Tag Archive for: clean energy

National climate draft document highlights dangers for Alaska

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The public comment period for an update on the National Climate Assessment closes Jan. 27 as the U.S. seeks to shore up efforts to address climate change.

The draft update, now the fifth, is considered “the preeminent source of climate information for the United States, used by hundreds of thousands of people across the country and around the world,” according to a news release from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

The National Climate Assessment first published in 2000, with its last update released in two parts between 2017 and 2018.

The 1,695-page draft report evaluates everything from rising ocean levels and shifting weather patterns to economical and social impacts. The draft includes a 63-page chapter on Alaska’s role in climate change, including threats and reactions.

Citing a 2018 study, the draft states that Alaska is warming two to three times faster than the global average.

The draft report notes climate change presents some positive impacts for Alaska’s food security, including longer growing seasons.

Twenty-four people from federal, state, environmental, science and academic backgrounds contributed to the Alaska chapter.

Alyssa Quintyne, the Alaska Center’s Interior community manager, served as one of the Alaska chapter’s contributing writers.

“Alaskans are the best people to tell the story about climate crisis in Alaska,” Quintyne said, adding that public comments from Alaska residents are essential.

“We don’t want our chapter to go out without Alaskan eyes on it,” Quintyne said. “We want to engage with our fellow leaders and community members, and we want to make sure we got the story right.”

Noticeable impacts include thawing permafrost, shrinking sea ice levels and a sharp, noticeable drop in several fish and crab populations, which have led to several fisheries crashes over the last years.

Other elements highlighted in the draft report include prolonged summer wildfire seasons and the adverse health affects caused by the smoke, shifts in wildlife migration patterns.

Quintyne noted health impacts from wildfire smoke struck a personal note.

“A lot of my friends developed bronchospasms,” Quintyne said. Bronchospasms are cause by airway muscles tightening, which results in wheezing and coughing.

Quintyne noted some people had to receive breathing treatments as a result. Several things trigger it, including emphysema, chemical fumes and allergens — and wildfire smoke.

“To see healthy people that are normally out there running or exercising all of sudden developing these conditions hit me personally,” Quintyne said.

The report references some of the most recent severe weather events, including the harsh 2021-2022 winter season that hammered the Interior with freezing rain and snow.

The Alaska chapter also cites personal stories from residents, including Fairbanks resident and tax preparer Marjorie Casort’s testimony on the 2021-2022 snowpocalypse.

“In April we are still feeling the effects, with an inch of ice stubbornly clinging to roads,” Casort wrote. “Many of my elderly clients are housebound, unable to even cross the road to check their mailbox because of the dangerous ice conditions.”

The draft report is available online for review and comment at review.globalchange.gov. People wishing to comment will need to create an account to view, download or comment.

Quintyne encourages people to comment.

“We greatly appreciate having this chapter written and edited by Alaskans, so we appreciate any comment and we want to make sure we got the story right,” Quintyne said.

Originally published on January 4, 2023 by the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

Climate Progress Ahead

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There is a thread in these facts. Joe Biden is arguably the most aggressive president on climate we have had, and this administration has shepherded through Congress the most significant investment in clean energy our country has ever seen. A national party has a majority in the U.S. Senate and will hopefully treat climate change as the dire threat it is. Alaska just elected the first Indigenous Alaskan woman to Congress who knows first-hand the impacts of climate change on northern lands, waters, and communities. The Governor, no great champion of Salmon or Democracy, has put forward bold renewable energy policies in the past and is compelled to diversify energy sources by a looming Southcentral natural gas shortage bearing down.

