the feds bet on alaska coal

The U.S. Department of Energy has selected the Terra Energy Center, a proposed 1,250-megawatt coal-fired power plant with integrated carbon capture west of Skwentna in the Susitna River watershed, for an $89 million grant to study whether the project can be built. The Anchorage-based Terra Energy Center Corp., an affiliate of Flatlands Energy Corp., is matching the federal grant with its own funds.

Supporters, including the state representative from Big Lake, say the project could provide firm, homegrown power for Southcentral Alaska as the region's natural gas supply grows uncertain, a question that matters for electricity customers in Anchorage, Wasilla, Palmer and Big Lake.

About $13 million in earlier state and federal funding has already gone toward studying the project. The plan calls for piping captured carbon dioxide roughly 60 miles to Beluga near Cook Inlet, where it would be injected into a depleted natural gas reservoir.

The project has no finalized design, no permitted coal mine and no utility purchase agreements in place. It also depends on construction of the proposed West Susitna Access Road, a new road of more than 60 miles, to reach the remote site.

Opponents, including the Susitna River Coalition and Sierra Club Alaska, argue the project represents private interests seeking public subsidies in sensitive wild river country.