S. HRG. 114–421 

ENERGY TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION AND 

DEPLOYMENT—OPPORTUNITIES FOR 

ALASKA’S ENERGY FUTURE 

FIELD HEARING 

BEFORE THE 

COMMITTEE ON 

ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

FEBRUARY 15, 2016 

( 

Printed for the use of the 

Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 
ENERGY TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION AND DEPLOYMENT—OPPORTUNITIES FOR 

ALASKA’S ENERGY FUTURE 
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office

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21–965 2017

S. HRG. 114–421 

ENERGY TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION AND 

DEPLOYMENT—OPPORTUNITIES FOR 

ALASKA’S ENERGY FUTURE 

FIELD HEARING 

BEFORE THE 

COMMITTEE ON 

ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

FEBRUARY 15, 2016 

( 

Printed for the use of the 

Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

Available via the World Wide Web: http://fdsys.gov 
(II) 

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES 

LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska, Chairman 

JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming 

JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho 

MIKE LEE, Utah 

JEFF FLAKE, Arizona 

STEVE DAINES, Montana 

BILL CASSIDY, Louisiana 

CORY GARDNER, Colorado 

ROB PORTMAN, Ohio 

JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota 

LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee 

SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia 

MARIA CANTWELL, Washington 

RON WYDEN, Oregon 

BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont 

DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan 

AL FRANKEN, Minnesota 

JOE MANCHIN III, West Virginia 

MARTIN HEINRICH, New Mexico 

MAZIE K. HIRONO, Hawaii 

ANGUS S. KING, JR., Maine 

ELIZABETH WARREN, Massachusetts 

COLIN HAYES, Staff Director 

PATRICK J. MCCORMICK III, Chief Counsel 

CHESTER CARSON, Professional Staff Member 

ANNIE HOEFLER, Executive Assistant 

ANGELA BECKER-DIPPMANN, Democratic Staff Director 

SAM E. FOWLER, Democratic Chief Counsel 

SCOTT MCKEE, Democratic Professional Staff Member 

BRIE VAN CLEVE, Democratic Science & Technology Fellow 
(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

OPENING STATEMENTS 

Page 

Murkowski, Hon. Lisa, Chairman and a U.S. Senator from Alaska ................... 1 

Cantwell, Hon. Maria, Ranking Member and a U.S. Senator from Washington .................................................................................................................... 4 

WITNESSES 

Moniz, Hon. Ernest, Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy ............................... 8 

Walker, Hon. Bill, Governor, State of Alaska ....................................................... 26 

Herron, Hon. Bob, Representative, State of Alaska ............................................. 36 

Andersen, Ralph, President & CEO, Bristol Bay Native Association ................. 53 

Black, Michael, Director of Rural Utility Management Services, Division of 

Environmental Health and Engineering, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium .................................................................................................................. 265 

Gilbert, Steven, Manager, Projects Development and Key Accounts, Alaska 

Village Electric Cooperative, Inc. ........................................................................ 274 

He ́bert, Jack, Founder and CEO, Cold Climate Housing Research Center ........ 285 

Hoffman, Michael, Executive Vice President, Association of Village Council 

Presidents ............................................................................................................. 292 

Holdmann, Gwen, Director, Alaska Center for Energy and Power, University 

of Alaska Fairbanks ............................................................................................. 298 

ALPHABETICAL LISTING AND APPENDIX MATERIAL SUBMITTED 

Alaska Energy Authority: 

Statement for the Record ................................................................................. 454 

Andersen, Ralph: 

Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 53 

Written Testimony ............................................................................................ 56 

Responses to Questions for the Record ........................................................... 316 

Association of Village Council Presidents: 

Statement for the Record ................................................................................. 458 

Black, Michael: 

Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 265 

Written Testimony ............................................................................................ 268 

Responses to Questions for the Record ........................................................... 319 

Bristol Bay Native Corporation: 

Letter for the Record ........................................................................................ 498 

Calista Corporation: 

Statement for the Record ................................................................................. 502 

Cantwell, Hon. Maria: 

Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 4 

Gilbert, Steven: 

Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 274 

Written Testimony ............................................................................................ 278 

Responses to Questions for the Record ........................................................... 333 

Guy, George: 

Letter for the Record ........................................................................................ 504 

He ́bert, Jack: 

Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 285 

Written Testimony ............................................................................................ 287 

Responses to Questions for the Record ........................................................... 335 

Herron, Hon. Bob: 

Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 36 
Page

IV 

Herron, Hon. Bob—Continued 

Written Testimony ............................................................................................ 40 

Hoffman, Michael: 

Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 292 

Written Testimony ............................................................................................ 295 

Responses to Questions for the Record ........................................................... 340 

Holdmann, Gwen: 

Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 298 

Written Testimony ............................................................................................ 302 

Responses to Questions for the Record ........................................................... 448 

Kokhanok Village Council: 

Letter for the Record ........................................................................................ 505 

Moniz, Hon. Ernest: 

Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 8 

Written Testimony ............................................................................................ 12 

Responses to Questions for the Record ........................................................... 313 

Murkowski, Hon. Lisa: 

Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 1 

NANA Regional Corporation: 

Letter for the Record ........................................................................................ 507 

TDX Power Inc.: 

Statement for the Record ................................................................................. 513 

United States Arctic Research Commission: 

Statement for the Record ................................................................................. 522 

Utility Management Assistance: 

Letter for the Record ........................................................................................ 537 

Walker, Hon. Bill: 

Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 26 

Written Testimony ............................................................................................ 32 
(1) 

ENERGY TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION AND DEPLOYMENT—OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALASKA’S 

ENERGY FUTURE 

Monday, February 15, 2016 

U.S. SENATE, 

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES, 

Bethel, AK. 

The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 3:53 p.m. AKST at 

the Yupiit Piciryarait Cultural Center, 420 Chief Eddie Hoffman 

Highway, Bethel, Alaska, Hon. Lisa Murkowski, Chairman of the 

Committee, presiding. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. LISA MURKOWSKI, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM ALASKA 

The CHAIRMAN. Good afternoon. The Committee on the Senate 

and Natural Resources Committee field hearing will come to order. 

We are here this afternoon in Bethel to conduct a field hearing 

that has been convened focusing on energy innovation. 

Before we begin, we have just a few housekeeping items to address. We have a translator and headsets that are available for 

those who would like to utilize the translation services. I believe 

they are located over to my right here if anyone would like to take 

advantage of that. 

I want to begin my comments with a thank you to the people of 

Bethel for helping us to host this gathering here this afternoon and 

to all of the local residents that have come together. Hearings like 

this do not come about by accident. They constitute a great deal of 

coordination and that coordination has gone on across 4,000 miles. 

So for those of you that have helped in so many different ways, 

thank you for that. And a very special thank you to my Senate colleagues and to the Secretary of Energy who have all traveled a 

long way to be with us here in Alaska, in Bethel, within your region and in February. Although I must say it is a beautiful February day here in Bethel. Thank you for rolling out the great 

weather for us as well. 