Similarly, major electric utilities are awakening to the fact that they must quickly diversify. The State Senate has organized a moderate bi-partisan majority with the goal of driving down energy costs as a key pillar of the coalition. While the State House has yet to organize, it will be hard for any majority to oppose further clean energy investment and legislation if it helps drive down costs for Alaskans. If we mind the connections, progress seems inevitable – but that is never the case. Progress will take a lot of work, a lot of voices, and a little time.
The Alaska Center understands that there are enormous resources now available to states, local governments, and utilities from the Inflation Reduction Act and that the political stars are fairly aligned. For our climate-oriented legislative priorities we will be working to pass a suite of state legislation that will move the needle on climate impacts. Our top priority is a bill that authorizes and provides clear guidelines for community solar projects. We will also be working with a coalition of organizations to pass legislation that sets a renewable portfolio standard for railbelt electric utilities, creates a clean energy investment bank, and extends the Renewable Energy Fund to facilitate utility-scale renewable energy projects.

All Alaskans should have access to the cost reductions and pollution reductions available to those with the financial means to take advantage of residential solar. Alongside individual and large-scale solar, Community Solar is a way for everyone to benefit from solar energy, even if they cannot afford or install a solar PV system. An array is built, and residents, from homeowners to business owners to organizations, can invest in the array. The production of that array will be reflected in our energy bills. This array can be managed by a utility or a community for off-grid regions and villages. Electric utilities like Chugach and Homer Electric Association have come close to adopting versions of community solar programs. We believe that providing a clear statutory framework for utilities and the Regulatory Commission of Alaska to follow will provide for community solar arrays in underserved communities.

Electric utilities in Alaska have been told by the sole provider of natural gas in Southcentral Alaska that long-term natural gas contracts will end after 2024. This injects instability into future budget forecasting for utilities, and monopolistic control of the gas supply generally guarantees utility customers will pay increased premiums for the cost of power from natural gas. A renewable portfolio standard bill must be re-introduced to push our utilities toward the inevitable and the cost-effective: more renewable energy, lots more, and fast. When Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act this year, they authorized a provision that non-profit rural electric cooperatives across the nation have sought for years – direct payment equivalent to the federal tax credit that for-profit utilities and Independent Power Producers claim. This means that our utilities have significant federal backing for numerous shovel-ready renewable projects, which also deeply undercuts the utility manager’s argument that individual utilities cannot afford a massive transition to renewables and battery storage. As envisioned by the Governor last session, a renewable portfolio standard would have utilities reach 80% renewable generation by 2040. We will be working to see this framework pass the legislature.

Our other policy goals align with and will help our state achieve the 80% goal. Reauthorization of the Renewable Energy Fund (REF)-due to sunset this year, will maintain an essential space for new utility-scale renewable projects to be vetted and funded. Funding for the REF has lately been derived from the earnings of the Power Cost Equalization endowment. When the state was flush with oil money, the REF was capitalized by appropriations from the general fund. We must maintain a way to provide direct grants for large-scale renewable projects as we simultaneously mandate that utilities incorporate more renewable energy.

Alaska needs a clean energy investment organization to help coax the private lending industry into making low-interest loans for large-scale energy efficiency projects, clean transportation, and clean energy programs. The Inflation Reduction Act authorized the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), a $27 billion clean energy deployment bank housed at the Environmental Protection Agency. The GGRF is the largest single pot of funding enacted in the IRA. It gave EPA broad discretion to invest in clean energy technologies through Green Banks (entities that leverage public funding to attract private financing and advance green energy or energy efficiency projects). We will be working this session to ensure a state office is established to take advantage of federal GGRF funds, a significant portion of which is designated for investment in underserved communities.

The Biden climate investment, favorable political conditions in Alaska, decreasing natural gas supply and price certainty, and the upcoming legislative session are primed for clean energy progress.

2023 can be the year for clean energy progress in our state if we keep pushing our leadership to enact policy that works with and for all Alaskans.

To the future!

