Project Snapshot

Grant Lake:

Grant Lake Victory!

Homer Electric Association has been promoting a hydroelectric project on Grant Lake and Creek, a tributary of the Kenai River. ACE knows that dams and fish are incompatible, and we have fought against this ill-conceived project for years.  Now, the Alaska Energy Authority has agreed with us and has denied construction funding through the Renewable Energy Grants Program. The reasons they cite include significant public opposition to the project, increased costs of the project combined with a decrease of available power generation due to fishery issues downstream (they have had to scale their project design back to prevent impacts to fish). 

AEA is now recognizing that this project will likely not be economically feasible.  AEA has funded this project in the past to the tune of about 2 million dollars, so this is a significant shift and we applaud the Alaska Energy Authority (AEA) for their wise conclusions.

Grant Creek supports anadromous fish species including Chinook, sockeye and Coho salmon as well as resident species including rainbow trout and Dolly Varden.

Grant Lake is managed by the United States Forest Service as a fish, wildlife and recreation management area, meaning these lands are managed specifically to provide a variety of habitats for fish and wildlife species and recreational opportunities.  Management of fish and wildlife habitats will emphasize the maintenance of the genetic diversity of fish and wildlife, the enhancement of fish habitat important to sport, commercial or subsistence fisheries, watchable wildlife, hunting, and subsistence opportunities that may exist.  At least two historic structures would be destroyed by the lake level rise.