I am proud to really be showing off the beauty that we know as 

Alaska, this amazing place that we call home. It is an opportunity 

to not only showcase the natural beauty, but to showcase the people that make us the amazing state that we are. 

We know that we face challenges. We know that we face significant challenges, and the opportunity to share not only the challenges but what we are doing to address that in a way that is innovative in a way that is pioneering. This is an opportunity to open 
2 

the eyes, I think, and minds of some colleagues who have not had 

an opportunity to see and be part of this. 

Today we are joined by my Ranking Member on the Committee, 

Senator Maria Cantwell, from the State of Washington. Senator 

Cantwell has been a very strong partner on the Committee as we 

have worked to advance energy legislation. It is important not only 

for our sake, but for the entire country. So I thank Senator Cantwell. This is not her first visit to the region. We were here a couple 

years ago—here in Bethel and then up to the Cross Gap, so today 

she got to see yet another village and we just included our first 

visit to Oscarville. 

Next to Senator Cantwell is Senator John Barrasso. Senator Barrasso is from the State of Wyoming. He is also the Chairman of the 

Senate Indian Affairs Committee and is a great ruler in that capacity. I appreciate all that he does on that Committee. 

Next to him is Senator Steve Daines. Senator Daines is from the 

State of Montana. He is on the Appropriations Committee with me. 

He is also on the Indian Affairs Committee and on our Energy 

Committee. Again, a Westerner, who understands what big, open 

spaces are all about. 

Next to Senator Daines we have Senator Angus King. Senator 

King is from the other end of the country. He is from the State of 

Maine. He has been a great colleague to work with on Arctic 

issues. He and I co-chair the Arctic Caucus, and he is a member 

of our Energy Committee. 

At the end we have our colleague from West Virginia, Senator 

Capito, who is also on the Appropriations Committee as well as the 

Committee on Environment and Public Works. 

Of course we have our first panelist today, a member of President Obama’s Cabinet, the Head of the Department of Energy, Secretary Ernest Moniz. It is important to let people know that this 

is not Secretary Moniz’s first trip to Alaska. It is now his fifth trip, 

and we appreciate all that he has done to lead on energy issues. 

We say that Alaska is just different. Alaska is just different and 

rural Alaska is different beyond that. I think you all, who live and 

work and raise your families here, know that there is no substitute 

for being here in person to see, understand and to listen. Meeting 

the people who live here in Bethel and having the opportunity to 

go down river, to go see Oscarville, seeing the unique challenges 

that this region faces, it really does become real when you can see 

it first-hand. 

What you learn is that what most Americans may take for granted, whether it is just being able to afford the heat when you turn 

it on in the winter or having access to running water or to flush 

a toilet. That is not guaranteed in rural Alaska, and we know that 

first-hand. 

This field hearing is really an opportunity to examine both our 

needs and our opportunities when it comes to a particularly important subject for rural Alaska and that is energy. We could use this 

field hearing to highlight Alaska’s leadership on innovation and 

also the hard work that remains ahead for us. 

I think the conversation will help everyone understand why I 

have been so intent on passing a broad, bipartisan energy bill that 

really helps to update and modernize our energy policies. A big 
3 

part of what I am doing in Washington, DC will have a positive impact for communities like Bethel and the region out here. 

Fuel costs are exorbitant in so many areas. That affects not only 

the price of transportation but everything, the price of electricity, 

the price of heating, the price of laundry detergent and the price 

of milk. I am hopeful that we get our colleagues out to the store 

so they can see what you pay to just live here. We heard some of 

that today. 

But one of the things that we are looking to do is not help rural 

Alaska with temporary solutions but real solutions that will be 

long lasting and enduring. If we can harness more of our local resources and if the Federal Government can be with us as a partner, 

we can empower Alaskans, we can unleash our ability to innovate 

and we can make energy far more affordable and reliable for Bethel, for Oscarville and for communities all around the state. 

We have written a pretty good bill. I think Senator Cantwell 

would concur with me, that has considerable input from Alaskans. 

It is a measure that will help us produce more energy. It will help 

to reduce our energy costs and hopefully lighten the burden that 

energy places on our families. We provide greater certainty in new 

mechanisms to continue the important work that we see underway 

here in this state. 

People do not often think of Alaska as pioneering and innovative. 

What they don’t understand is that we innovate because our alternatives are really not acceptable. Just saying that we are going to 

continue to rely on costly diesel is not a path to sustainability. It 

is not a path that helps our families, so we innovate. Maybe it is 

a little bit of duct tape. Maybe it is just great, brilliant minds 

thinking outside the box, but what we are seeing is a future that 

through engineering and ingenuity of smart and dedicated people 

coming together. 

We have not only opportunities to help us here but to truly help 

the rest of the country and the globe. There are places all over the 

globe that are rural, that are isolated, that are small, that are not 

connected to anybody else’s grid. I want us to be that pioneer for 

so many. 

So I am excited to introduce a group of witnesses that we have 

asked to join us today, a great group of Alaskans. 

I mentioned that Secretary Moniz will lead off our panel. 

He will be followed by our Governor, Governor Bill Walker, who 

is with us today. He is also joined by First Lady, Donna Walker. 

It is always good to have both of them around the state, and they 

truly are everywhere. Their taking the time to be here at this field 

hearing and join us in Oscarville is greatly appreciated. Governor, 

we thank you for that. 

Your own State Representative, Bob Herron, will also be testifying. Mike Hoffman will be testifying on behalf of the Association 

of Village Council Presidents, Ralph Andersen is here representing 

Bristol Bay Native Association, Mike Black is with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, Steve Gilbert is with the Alaska 

Village Electric Cooperative, and Gwen Holdmann is from the Alaska Center for Energy and Power. 
4 

It is a pretty strong group of witnesses to help tell Alaska’s story, 

so again, I am pleased that you all have made the effort to be with 

us today. 

I also do want to note that there is one individual who wanted 

to be here today, but had family obligations and that is your State 

Senator, Lyman Hoffman. He has truly been a champion on these 

energy issues, always pushing me along, which is a good thing. So 

I wish him and his family well. We will be filling him in on the 

conversation that we have today. 

I want to thank the community of Bethel for having us, our Senators and the Secretary for traveling so far to be here and our witnesses for agreeing to share their expertise. 

I neglected to mention Jack He ́bert. who is also one of our star 

witnesses, sitting right in the middle of everybody right up front 

there. Jack, we look forward to your leadership and comments as 

well. Don’t think you are going to get out of testifying here just because I didn’t mention your name. 

I am going to turn to Senator Cantwell for her opening remarks 

because I have talked long enough, and then we will do a little bit 

of housekeeping and go to Secretary Moniz. 

Senator Cantwell, welcome to Bethel. It is good to have you back 

here. Thank you for your leadership on the Committee as well. 

STATEMENT OF HON. MARIA CANTWELL, U.S. SENATOR FROM 

WASHINGTON 

Senator CANTWELL. Well thank you, Chairwoman Murkowski, 

and thank you for holding this oversight hearing and having all of 

us come to Bethel. 