The Dust Settles and the Future Takes (a bit of) Shape

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[cs_content][cs_element_section _id=”1″ ][cs_element_layout_row _id=”2″ ][cs_element_layout_column _id=”3″ ][cs_element_text _id=”4″ ][cs_content_seo]After the fanfare of the general election fades away and the nail-biter races are called, the action moves to the task of legislative organization – who will be in charge of what, who will wield the levers of power, and who will not. This can take no time or a very, very long time, depending on the ideological schisms of those elected.
The State Senate has rapidly coalesced around a 17-member bipartisan majority. Likely this formation was in the works after the August primary numbers came in, given the patchy trend (but trend indeed) of voters electing the more moderate candidate. This organization has many strong champions of education at the helm, and recent statements indicate that the coalition’s focus will be to protect education, grow the economy and address high energy costs in Alaska. At this point, we are prepared for a pretty low-key fireworks show in the Senate compared to the last four years. We anticipate the Senate will be a strong barrier against Governor Dunleavy’s more damaging budget proposals.
The fact that the Governor previously proposed a Renewable Portfolio Standard and a Green Bank for clean energy investments last session, the fact that long-term natural gas supply contracts in SouthCentral Alaska are ending in 2024, the fact that the floodgates are open on federal clean energy infrastructure program money, and the fact that the state Senate is clearly indicating it wants to work on energy costs – are good facts for our legislative priorities at The Alaska Center.
Our priority goals to help Alaskans lower energy costs and to address climate change are as follows: 

Pass a Renewable Portfolio Standard that will allow Alaska Railbelt utilities customers to purchase energy from 80% renewable sources by 2040.
Pass Community Solar legislation that will allow more Alaskans to benefit from renewable energy.
Extend the Renewable Energy Fund. 

Stay tuned for more on these and other clean energy priorities in our next blog!
Whether the State House will rally around similar general goals (education, economy, energy) as the Senate is now an open question. The House is in a more protracted organizing process and will not know until after December 21 if one member is eligible to take his seat until the courts determine if he is in violation of the Alaska Constitution’s Disloyalty Clause. However the House organizes, the numbers trend toward moderation with 6 Independents, 13 Democrats, and 21 Republicans. We hope for a continued Bipartisan Coalition in the House that will work towards a more thriving, just, and sustainable future.
If the Governor is moderated by the Senate bipartisan coalition, the House Republicans will be moderated by the Governor’s goals – that is our prediction anyway. It bodes well for meat and potato issues like driving down energy costs for Alaskans through increases in clean energy, and we can work with that.
Talk to you soon,
The Alaska Center\n\n[/cs_content_seo][cs_element_gap _id=”5″ ][cs_element_button _id=”6″ ][cs_content_seo]More Hot Takes In A Cold Place\n\n[/cs_content_seo][/cs_element_layout_column][/cs_element_layout_row][/cs_element_section][/cs_content]

Alaska power companies look at building community solar farms that households can invest in

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[cs_content][cs_element_section _id=”1″ ][cs_element_layout_row _id=”2″ ][cs_element_layout_column _id=”3″ ][cs_element_text _id=”4″ ][cs_content_seo]Two Alaska electric utilities are taking steps that could lead to the construction of the state’s first community solar farms, while a consumer interest group is drafting legislation that could support the efforts.
Advocates say the moves by the Anchorage and Fairbanks utilities could lead to projects that allow any household to invest in solar panels to reap their benefits, including low-income residents who can’t afford to install their own rooftop array like many Alaskans are doing.
Tom DeLong, board chair for the Golden Valley Electric Association in Fairbanks, said participants could invest in a share of a farm in potentially different ways, depending on how the utility might structure a plan. A ratepayer could make a one-time payment upfront, perhaps, or pay a tiny amount over time through a slightly higher electric bill. They could see lower electric bills in the years to come.
“It’s a hedge against rising rates,” DeLong said.
Chugach Electric Association, the largest utility in Alaska, is also beginning to take a new look at the idea of a community solar farm in Anchorage, after the Regulatory Commission of Alaska in 2019 rejected an earlier proposal from the utility, citing problems with details of the plan.
“Our members have expressed interest in community solar, so we are looking at the feasibility of another project,” said Julie Hasquet, a Chugach Electric spokeswoman.
Interest in the community farms, which have been implemented in many other states, comes as renewable use is growing in Alaska, and not just on rooftops. Private companies are undertaking ambitious efforts to build solar and wind farms, while utilities are also pursuing upgrades to the grid to support renewables. Driving factors include new federal tax incentives and uncertainty over future natural gas supply in Cook Inlet, the main source of electricity in Alaska.
[Construction of Alaska’s largest solar project gets underway in Houston]

