ANCHORAGE – The Alaska Energy Authority (AEA) drastically underestimated the cost of the Susitna Dam, while competing with the proposed in-state natural gas pipeline, according to a report released today. The report, from Erickson and Associates, analyzes the full cost of the project and identifies significant costs that AEA has not assessed or disclosed to legislators and Alaskans in their project estimates.

“This report clearly shows what we’ve all suspected for a long time, that the State of Alaska has neither the need nor the funding to build the Susitna Dam and the proposed natural gas pipeline,” said Mike Wood, President of the Susitna River Coalition. “We hope the light that Mr. Erickson has shed on the project will shape decision making in Juneau as Governor Walker refines the budget.”

While already a high figure at $5.2 billion, AEA’s projected price tag for the Susitna Dam project fails to include $880 million in transmission facilities that would be required to move power from the dam to existing transmission lines, according to the  report. The estimate also excludes yet-to-be negotiated costs of leasing or purchasing of the Native Corporation lands on which much of the project will sit.

“This project was already far too expensive at more than $5 billion,” said Talkeetna resident Brian Okonek. “It’s simply not worth draining our state’s savings and bankrupting future generations of Alaskans for a dam that Alaskans don’t want”

As the report points out, the proposed Susitna Dam and the proposed in-state natural gas pipeline compete for the same market. A poll conducted by Hays Research Group in October found that given a choice, likely voters in Alaska would choose an in-state natural gas pipeline over the Susitna Dam by a margin of nearly 4-1.

“Our leaders have a clear choice to make – do we invest in a natural gas pipeline or do we dam the fourth largest king salmon river in the state,” said Wood. “With budgets in decline, it’s time for the State of Alaska to cut its losses and abandon the shortsighted Susitna Dam project.”

The report can be found online at: https://susitnarivercoalition.org/economicreport/

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