As you mentioned, this is my second time here. We came in 2003, 

and it was a great opportunity to meet a lot of people from the 

Bethel community and to talk about another important issue that 

faces all of us and that was access to health care. I was very glad 

that the legislation that allowed for the transfer of land so that we 

could continue to be a destination site for maternity health care for 

the region was passed and that that is moving forward because we 

certainly want to make sure the community continues to have 

those resources. 

I thank you for your good work on the energy bill. It is something 

that has been a long time process, modernizing the energy needs 

of our nation and we were able to pass it out of Committee for the 

first time since 2007 and take up on the Senate floor a bipartisan 

energy bill. While it got stalled with some other national items, I 

am very confident that we will get back to that legislation and 

some of the very subjects we are talking about here today will be 

fulfilled in that legislation. 

I, too, thank the people of Bethel for inviting us all here and for 

the welcome hospitality and really for the wonderful celebration of 

schoolchildren in Oscarville. That was quite a treat for all of us to 

see what is happening here in Alaska. 

Obviously Alaskans use goods and services and they are more expensive than the lower 48 and anywhere from two to ten times 

more expensive. We are here today to talk about one particular aspect of that being energy and the costs of energy. That is for house-
5 

holds in rural Alaska nearly half of total expenses sometimes go to 

pay energy costs. That is astounding. 

Nearly 90 percent of rural communities are dependent on diesel 

fuel for their primary energy needs, but as a result of the potential 

benefits of diversification Alaska is also home to a variety of other 

energy solutions. We are here today to hear from our witnesses 

about those unique challenges and the solutions that you would 

like to see in this community. 

We will talk a lot about, obviously, the fact that energy efficiency 

should be part of the solution. I know that is why I am so interested in what Jack He ́bert has to say, people want to hear. 

I know the Governor, today, has mentioned several times, he is 

a good carpenter. Well there is a lot going on in the building area 

that also is leading to energy efficiency and to saving power. Saving one electron is about a third of the cost of actually producing 

the electron. It is cheaper so we definitely want to see what we can 

do here in Alaska. 

Rural residents use half of the energy in these communities, and 

the energy costs are very high. I don’t have to tell anybody in this 

room, you know what the roller coaster is like of fluctuation in oil 

prices and what it does to your economy. So that is why we need 

to look at issues of diversification. 

Obviously Alaska’s harsh climate and remoteness means that we 

cannot just come up with any solution, that the solutions we are 

talking about today have to perform in extreme conditions and obviously are challenged by maintenance. 

The good news, I think, of that is if it works here in Alaska the 

chances are it could work at a lot of different places in the lower 

48. So thank you for being pioneers on some of these solutions of 

distributed generation. 

Obviously we are looking at the innovation of technologies and 

resiliencies to issues of weather and maintenance requirements. 

Alaska’s high price of electricity means that we need to look at 

power control costs but also how to look at these issues of energy 

storage. 

I also applaud the state’s results from an energy innovation program, the Emerging Energy Technology Fund and the Renewable 

Energy Fund, that are focused on giving resources to the communities. 

One thing I want to make sure that we talk about today is how 

we can be a better partner to that fund from the Federal level. This 

is something that we want to make sure, I know it was passed in 

your state legislature on a bipartisan basis in 2010. We want to 

continue to work with you on those kinds of solutions to bolster the 

partnership between the Federal Government and that State fund. 

The lower 48 obviously has a lot of solutions, but we know there 

is no cookie cutter solution for the lower 48 that is going to fit right 

here in Alaska. So we need to look at these issues of limited local 

economies, cold climate state heating needs, isolated electricity 

grids and other challenges that are here in Alaska if we are going 

to create solutions. 

I know that the room is full of people who have already been harnessing some of these challenges. The University of Alaska Fairbanks Energy System Leadership Program and DOD-funded Island 
6 

Grid Regional Resource Center which is a partnership between 

nonprofits in Alaska and Maine. I think these are important 

things. In the energy bill that we have already passed, we are very 

focused on what we can do for regional energy development. One 

of the commitments we are also going to be talking about in the 

future is how we can give more funds to regional demonstration 

projects. 

We heard back in July about the obstacles to deploying energy 

solutions in both Alaska and Hawaii and the U.S. territories—what 

our challenges are as a nation and what it means to actually have 

reliable, affordable energy in those parts of the United States. That 

is why I am also glad that our colleagues toured with us today. 

I think coming from the State of Washington you see the economic relationship between Alaska and Washington. You see the 

challenges a little more closely. But I think some of our other colleagues in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives need 

to understand that these are energy solutions we need to focus on 

for these regions of the United States that are harder to serve. 

Newer, lower cost electricity generation, transportation technologies are things that we have to think of, but there are barriers 

to deployment such as lack of technical expertise to operate and 

maintain new technologies and the lack of capital or credit to finance the transition to these other opportunities. I know we are 

going to hear from Secretary Moniz about that and from Governor 

Walker, who is going to talk about what the State of Alaska is 

doing. 

We need energy solutions that are developed by Alaskans for 

Alaskans, and we want to make sure that it is a robust network. 

While I say by Alaskans and for Alaskans, I want to make sure our 

national laboratories and academia and the private sector are all 

working hard to work on these solutions. As I said, whatever can 

be pioneered here in Alaska I am sure will work in other parts of 

the United States. 

One example is the Pacific Northwest Laboratory which is in 

Richland, Washington. They have been pioneering smart grid technologies that will be helpful in balancing energy loads and those 

kinds of systems could be used for smart building technologies that 

are being applied to commercial buildings, schools and health clinics to make sure that they are more energy efficient. 

I look forward to talking about some of these ideas and to look 

at this successful state effort like the Cold Climate Housing Research Center that is reducing energy use in homes by 80 percent 

with new building designs in Arctic communities. So I look forward 

to hearing about that. 

As I said, I know that there is a lot for us to do when we return 

to Washington. There are many things that we are going to be talking about including hydro power, geothermal and marine 

hydrokinetics, biomass and R and D to the grid including microgrid 

systems. These are all things that are primary issues, I think, to 

Alaskans, but also to Washingtonians and other people throughout 

the United States. 

I hope that DOE’s loan guarantee program which is being expanded in this bill for the first time is a good candidate to look at 

the state’s emerging energy technology fund and see how we can 
7 

partner with that and to make sure that local projects that have 

not previously gotten access to the DOE program also make sure 

that we are understanding why and look again for a better partnership. 

Then last, the Secretary of Energy did a tremendous job with 

what is called our Quadrennial Energy Review. I thank him for 

doing that. He would think well, that is the Quadrennial Energy 

Review of the United States. Of course that is his daily work. Well, 

actually he has to think for the entire nation. That every Cabinet 

Secretary, President, Vice President and everybody saying okay, 

here is what you need to think about, the energy needs of our nation. So you did that and produced this report which is a very forward looking assessment of where we are in our country in the 

transitioning of our energy needs. 

One of the key things in the report is the need to train and seal 

a work force for the new jobs. The report basically says we will 

need 1.5 million new energy jobs for the future, so we definitely 

want to hear as well about how we seal Alaskans and Washingtonians and others for these jobs of the future so we can be best 

prepared to take advantage of these technologies. 