‘Significant and vocal’ interest
Golden Valley Electric has directed its staff to study the idea of building a community solar array in Fairbanks, after a task force recommended that one be built on utility-owned land, DeLong said.
“We’re a cooperative, we’re owned by our members, and a significant and vocal group has expressed an interest in this,” DeLong said.
The task force recommended that residential ratepayers be allowed to buy a share of a panel to start with, and up to a full panel or more later, to facilitate broad participation in the project.
“We also recommend flexible eligibility that allows members to pre-purchase the panels in a six month or one year plan, in essence a Community Solar layaway plan,” the task force said in a report to the utility board. ”Smaller monthly payments will help accessibility by low to moderate income members in the community solar.”
The task force recommended the utility should quickly file a plan with the Regulatory Commission of Alaska.
The agency would approve how the payment is structured for participants, and would make sure a program does not discriminate against non-participants, DeLong said.

Chugach Electric will be informed by past effort
The Regulatory Commission in 2019 called Chugach Electric’s proposal for a community solar farm “confusing and undefined.” The agency raised concerns that all ratepayers would bear financial responsibility, not just the participants. But the regulators emphasized the state’s strong interest in renewable energy and said it did not want to discourage innovative programs.
That earlier proposal envisioned a solar farm built on utility-owned land in Anchorage, costing $2 million or less, with 2,000 panels. It could have generated about 15% of the power for about 500 participating households. Retail ratepayers could have made a prepaid investment or subscribed monthly, with the energy output of their share provided as a credit on monthly bills over the project’s 25-year life.
That earlier effort can inform this new proposal, Hasquet said. But Chugach Electric has no details proposed for this new round, Hasquet said.
“Understanding the concerns of the RCA with our previous project should help us craft a project that could get regulatory approval,” Hasquet said. “Many factors still need to be determined, including size, scope, and costs.”
[A small Fairbanks company wants to build Alaska’s biggest wind farms]
Chugach Electric recently sent a survey to “the more than 600 members who had shown interest in our 2017/2018 community solar project,” Hasquet said in an email. “We had a list of members who had asked to be kept informed of progress on a project. We believe that is a good place to start on determining the feasibility of a newly designed project.”

Groups working on draft legislation
The Alaska Public Interest Research Group is working with groups such as The Alaska Center to finalize draft legislation that could help enable the creation of the projects in Alaska, if it is approved by the Legislature, said Phil Wight, a policy analyst with the group.
The consumer interest group supports community solar farms because they’re another way to lower electric rates, he said. The Alaska Center also highlights climate benefits as another good outcome, as solar power replaces energy from fossil-fuel sources such as natural gas.
Legislation supporting community solar farms could create jobs, diversify the economy and help Alaska achieve its goal of 50% renewable energy by 2025, said Rachel Christensen, clean energy organizer with The Alaska Center.
[CIRI looks to triple power at Fire Island wind farm]
Wight said it’s a promising time for the projects in part because tax credits in the federal Inflation Reduction Act passed in August could cut project costs in half, or more.
“It’s really about bringing the lowest-cost energy to Alaskans,” he said.

