A local developer has cleared a major hurdle for building a hydroelectric power plant at Walker Lake, but he is still waiting on other permits and access issues before construction can begin.
The Haines Borough Planning Commission voted unanimously last week to grant Southern Energy Inc. a conditional use permit for development of a hydro plant at Walker Lake. The company is owned by John Floreske.
Floreske said in an interview this week he doesn’t have a firm timeline for the project, as he is still waiting on permits from Fish and Game, the Department of Natural Resources and other agencies.
“They’ve been applied for and paid for; we’re just waiting for the agencies to move them through,” he said.
The project is estimated to cost $4-$7 million and produce about 3,600 megawatt-hours annually.
Unlike other proposed hydro projects in the area, Walker Lake has generated little controversy due to its smaller scale and location, about 30 miles northwest of Haines. However, one resident turned out last week to express concern about the development’s potential impact to the surrounding watershed, especially if operations didn’t go according to plan.
Nicholas Szatkowski said he was concerned about potential impacts to the biologically rich Little Salmon watershed, which is spawning habitat for sockeye, coho and Dolly Varden. The area is also important for overwintering trumpeter swans, he said.
The project calls for two, 15-foot wide rock-filled dams, 250 feet and 325 feet in length, increasing the area of the lake from 160 to 180 acres. The lake lies eight miles west of Wells Bridge and drains into the Little Salmon River.
Interim manager Brad Ryan, a biologist who previously worked for Takshanuk Watershed Council, pointed out that while Little Salmon is anadromous, the tributary used by the Walker Lake project is not.
“Walker Lake is not an anadromous water body and the plan appears to be sufficient to prevent increased erosion in the downstream anadromous habitat,” Ryan wrote in his recommendation to the commission to approve the permit. “They have also submitted a mitigation plan to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the loss of wetlands around Walker Lake and received approval of this plan.”
Commission chair Rob Goldberg praised the project, stating he believes it will relieve the “precarious” position Haines is in because of its reliance on an undersea cable for affordable energy. “I look at it as power security for Haines. I think we need this project. I think the impacts to the environment are minimal,” he said.