Again, I look forward to hearing from all the witnesses. It is 

great to be in Alaska again today, particularly when it is warmer 

here than in the other Washington, in Washington, DC, and to see 

just the great beauty that exists both outside and inside with so 

many people participating in today’s events. 

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Cantwell. I so appreciate 

that. 

At this time, we will turn to our panel of witnesses. 

For those who have gathered here we are following the format 

for this field hearing that we follow back in Washington, DC as if 

this was a meeting of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee held in our committee room. It is different than what we do 

in Juneau, if you have ever been to Juneau to testify or been to 

an LIO where you know that after presentations have been made 

the public has an opportunity to come to the microphone and make 

a statement. We do not structure our hearings that way, unfortunately. What you will hear today is a select panel of witnesses. I 

have already identified who will present, and Secretary Moniz will 

be on the first panel. We will ask each of the witnesses that have 

been invited to provide us with about 5 minutes of oral testimony. 

Their full statements are included as part of the record. 

To those of you who wish to provide comment to the Committee 

on anything that you may have heard today or just something that 

you think needs to be part of the Committee record, you are welcome to submit comments in writing to the Committee. We hold 

the record open. I believe we are going to hold it open for two 

weeks after today’s date. So even though the process does not allow 

for that public comment from you, which I regret, know that we are 

interested in receiving comments from the people here in the Bethel region. 

After the witnesses have testified, there will be an opportunity 

for members of the Energy Committee to ask questions of our wit-
8 

nesses, and we will probably do that most exclusively to panel 

three. 

With that, Mr. Secretary, it is indeed a pleasure to welcome you 

back to Alaska. Thank you for your leadership on all things energy. 

If you would like to commence this hearing, we would be honored 

to add your comments. 

Thank you for making this long trek. 

STATEMENT OF HON. ERNEST MONIZ, SECRETARY, U.S. 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Secretary MONIZ. Great. Well thank you, Chairman Murkowski, 

Ranking Member Cantwell, members of the Committee. 

I would like to start by saying that the leadership of the Chair 

and Ranking Member is really extraordinary. The working relationship that we have, the opportunity to work together on hard 

problems. As you know this has not always been the case in Washington, DC more recently, but I think we have just an excellent 

working relationship. I think we will get things done, including the 

people of Alaska, of course. 

I especially want to thank the community of Bethel for opening 

the Elders facility to us for a wonderful lunch and even more important, wonderful input for us to take back and also acknowledge 

the excursion to Oscarville as being extremely important, I think. 

I have to say that I think the holistic approach, the—— 

[Laughter.] 

Secretary MONIZ. I think the holistic approach being highlighted 

in Oscarville is very much what we need to do more of. In fact, a 

week ago today the National Academy of Sciences held a workshop 

DOE took part in, a number of Alaskans took part in, which had 

a similar theme about how communications and energy and water 

and waste and health and education really should be thought of in 

a way of community building. And we look forward to seeing what 

happened in Oscarville and how that can be scaled further. 

As the Chairman said, this is my fifth visit. First when I came 

here in the Clinton Administration at the invitation of another 

Senator Murkowski. But in 2014 I joined Lisa Murkowski in a variety of places including the Chena Hot Springs, the University of 

Alaska Fairbanks and for the tour of the Cold Region’s Research 

and Engineering laboratories, Permafrost Tunnel Research Facility 

near Fairbanks. The Permafrost Facility was fascinating but also 

alarming in reminding us about the doubled pace of global warming that we are seeing in the Arctic and what those implications 

are for energy and for many other aspects of life here in Alaska. 

Global warming has no say in its march to higher temperatures. 

The core elements of the climate change science are well established and key energy innovation is central to meeting the climate 

challenge while also providing security, economic growth and increased access to affordable clean energy for all, obviously, a critical issue here in Alaska. 

Today I’ll just talk briefly about some of the ways the Department of Energy is working with Alaskans to address those challenges and then connect back to some wider efforts by the Administration to invest in energy technology research and development 
9 

and ensure that the United States remains economically competitive and certainly energy secure over the coming decades. 

In many ways what happens in Alaska is a preview of the future 

for the rest of the country and the world with rising temperatures, 

threats to infrastructure and the need for clean, affordable and reliable energy solutions and in particular distributed energy solutions. While it is resource rich, we heard today how Alaska’s vast 

size and rugged terrain make energy access for many communities 

a significant challenge. But these challenges are not left for Alaska 

to tackle alone. We are fully committed to driving energy components for the National Strategy for the Arctic Region. 

We were active participants in crafting the Executive Steering 

Committee established by the President in 2015. 

The Arctic is a very dynamic region. I just came from Winnipeg, 

meeting with the Energy Minister there, and I want to say there’s 

a strong shared interest to work together on issues involving the 

Arctic, most specifically including energy provision to isolated communities. That’s something that people want to pursue with the 

Committee and with our Canadian colleagues. 

We want to partner with Alaska. I reestablished a physical office 

for the Department in the Arctic region in January 2014 to better 

listen to Alaskans and to apply your insights and needs into our 

programs ranging from research to engineering to financial and 

technical assistance. We now plan to add new staff members in our 

office in Alaska in light of what has been a very, very active and 

I think, productive discussion. 

The Chair noted that this session is being run as it was in Washington. But if I may deviate I think it would be worth it to the audience if I could just introduce my Indian Energy members. 

Chris Deschene has now, for the last ten months, headed our office. He’s, among other things, a Naval Academy Mechanical Engineering graduate and brings a great skill set to the position. 

Doug MacCourt, another member of our office. And then here a 

head of a local office, Givey Kochanowski, roughly speaking. 

[Laughter.] 

That many of you have gotten to meet. And as I say, he will now 

be joined by a couple of colleagues later on this year because we 

think this is a place where we can really get stuff done. 

So moving on, DOE’s Tribal Energy Programs have funded numerous tribal energy projects in Alaska, projects valued at over $30 

million with DOE investing over $11 million of that. 

Today, about an hour ago, we announced up to $7 million for the 

establishment of Inter-Tribal Technical Assistance Energy Providers Network. Its funding opportunities seeks inter-tribal organizations and Alaska Native Regional Corporations interested in 

training individuals to provide expertise and technical energy assistance to tribes and Alaska Native villages in their regions. 

We also released today a new analysis prepared by the National 

Renewable Energy Laboratory entitled, ‘‘Solar Prospecting in Remote Alaska: An Economic Analysis of Solar Photovoltaics in the 

Last Frontier State.’’ It demonstrates that installing and operating 

moderately sized solar PV systems is a potentially competitive way 

to reduce high fuel costs and make remote energy systems more resilient and effective for Alaska Native villages. And I think this 
10 

role of solar in Alaska is one that’s really just dawning on us now, 

I think, is quite, quite important. 

