand Camp
Executive Committee on October 15,2009
~d-ANB Gr~Secretary
qrandCamp
Jl{ask,st Native Brotherhood.
RESOLUTION #33-09
Title:Support for Native participation in building,constructing and
management of Energy Infrastructure in Southeast Alaska.
WHEREAS,Grand Camp has supported many energy projects in the past and
continues to do so;and
WHEREAS,the cost of energy and the cost of fuels has continued to increase and
Continues to be a burden our communities and membership and their businesses;
and
WHEREAS,despite these millions of dollars of public investments,many of our
Southeast Alaskan Native communities remain isolated when alternatives such as
line extensions can connect these communities to existing low cost utilities;
WHEREAS,protectionist practices including maintaining unfair status quo by the
Regulatory Commission of Alaska with respect to generating and transmitting
utility districts disproportionately impacts predominately Alaska Native
communities;
WHEREAS,to bring meaningful change to our region we need a systemic fix
through a Regional Transmission Organization (RTO),and that development of a
community-run R TO will facilitate an electrical intertie between our communities
and their energy sources and very possibly the North American power grid;and
WHEREAS,the Federal and State government have subsidized and awarded
hundreds of millions of dollars to urban and predominately non-Native
communities to develop hydropower and transmission lines here in Southeast
Alaska;and
WHEREAS,despite these millions of dollars of public investments,many of our
Southeast Alaskan Native communities are on diesel generation and high
administrative and overhead costs associated with diesel generation;and
WHEREAS,we have Native village corporations and Native communities such as
Haida Corporation,Kake Tribal Corporation,Kootznoowoo Incorporated and the
City of Angoon filing federal permits,and making investments and partnerships in
renewable energy development and operations;and
WHEREAS,Native entities should own and control Southeast Alaska renewable
energy resources where possible and support the needed public investments in
transmission line extensions to connect our communities;and
WHEREAS,as a result of this situation many of these entrepreneurial Native
village corporations and in some cases desperate communities deserve full political
and financial support and encouragement from all tribal entities,ANCSA
corporations and Native non-profit agencies for their leadership and investments to
help themselves to lead and assist our communities toward renewable energy
development and alternative fuels in order to lower energy costs for our people,to
help end outmigration from their communities,to create renewable energy jobs and
to preserve the economic livelihood that is impacting our diesel disadvantaged
communities;and
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED,that the Grand Camp supports,the
AK-BC energy transmission line near Wrangell;Reynolds Creek project for Haida
Corporation and Hydaburg,Kootznoowoo Incorporated's Thayer Creek which will
generate power for the City of Angoon;The City of Angoon's preliminary permits
and license applications for Scenery Lake and Ruth Lake for the benefit of all
communities which are and will be grid connected to the Swann Tyee grid;
Cascade Creek project for Kake Tribal Corporation;because,all of these projects
will help reduce the cost of power to our rural Native communities;and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED,that the federal and state government should
immediately complete the authorized Southeast Intertie using less costly routes
which have been described by the Central Council in their February 2009 Strategic
Energy Plan in a format that allows for open and fair access to publicly financed
and constructed transmission lines;and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED,that Grand Camp of Alaska Native Brotherhood
and Sisterhood requests that the federal and state government support all Native
owned,controlled and those that have Native participation in renewable energy
and alternative fuels projects that will provide much needed low cost renewable
energy resources for our people to end outmigration,increase our economic
development,increase our job base and to better our current and future generations
struggling to raise families in ou~traditional rural and urban communities that are
currently dies /isa antag.~J,t!I .,~~..~Ck\~~VV\(J.[AJ ~
ANS Gran President
ATTEST:I certify that this resolution was adopted by the ANB Grand Camp
Executive Committee on October 15,2009
ANB Gran Secretary