Originally published on November 27, 2022 by the Anchorage Daily News.\n\n[/cs_content_seo][/cs_element_layout_column][/cs_element_layout_row][/cs_element_section][/cs_content]

Bringing Community Solar To Alaska

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[cs_content][cs_element_section _id=”1″ ][cs_element_layout_row _id=”2″ ][cs_element_layout_column _id=”3″ ][cs_element_text _id=”4″ ][cs_content_seo]Renewable energy has become quite the buzz phrase in our world these days. Sometimes it takes other forms; clean energy, green energy, sustainable energy, but it is scattered through ads on radio stations, tv commercials, and even announced over the loudspeakers at airports. Sometimes through all this noise, it is hard to understand what renewable energy means to the average person. 
The Inflation Reduction Act passed this summer included groundbreaking funding for renewable energy projects, as did the Bipartisan Infrastructure Package that passed in the months before. With this new funding, utility cooperatives across the state are (or at least should be) looking for new renewable energy projects to bring onto the grid, which will benefit all Alaskans. 
Transitioning our state away from fossil fuels and into cleaner energy sources creates better air quality, and less pollution to our water sources and wildlife habitat. It will ultimately give us cheaper and more sustainable energy. However, right now in Alaska, affordable renewable energy is more accessible for folks with resources to invest in their small-scale solar or wind projects. It is time for that to change. 
Community solar is a system where individuals can invest in and share the benefits of a solar array not located on their property. Each person who holds a share of the community solar array will see their portion of clean, sustainable energy on their utility bill each month. You can start to reap the benefits of having a solar setup without the upfront cost that so many of us can’t afford. This also opens up solar energy to people who have yet to participate: renters, condo owners, and anyone who doesn’t have space in their backyard or roof for a solar system can join the solar movement. It democratizes the energy transition and allows more Alaskans to contribute to and earn returns from renewable energy. 
While 41 states already have community solar arrays, the great state of Alaska is one of the few without one installation. Many people may not think of solar when they think of Alaska, yet they should. Our winters may be long and dark, but the sunlight hours we have access to in the summer make up for the winter and then some. In fact, for seven months out of the year, Anchorage gets more hours of daily sunlight than anywhere in the contiguous US! 
Community solar is a step forward for our state that can be unlocked with policy change. Our leaders in Juneau can make community solar available to all Alaskans with some simple regulatory changes. Community solar is just one of many great opportunities for Alaska; we have immense renewable energy potential that our elected leaders can and should tap into. This coming legislative session, we can push them to do it. We will keep you updated as the legislative session unfolds on how you can take action to make Community Solar a reality in Alaska.

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A Just Transition to an Indigenized Future

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[cs_content][cs_element_section _id=”1″ ][cs_element_layout_row _id=”2″ ][cs_element_layout_column _id=”3″ ][cs_element_text _id=”4″ ][cs_content_seo]November is Native American Heritage Month. Here in Alaska, this means centering the people who have shaped this land since time immemorial. Around 20% of Alaska’s population is Indigenous, but Native culture plays a much more significant role in our history and in our future. Alaska Natives have stewarded these lands successfully for 10,000 years – we live every day on Native Land. Native American Heritage Month is a time to reflect on this legacy of stewardship and look forward.
To heal from past crimes and solve our most dire social and political problems, we must work to Decolonize and Indigenize our ways of life. As a conservation organization, this means owning our place in colonizing history. It also means looking at new ways to understand and build a future together. It means learning from elders and revitalizing Native languages; upholding self-determination for tribes and shifting funding to Native tribes, villages, and organizations; living within the limits of the land and eating local foods, and deep listening. Everyone who lives in Alaska – Native or not – can do these things.
This reframing, collective healing, and visioning are what a Just Transition aims to do. “Just Transition” refers to a transition away from extractive industries and practices like oil and gas and historically colonial ideas of community and economy. A Just Transition moves us towards practices informed by Indigenous knowledge. A Just Transition doesn’t aim to return us to the world as it was before settlers set foot in Alaska; a Just Transition seeks to choose policies that will be best for all Alaskans.
We already see examples of Just Transition principles at work. We see it in the recent election of Mary Peltola, the first Alaska Native woman in Congress. We see it in the failure of ANWR lease sales and the emergence of small-scale solar projects in rural Alaska. We see Just Transition embodied in Native leadership at all levels of government, including in the co-management of Alaskan lands and waters. And we see it in the reemergence of Native languages in our schools and towns. These accomplishments, and many more, are thanks to the hard work and vision of Indigenous leaders across the state.
But we have so much work left to do.
Next week, our state and country will head to the polls. These are the lands of the Dena’ina, Tlingit, Haida, Ahtna, Sugpiak, Tanana Dene, Yup’ik, Inupiat, and so many more, and our politics must reflect this. We must ensure that Native communities have full and unrestricted access to voting by translating ballots and information into Native languages, providing voting assistance for elders, and streamlining voter registration and voting by mail. We must elect leaders who will represent all Alaskans. We need Native leadership and leadership that listens to Native communities. The table needs to expand. A transition is inevitable; justice is not. However, those sitting at our decision-making tables can ensure that the transition is a just one and no Alaskans are left behind.
Voting is a vision for the future. Our choices at the polls must reflect our understanding and history with these lands, but they also must shine a light toward a thriving future for All Alaskans.
Happy Native American Heritage Month, and happy voting.
Don’t forget to have your absentee ballot postmarked or go vote in-person by November 8. This is a huge election and our values are on the line.
The Alaska Center