Last year the President announced the Remote Alaska Communities Energy Efficiency, or RACEE, competition. More than 60 remote Alaskan communities have now pledged to reduce their per 

capita energy use by 15 percent by 2020. As part of the competition 

these community efficiency champions will have access to a peer 

network and up to 20 will receive technical assistance to develop 

energy efficiency plans. We then expect to award over $3 million 

for up to five communities to implement those RACEE energy efficiency plans. 

Through our Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office 

DOE will work with Alaska officials to support energy efficiency in 

public facilities in underserved rural communities. We, in turn, expect a savings of half a million dollars in annual energy costs. 

Energy efficiency solutions do tend to be applicable broadly but, 

of course, particularly for energy generation, there’s no one size fits 

all, particularly in a state as diverse as Alaska. But some of these 

examples, our Geothermal Technologies Program has invested over 

$68 million across 13 projects in the last decade for geothermal research and development in Alaska. And this includes support for 

the innovative geothermal project that we saw in 2014 at Chena 

Hot Springs which was a R and D award winner for innovation and 

reduced electricity costs there from $0.30 to $0.06 per kilowatt 

hour. 

We are fully committed to drive the energy components of the 

national strategy, whoops, excuse me, it’s this page. DOE also 

funded a study by the Council of Athabascan Tribal Governments 

and later a grant to help build at Fort Yukon a biomass combined 

heat and power project with sustainable harvesting of wood. DOE 

helped deploy the RivGen turbine in the Kvichak River providing 

clean renewable power while allowing, according to Alaskan officials, an estimated one and a half million adult sockeye salmon to 

migrate past the turbine area. 

Through the Weatherization Assistance Program Alaska received 

more than $1.6 million in FY’16 to support weatherization of 150 

homes. 

Two microgrid project awards of three quarters of $1 million each 

were made to our national laboratories to design, of a design support tool for remote off grid microgrids and to address an issue 

with a $1 million effort with the labs and the state to examine in 

developing island power systems for rural Alaska. 

The Department’s Office of Science, the basic research arm of 

DOE, has a long standing presence in Alaska conducting Arctic research to understand the complex set of scientific issues responsible for Arctic climate change and relevant to Alaska’s Arctic ecosystems. 

So this is just a small sample of the innovative work happening 

in and directly relevant to Alaska. We could go on but I want to 

finish up by moving on to a broader innovation effort that we are 

launching. 

We feel that innovation in clean energy technologies is, again, a 

solution to many, many of our challenges. So we, at the end of November, the President and 19 other world leaders launched some-
11 

thing called Mission Innovation, a committee of 20 countries, including ours, representing over 80 percent of global clean energy R 

and D budgets to double those budgets over a five-year period. The 

idea is to open up the innovation pipeline, to provide more 

investable opportunities and that initiative is complemented by an 

independent initiative spearheaded by Bill Gates called the Breakthrough Energy Coalition. 

So this is a coalition of 28 investors from ten countries putting 

millions of dollars on the table to invest in that expanded innovation pipeline. This coalition will be distinguished by being a more 

patient in getting financial returns, more risk tolerant and willing 

to take the most promising technologies from end to end, all the 

way to deployment and scale. 

Last week’s Fiscal Year 2017 budget request to Congress follows 

through on the Mission Innovation commitment including the request for a 21 percent increase in DOE’s energy R and D appropriations. 

I want to just mention one other feature of our proposal on Mission Innovation, and this is Regional Energy Innovation Partnerships which we proposed to start the first year at $110 million. The 

idea is that we believe different regions in Alaska is a case in 

point. Different regions have very, very different needs in their energy portfolio and we feel part of this increase in budget should be 

managed, led or led regionally in terms of structuring the portfolio. 

And again, Alaska shows that. 

We all know necessity is the mother of invention, and there’s a 

lot of Alaska innovation that we can learn from as you pursue your 

needs. 

So Alaska occupies a unique position at the crossroads of energy 

production, energy use and climate change. We look forward to 

partnering in this innovation work, working with the Committee, 

working with the state and working with all the stakeholders and 

there, as are so many here today. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Secretary Moniz follows:] 
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The CHAIRMAN. Secretary Moniz, thank you. 

Thank you for, again, not only attending this field hearing but 

for your leadership in recognizing that truly when we are talking 

about energy solutions for a state like Alaska there is no one-sizefits-all. How we work together to collaborate is truly going to be 

key to our success, and we appreciate that. 

I think we also appreciate the fact that perhaps a few more bodies that are attached to Alaska from the Department of Energy is 

a positive sign as well. We love that. 

Secretary MONIZ. May I say, Madam Chair? 

The CHAIRMAN. Certainly. 

Secretary MONIZ. I would say the extra staff were earned by 

Alaskans. 

The CHAIRMAN. We appreciate that even more so. 

[Laughter.] 

Do my colleagues have any quick questions for the Secretary? 

With that, Mr. Secretary, thank you so very much. We look forward 

to working with you. 

Senator BARRASSO. You said it was like a regular hearing. Are 

we going to have questions? 

The CHAIRMAN. Yes, we are. Typically, we can move through 

some of our esteemed witnesses but I am certainly happy to have 

you ask any questions you may have for the Secretary, Senator 

King. 

Senator KING. Well I know that Senator Barrasso has some first, 

so I will defer to him. 

The CHAIRMAN. Okay, Senator Barrasso? 

Senator BARRASSO. Well, thank you very much, Madam Chairman. 

I actually wanted to talk about, Madam Chairman and Mr. Secretary, the Department’s experimental program to stimulate competitive research, ESPCR. It is a program designed to improve energy-related research in 24 largely rural states including Wyoming, 

Alaska, Maine, Montana, and West Virginia, just to name five. 

[Laughter.] 

During your confirmation process you talked about the programs 

that have a strong educational component and in your opinion you 

said succeeds in building basic research infrastructure across the 

country. Are you at all committed to looking for new opportunities 

for the program because it is certainly within the Office of Science 

in the Department of Energy? 

Since the confirmation funding for this Office of Science is increased by hundreds of millions of dollars but funding for EPSTCR 

during that time is increased only $5 million. In fact, the Department budget request is now well below what Congress even appropriated for ESPCR for 2016. 

So, if the program, in your opinion, succeeds then I wonder if you 

can tell us why the Department is asking actually for less funding 

for this program that we think is important in rural areas? 

Secretary MONIZ. Well first of all I agree, Senator Barrasso. I 

stand by my statement that I believe ESPCR is a hugely valuable 

program. As you know it has state matching funds involved, and 

I believe it’s done a lot. 
25 

I particularly think it has been strong in providing research opportunities for undergraduates who then go on to scientific graduate studies. With regards to the budget there are always tradeoffs, but I am happy to work with the Committee to reexamine 

that. 

ESPCR, of course, is carried out by many agencies with NSF as 

the lead agency, but I’m certainly happy to work with the Committee to look at that. 

Senator BARRASSO. Well I really would appreciate it because it’s 

one of the things I would like to highlight a little bit is in Fiscal 

Year 2014 that the Department’s Office of Science awarded about 

$900 million in competitive research grants and programs of universities and the entities from the ESPCR space one only got $54 

million of the $900 million. That means 24 of our states received 

about six percent of the Office of Science’s Competitive Research 

Grant, so I appreciate your willingness to work with us. 

Then in a light way, states like Wyoming and Alaska, I believe, 

are underrepresented on the Department of Energy’s major advisory board. For example, the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board 

has not included anyone from an ESPCR state during the Administration. We just find some of this troubling. We think we can have 

a lot to offer. Most of our top energy producing states including 

Wyoming, Alaska and West Virginia are ESPCR states, so can we 

expect to continue to work closely with you on increasing that representation? 

Secretary MONIZ. Yes and certainly perhaps some suggestions we 

could go over. 

Senator BARRASSO. I would like to think about it, Chairman. 

Thank you, Mr. Secretary. 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Daines? King? Capito? 

Senator KING. Just one quick question. 

In thinking about Alaska and also we have islands in Maine that 

have similar non-grid attributes, it seems to be that this kind of 

setting is exactly appropriate for distributed energy, locally generated and in the process you save the whole cost of transmission 

and distribution. 

So in Maine anyway, transmission distribution is almost half the 

cost of energy. If the energy can be generated locally through solar, 

wind, hydrokinetic, as you mentioned, I would like to mention the 

River Gen project is a Maine company, Ocean Renewable. 

Secretary MONIZ. Yes. 

Senator KING. I am happy that they are out here as well. But 

give me your thoughts about distributed energy, particularly in this 

kind of rural setting. 

Secretary MONIZ. Well, we are strongly emphasizing, Senator 

King, the DG. We believe that it is almost by definition, essential, 

in isolated communities, islands. And we did put together a playbook on islands that, I think, could be of interest to you. 

But island communities here are, in many ways, islands in terms 

of energy. Around the world a place like India is very highly dependent upon developing DG. And in the Mission Innovation we intend to increase our focus on DG including working with privates 

and with some other countries like India. 
26 

I would note, however, just to emphasize that, in my view, distributed generation is not only for isolated communities. I think it 

is extremely important in the grid of the future that a smart and 

resilient grid is going to rely upon central station, sometimes distant sources, but certainly also, distributed sources that are local. 

Energy storage will be a big, transformative technology as the 

costs come down for namely, even more, DG. 

I’ll just give one example of DG in a non-isolated case that was 

very important. During Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey a critical 

transportation corridor was wiped out because the grid, the big 

grid, had gone down. We worked with the state. We put in modest 

funding, pro funding, to develop a plan which has now been implemented through a bigger grant from transportation. 

So the idea now is that transportation system is essentially a 

microgrid so that if the big grid goes down that critical transportation corridor can still function. 

So I’m a big fan of DG, and I think it just has even more applications than isolated communities. 

Senator KING. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

The CHAIRMAN. Further questions? Thank you all. 

Secretary Moniz, again, thank you so very much. 

Secretary MONIZ. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. You are cleared to join us over on this side. 

Again, we are going to depart a little bit from the norm and give 

you an opportunity to ask questions of the next two panels. So prepare to join us over here. 

At this time I would like to invite up for panel two, the Honorable Governor Bill Walker, who is the Governor of our fair state. 

Again, with great appreciation to you, Governor Walker, for spending the day with us, and the chance to see Oscarville. It was a first, 

I think, for both of us and an important visit. 

Governor Walker will also be joined by Representative Herron 

here in Bethel. Representative Herron has not only served this region well but at one point in his history, I had an opportunity to 

benefit from him when he was assisting in my office. 

I also want to acknowledge Senator Lisil McGuire, who is also 

here in Bethel today and joined us out in Oscarville. Senator 

McGuire and Representative Herron have been leading on Arctic 

issues and on energy issues, and I appreciate that you are here 

representing the state senate as well. So thank you, Senator 

McGuire, for that. 

With that, Governor Walker, if you would like to give your comments. We are so appreciative of your leadership on this issue. 

Thank you. 

STATEMENT OF HON. BILL WALKER, GOVERNOR, STATE 

OF ALASKA 

Governor WALKER. Thank you. 

For the record, Bill Walker, Governor of Alaska. 

Madam Chair Murkowski, welcome home. I know it’s always 

good to see you in Washington but it’s better to see you at home. 

The CHAIRMAN. I am very glad I am here. 

Governor WALKER. So, welcome home. 
27 

Ranking Member Cantwell, good to see you again, good to see 

you back in Alaska. I enjoyed our discussion in Washington, DC 

and I lent my necktie to Cantwell of Alaska. I will find a momento 

for you from Alaska that says Cantwell. 

Members of the Senate Committee, it is an honor to have six percent of the U.S. Senate in Bethel. This is an honor that is very exciting. 

Secretary Moniz, we first met at next to Bernie Karl at Chena 

Hot Springs, where you’re the Secretary of Energy and he’s the 

Secretary of Enthusiasm. 

The CHAIRMAN. Amen. 

Governor WALKER. And the combination was very powerful with 

what you had to say at that energy conference in Chena Hot 

Springs. I knew you had a passion for energy, and what you have 

done as Secretary has certainly underscored that passion. So thank 

you very much. You have, well, you walk the talk like no other. 

Thank you very much for that. 

You know, in preparing for this I looked at the number of programs that we have available for the Federal Government that 

benefits Alaska, and in particular, rural Alaska. I say thank you 

to you and to the Committee for that. 

As you have heard you couldn’t hear it any better than you did 

at lunch today when you heard people in the lunch tell about energy issues. You know, Ralph Henderson from Dillingham explained why he lives here, why it’s his home. It was very moving 

too. So I can’t come close to explain the passion in rural Alaska because you heard it first-hand and from the best. So I am so appreciative of you being here. It means the world to us that you would 

come to Alaska. 

We have lots of groups of Congress who come to Alaska, but usually it’s when the silver are running in late August and they usually hook up with us. 

[Laughter.] 

So we are an—too, but we’re fine with that. 

But you come with a very specific mission, and that means a lot 

to us that you would do that. It doesn’t go unnoticed across the 

state when we have six percent of the U.S. Senate and the Secretary of Energy in our great state, so thank you very much for 

making that happen. 

This is a field hearing, and it feels good to have a field hearing 

in Bethel, Alaska. I’ll just say that. 

You know, when I first met President Obama six days after I 

was sworn in as Governor of this great state, he said to me in the 

Oval Office. There were about eight of us there, brand new Governors. I explained to him the cost of energy in Alaska that we’re 

the most energy rich state in the nation and we have the highest 

cost of energy. And he said, ‘‘Governor, that makes no sense.’’ I 

said, ‘‘Mr. President, I couldn’t agree more.’’ 

It doesn’t make sense. We need to change that. As you heard 

today about many areas of the region where we see a barge load 

of fuel once a year. It’s like buying a commodity and you’re stuck 

with that commodity price for an entire year. And if it’s at the high 

end I know in New Jersey the price of gas is less than a $1.00. 

Here we vary $5, $6, $7, $8, and $9 a gallon. 
28 

You know, there’s not much that can be done but we like to, we 

sort of like to solve our problems ourselves in some respects. We 

appreciate the programs, they’re phenomenal, but we like to build. 