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Big Energy for Clean Energy

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October is “National Energy Awareness Month,” designated by a decree from the late president George Herbert Walker Bush in 1991. We at The Alaska Center believe that every month gives us reason to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy production, considering what is at stake without a rapid global transition to low-carbon energy sources. The recent storms that battered the Bering Sea and Norton Sound region point to the urgency. Energy awareness also saves homes and businesses money and creates local jobs.

Collective work to create a more energy-aware state includes new additions to our Solarize programs, celebrating the first deal under Anchorage’s Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy program and CPACE’s expansion to the Mat-Su Borough, helping steward public involvement in the Fairbanks Climate Action and Adaptation Plan.

Solarize Fairbanks facilitated two communities this season, University Heights and Denali, with 94kW purchased and over 16 homes and businesses solarized. That brings the initiative to just under a megawatt, rising at 893.35kW purchased and installed across the Interior. The team hosted community listening sessions during September to gain valuable feedback on evolving the Solarize model for 2023.
Solarize Mat Su held its first campaign this year! We facilitated programs in the Palmer and Sutton/Chickaloon communities. Installations are still underway, but at least 35 homes have Solarized. We will have an end-of-year celebration for those communities participating when installation season is over, expected in late October to early November.

Solarize Anchorage and Solarize Mat Su will start the 2023 season on October 6th with a kickoff webinar>>

Rachel Christensen and Chris Pike with The Alaska Center for Energy and Power will walk you through how your community can Solarize. Solarize Mat-Su will also be hosting an informational session in Talkeetna at the Denali Education Center on October 13th at 6:00 pm. We are currently planning many community events throughout October and November, so if you are interested in attending one, please head to our Facebook page to stay up to date!

The first Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy loan closed in Anchorage this fall. This program, adopted by municipal ordinance and authorized by state law, attaches an energy efficiency or renewable energy project loan to a property instead of an individual and allows the owner to pay the loan back as a line on their property tax bill. The project’s energy savings are often equal to or greater than the annual loan repayment charge, making the program cash neutral. The Mat-Su Borough Assembly is currently considering adopting CPACE. Our work hosting the Alaska Municipal Climate Network has helped local government leaders connect on policies, including CPACE, which we hope to see expand to local governments statewide.

Climate Action starts at home, the individual business, and the local government level. We are pleased to support the creation of a Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP) within the Fairbanks North Star Borough. Throughout this fall, our Interior Community Organizing Manager, Alyssa Quintyne, along with other The Alaska Center staff, will be working with Fairbanks Climate Action Coalition and other community leaders to ensure that the public has all of the tools they need to support the creation of a CAAP to guide energy decisions at the borough. Find more information, meeting dates, and links to the draft CAAP visioning document here>>

Throughout October and the rest of 2022, The Alaska Center will be focused on moving the ball forward on energy, with energy.
Thank you. Have a restorative energy weekend.
-The Alaska Center Team

Moving Through Climate Anxiety

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Join The Climate Strike

People across the world are contending with a swirl of climate anxiety. Across our state, we navigate the trauma of lost economies, crops no longer growing abundantly, salmon not making it to our communities, and, most recently, storms becoming more destructive than we have seen in 100 years. Our people are hurting, and our youth have taken on a considerable weight to fight for a future within all of this. In a study published in the Lancet, students from ten countries reported 59% of youth experiencing extreme worry while 84% experienced moderate worry about climate change. Our youth in Alaska is no exception.

Even though the anxiety is justified, when it gets to the level that it freezes us up, it becomes unhelpful and doesn’t serve us or our goals. We must give options and build hope through action and policy to help us and the generations that will lead us move forward through these dark times.

Community advocacy is a medium with meaningful and immediate effects. We’re not past the point of no return. Every effort we make today helps reduce the negative impacts of climate change we’ll feel tomorrow.
Moving forward into next year’s legislative session, we will have great opportunities to advocate for policy and funding that will support investments in renewable energy infrastructure and much more. We also can advocate for community-based solutions like getting our schools’ foods sourced locally, reducing energy consumption in our public buildings, prioritizing plant spaces and community gardens in city neighborhoods, and defending the Indigenous stewardship of carbon sinks. Community-based solutions allow us to make a change that works with and for all Alaskans.

We’re not experiencing climate change effects alone. And we will not create viable climate solutions alone. This network we are building with all of you will motivate the change we need to see.

We’ve got an opportunity to build that network now. Alaska Youth for Environmental Action will be part of the Global Youth Climate Strike on September 23 in Anchorage Town Square from 1:00-3:00 pm. Alaskan youth will strike in solidarity with young people across the world. It’s our responsibility as adult allies to support their efforts and amplify their messages. The young people of Alaska deserve a just future, and it’s time our leaders recognize this and prioritize #PeopleNotProfit.

We hope to see you there.

Labor Day: Clean Energy Union Jobs for Climate

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[cs_content][cs_element_section _id=”1″ ][cs_element_layout_row _id=”2″ ][cs_element_layout_column _id=”3″ ][cs_element_text _id=”4″ ][cs_content_seo]Hi all,
As we look forward to the upcoming three-day weekend and plan how to spend the time with loved ones and with the land, you wouldn’t be alone if you’re wondering why we have a “Labor Day” at all.
Labor Day is a holiday to commend workers and the labor movement–it came about as a national holiday in the wake of massive labor disputes (the New York Times tells the history much better than we could ever hope to). It’s an excellent chance to thank the labor movement for the benefits we all enjoy today (including wage and work condition standards, an 8-hour work day, the end of child labor, and the list goes on).
Looking forward, there are plans to make beyond the Monday holiday. For starters, in the environmental movement, we need to work on building partnerships with our labor allies.
We’re often told (by some losing far-right candidates in particular) a false narrative about labor and the environment: it’s a pick one question between addressing climate change and supporting the economy. This narrative couldn’t be further from the truth–not only is the clean energy sector growing while traditional oil/gas is declining but creating climate solutions means creating jobs. A Just Transition includes and necessitates unions. The BlueGreen Alliance (an L48 nonprofit uniting the labor and environmental movements) puts it well: “Americans face the dual crises of climate change and increasing economic inequality, and for far too long, we’ve allowed the forces driving both crises to create a wedge between the need for economic security and a living environment. We know this is a false choice—we know that we can and must have both, and we need a bold plan to address both simultaneously.”
There is a massive opportunity for good jobs for Alaskans in creating a clean energy future (this study from the Alaska Climate Alliance does an excellent job, among others). And, at long last, we’re seeing momentum toward harnessing that opportunity from the federal level in the form of the historic Inflation Reduction Act. As we mentioned last week, the IRA’s wage and apprenticeship program requirements mean that the millions of clean energy jobs will meet union-created working standards. It is an essential step in the right direction for the clean energy industry, which often lags behind the standards of living that union workers in the fossil fuel industry have fought for and won over decades.
This Labor Day, we encourage you to support our labor partners. If you’re in Juneau or Fairbanks, please consider joining the festivities! (No events yet in Anchorage–but stay tuned to our labor friends on social – Twitter, Instagram, Facebook)