I was so pleased to hear that you’ve hired additional Alaskans 

in your department. We very much appreciated that because we 

think that those that are closer to the solution are closer to the answer. And I’m so close to the problem, I’m close to the answer. I 

think that’s the case. I think we’ve seen that today. 

You know, the trip out to Oscarville was something I wanted to 

do for a while. I’ve been to a number of rural Alaskan communities 

and villages throughout this past year and there is a common 

theme. The cost of energy is killing some of our rural villages. 

When we have school, the energy costs are so high that they end 

up leaving. The young people leave, the school gets below the magic 

number of ten, and suddenly the school has to close and that’s a 

death in the village. The village loses a bit of purpose. The cost of 

energy rises significantly when the school closes because sometimes 

the school is the largest consumer of energy in that village. It’s a 

spiraling impact that we don’t want and that we are working hard 

to turn around. 

We have a bit of a financial challenge in Alaska. Somewhere like 

West Virginia where on coal, we’re oil, is 90 percent of our resource. As I’ve said many times every Governor gets to spin the oil 

wheel. One Governor landed on 147. This Governor landed on 26. 

[Laughter.] 

Some Governors have landed on nine. 

But that’s okay. We don’t define ourselves by—Alaska’s not about 

a balance sheet. It’s about a land of opportunity, and the opportunity comes from Alaskans working together and much like I’ve 

seen you, Senator Cantwell and Senator Murkowski, working together on an energy bill. We’re doing the same in Juneau. We’re 

pulling together to address the physical challenge that we have 

today. 

You know, the cheapest energy, savings with energy, is not that 

it’s not used. As you’ll hear from Jack He ́bert what they’ve done 

on cold climate housing research is phenomenal as far as weatherization and those kinds of opportunities. 

I like that we’re harnessing energy in rivers, the hydrokinetic energy. 

We should be a petri dish of innovation, the state with the coldest temperature. We’re, well we used to have, the coldest temperature, now it seems to be changing a bit. 

[Laughter.] 

When I was born in Fairbanks it was pretty darn cold but with 

the highest cost of energy. And so, we really should be able to do 

that. 

One of the concerns we have on the oil side is that I’m a bit competitive. Now if you watched me play basketball in Oscarville today 

you wouldn’t have known that. 

[Laughter.] 

That’s not a really good example, but I used to be. But anyway, 

I’m a little competitive. 

I had a meeting with Governor Mead of the great State of Wyoming, and the State of Wyoming is about the same size as the 
29 

North Slope region where much of our oil and gas is. Wyoming has 

drilled 16,000 wells. We have drilled less than 600 wells. 

We have a bit of some challenges in that regard. We have an oil 

pipeline that is three quarters empty and sitting about 30 miles 

from about 16 billion barrels of oil. We need access to our land and 

access for our resources. We need to fill that pipeline. We need to 

fix our economy. 

We can self-heal if we have access to our resources, responsible 

access. No one is more concerned about our environment than we 

are. It’s our front yard. It’s our back yard. It’s our side yard. It’s 

our land. So we are very concerned about that. But we don’t have 

access to it to fill that pipeline. 

Last time we went through a down turn in the economy we had 

2.1 million barrels a day going into the Trans Alaska oil pipeline. 

Today we have under 500,000 barrels a day. And with all sorts of 

challenges of keeping the oil warm by adding heat to it and all 

sorts of challenges as it continues too. Yet it’s sitting right next to 

the most prolific oil opportunities in the world. 

So we need access to that, responsibly, and I will continue to address that. I will continue to address that because that is a mainstay. 

The other, in an energy issue, is our natural gas. We reinject 

more gas in the North Slope. It’s 8.6 billion cubic feet a day. That’s 

more gas than is consumed in the states of Oregon, Washington 

and California combined. 

We are in the process of advancing a Trans Alaska oil, I mean, 

gas pipeline to bring it to Tidewater for the market. These are 

challenging times right now on advancing those projects, but we’re 

looking at 2024, 2025. 

But one of my favorite provisions of Senate bill 138 put in by 

Senator Lyman Hoffman provided 20 percent of the revenues to the 

state of the royalties would be dedicated to rural Alaska for energy 

projects to be able to spread the benefit of that resource out across 

the state. Oh how I wish we had done that on an oil pipeline. We 

didn’t. We learned from that. And now we’re going to do that with 

a gas line to make sure that all Alaskans can benefit equally from 

the development of that resource. 

As I look at the—energy with natural gas the more economical 

energy with natural gas, that is the energy of the future of the 

state for some time. Certainly the legislature has done a great job 

of 50 percent of our energy by, renewable energy by 2050, I believe 

it is. Is that right? And that’s a laudable goal. But the natural gas 

is, you know, being in the situation we’re in, the $4 billion deficit, 

the trillions of dollars of resources in the ground we cannot get out 

is very difficult. 

When we became a state in 1959 the Statehood Compact said we 

would be able to develop. We had to live off our resources. We are 

the only state we cannot sell the resources in the ground. We can 

only lease them. And if we sold it in the ground they would have 

to revert back to the Federal Government. 

So as a result of that we are our own state. But that only works 

if you can develop the resources. And if you can’t develop the resources we can’t live off the resources. So my, I know I’m not or 

maybe a bit off target with this Committee, but I can’t, you know, 
30 

I’ve seen before six percent of the you know the U.S. Senate and 

I’m going to say what I want to say before them. 

[Laughter.] 

How I feel about what needs to happen in this state. 

We are pretty aggressive when it comes to taking care of ourselves, and we appreciate the assistance from the Federal Government. They’ve been great, sometimes, many times, but there’s a 

point we need to be able to have access to our resources in a responsible way. 

We enjoyed, very much, the President’s visit last summer. He 

was in route to Bristol Bay to Dillingham and got up close and personal with the salmon while he was there. And he had a great time 

in the mountain that was renamed to Denali as we flew in he was 

at the window tweeting. I looked at it and I said, ‘‘Mr. President, 

you’re, that’s forward you need to move a little bit to the right 

there.’’ That’s Denali and so he did. So I can say that I moved 

President Obama a little bit to the right. 

[Laughter.] 

Unfortunately it referred to Alaska. 

But it was a great opportunity for us to have a President that 

came up with Alaska as the destination. Often Presidents will come 

by, will stop and refuel and stuff. And we’ll take whatever we can 

get. But to have an actual destination we very much appreciated 

that. 

I think that was reflected in the budget that he submitted. There 

were many, many areas of funding for rural Alaska. The $400 million attempted for coastal resiliency. We have as many as 12 villages that need to be relocated. Kivalina is the most notable. It 

needs to be relocated because of the lack of—I should protect the 

shore. It’s an island that’s getting smaller. And I was—do you have 

it. It’s one of those. It’s kind of like Oscarville. You understand 

Oscarville when you go to Oscarville. You understand Kivalina 

when you go to Kivalina. Madam Chair, I know that you have been 

there a number of times, so thank you very much for that. 