Fairbanks: Parade starts at 10 AM at Noel Wein Library; Picnic in Pioneer Park 1-4
Juneau: Picnic from 11-2, Sandy Beach Log Cabin

In solidarity,
The Alaska Center

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A Big Step Forward For Climate

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The passage of the most historic climate legislation in U.S. history should give us a moment of hope for the process of lawmaking and Democracy in our country – a brief, sweet moment of exaltation.

Now on the next beat, as heatwaves, wildfires, and floods rage across the globe, we must also take some time to recognize the urgent need for the legislation and the bitter tradeoffs that occurred with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). We are looking at the sacrifice of millions of acres of offshore oil and gas leases in Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico, and elsewhere before federal leases for renewable energy production can be offered. This means, in many instances, especially in Alaska, that coastal and Indigenous lands are Joe Manchin’s tradeoff for the compromise that got the bill through congress. This is a bad compromise, even with the IRA’s historic investment in environmental justice.

On the next beat, it is good to remind ourselves that this is just the starting point for a much larger race to save the planet, defeat racism and protect Democracy. The majority of Americans are with us, and momentum continues toward a just future.
Many of the provisions of the IRA will reverberate in Alaska. The bill contains important apprenticeship and wage requirements that will provide good jobs for Alaskans, and makes sure the clean energy industry catches up to the union-created standards of working that the fossil fuel industry requires.

The IRA substantially increases support for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s existing efforts to address methane emissions. It creates a new system of fees that would impose charges on oil and gas infrastructure owners if methane emitted from that infrastructure exceeds specified thresholds. Methane emissions are a significant problem for Alaska’s aging oil and gas infrastructure. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas causing steep increases in global temperatures.

The IRA will extend and create clean energy tax credits, including the existing tax credit for electricity produced from renewable resources, which has been a major benefit to the Solarize Anchorage, Fairbanks, Kenai, and Mat-Su programs. The IRA also creates a new tax credit that rural electric cooperatives like ours on the railbelt in Alaska can apply for to finance new clean energy generation facilities. This will make policies to require utilities to adopt renewable energy generation (like the Renewable Portfolio Standard) more financially achievable in the near term.

The IRA creates a Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to be funded at $27 billion over the next decade to better leverage private sector investment and community lenders to build wind, solar, electric vehicle, and energy efficiency projects at the community level. Of that money, $7 billion will go directly to state-operated Green Banks. The legislation to establish an Alaska state Green Bank will likely be re-introduced in Alaska in the 2023 legislative session. (Note that previous legislation proposed to put the Green Bank in the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, an agency that lacks transparency and accountability, so many groups opposed this.) With your help, we can ensure that a state Green Bank in a more trusted agency like the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation becomes a reality.
The transition to clean transportation is facilitated by a $4,000 consumer credit for lower/middle income individuals (i.e., couples making less than $300,000 and individuals $150,000 annually) to buy used electric vehicles and a $7,500 tax credit to buy new electric vehicles. We must advocate with our local utilities and governments to continue the rapid build-out of fast charging stations in Alaska.
With the passage of the IRA, there will be many programs and opportunities for individuals, homeowners, business owners, utilities, local governments, state agencies, Tribes, Native Corporations, and NGOs to save energy costs, decrease emissions, and more in Alaska. We need to work with our elected leaders to ensure that the benefits of the new legislation move forward with equity and at a speed that meets the moment of our climate crisis.

Onward!
The Alaska Center