So we have some challenges in Alaska. But we have some really 

innovative, thoughtful people that have a passion for, not just a 

passion for Alaska but a passion for making Alaska better. You will 

hear from some of those today. 

I think you’ve got an excellent panel ahead to hear from. We are 

our best when we work together, when we pull together. 

I want to close with a comment about Lieutenant Governor 

Byron Mallott. You may not have met him. If you ever do, you’ll 

be a better person having met him. 

He gave me a gift recently of a picture of the Village of 

Metlakatla. People were in the river and there was a road but 

there was mud and I didn’t understand exactly what it was when 

I first saw it. Well on the bottom he explained it. It said, early 

1900s in Metlakatla when you wanted to pull out stumps the whole 

village would show up and form a single row and pull out the 

stumps. And at the bottom of the picture Lieutenant Governor 

Mallott had written, Governor, this is what we’re doing. 

That’s exactly what we need to be doing as a state is to be pulling together, and when we pull together we can solve these prob-
31 

lems. So I like what has happened on the energy bill very much. 

I see a sign of pulling together. I’m encouraged by that. 

I see that happening with the Alaska legislature pulling together, doing some things that are unprecedented, and we’re going 

to be a better state because of that. But I wanted to just thank you 

again for coming to Alaska, for what you’ve done, the programs you 

have initiated that we’re able to take advantage of. 

I’m probably supposed to be sitting here being at the table being 

frustrated with the Federal Government but I’m here in front of 6 

percent of the U.S. Senate, who came to Bethel to listen and to continue to find ways you can improve our situation in Alaska, our 

costs of energy. It is disproportionately high. There’s no question 

about it. I think working together we can solve that. 

Thank you very much. I’ll stand for questions. 

[The prepared statement of Governor Walker follows:] 
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The CHAIRMAN. Governor, thank you very much. Your message 

in pulling together is one that is important here in this region. It 

is important around the state and certainly important to the country. 

Thank you very much. 

We will have an opportunity for questions after we hear from 

Representative Bob Herron. 

Welcome, or I should say, thank you for welcoming us to your 

town. 

STATEMENT OF HON. BOB HERRON, REPRESENTATIVE, STATE 

OF ALASKA 

Mr. HERRON. Well, thank you, Senator and thank you to the 

Committee. 

Mr. Secretary, it is an honor for you to come to the White Cape 

Delta, and my hometown, to listen and for us to learn how you feel 

about the strategies that Alaska and the Federal Government 

working together can do to solve problems. 

So Madam Chairman, it is that you mentioned that I used to be 

a staff person. So is it okay if I call you, Boss? 

The CHAIRMAN. Absolutely. [Laughter.] 

Mr. HERRON. So Boss, I have submitted my written testimony in 

full and much longer than my summary I’ll give today. But I want 

to say that it isn’t this legislator that wrote it up it was the work 

of a lot of people in the House and I’ll recognize them. 

An individual that’s worked on energy policy for the legislature 

for many years but since the 26th Legislature, Bryce Edgmon from 

Dillingham; Charisse Millitt from Anchorage; Neil Foster and 

Lance Pruitt, Neil from Nome and Lance from Anchorage; Doug 

Isaacson from North Pole; and Charisse, again, that’s the second 

time around. She is on the Energy Committee in the House. And 

then currently it’s Jim Colver from Palmer and Liz Vazquez from 

Anchorage. They all contributed to this summary and to the full 

written support. 

On the Senate side, her name has been mentioned a couple of 

times, but she’s my friend. And she, like Governor Walker mentioned today at lunch, was my co-chair on the Alaska Arctic Policy 

Commission. And the Alaska Arctic Policy Commission is very important to Alaska, not only because of the Arctic Council chairmanship currently, but it’s about how because our nation is an Arctic 

nation, because of Alaska, is that the legislature had to figure out 

what our Arctic policy was. 

The Governor has already mentioned a lot of things. You know, 

access to our resources, having Alaskans included in the conversation so that we’re a part of the decision of our future. 

So when we started out I gave out three envelopes. The two 

smaller ones are pins that the Alaska legislature gives to visitors. 

There’s seven of them and six of them are symbols of our state, 

state flower, state mammal, etcetera. But the one that’s not a state 

symbol officially in the statutes is one where Alaska is transposed 

on top of the lower 48. 

[Laughter.] 

And it puts it at scale because it is that Alaska on most U.S. 

maps is because the map makers usually have the lower 48, we call 
37 

you the outside, the lower 48, is the map makers want to make the 

lower 48 center of the universe. So Alaska and Hawaii are dragged 

over and placed out of scale next to San Diego. 

And so if you look at it on the pin, Madam Chair was born in 

Ketichan, down by Savannah. My wife was born here in Bethel. 

Right now we’re somewhere in the Midwest. And then the Aleutian 

chain goes all the way to San Francisco, and I had the privilege 

of representing the Aleutians for two years. 

That’s why Senator Sullivan, Senator Murkowski and Congressman Young have a tremendous challenge convincing the rest of the 

nation how important, not only energy policy, strategic policy, 

every policy you can imagine. They have a very difficult job convincing good colleagues that want to do the best for not only the 

nation, but us. 

So, you know, today we were given both the travel to Oscarville 

and to lunch versus the costs of energy. I guess to put it in a real, 

easy perspective, Madam Chair, is that whatever consumable that 

we like to buy, go to the grocery store to buy bread and just food. 

But if you want to buy a pair of jeans or if you want to buy mostly 

anything locally, it has to be shipped in and a lot of that is flown 

in. So whatever the price is in Anchorage you can guarantee that 

the markup, the extra cost of that consumable is going to be between 35 percent to 50 percent and even higher in villages outside 

of the region. So that’s what we’re talking about. 

We’ve put lots of money into energy, renewable energy and efficiency programs but much more needs to be done. 

Now the Governor has already mentioned we’re at a fiscal reality 

that nobody would want to be in. We’re going to deal with it, and 

the reason we’re going to deal with it is because we have to. But 

these high energy costs are very onerous to rural Alaskan families 

and they hinder economic development everywhere in Alaska. 

So, the Alaska Arctic Policy Commission has given us a report. 

It’s been many years since we delivered to the legislature. And we 

had three target audiences, ourselves, the Executive Branch and 

the Federal Government. 

But first, the legislature had to figure out what is our, what do 

we think our policy is? And we’ve done it. The Governor has already mentioned one, access to development. That’s the key for our 

sustainable future in these little villages and more importantly, the 

sustainability of Alaska for the future. 

But one of the recommendations was to reduce power and heating costs in rural Alaska. So how do we do that with our Federal 

partners? And the thing is that probably what we should do in 

Alaska Center for Energy and Power, Alaska Energy Authority, 

AEA, we meet and they created a macro grid statement of needs. 

We need new technology goals, we need fuel sipping on our diesel 

operations and improved power reliability. These are things that 

are what we need to do. And it’s been mentioned and I would 

thank Senator Cantwell to talk about the programs that we are, 

that are successful in this state today. But I’d also like to thank 

the Federal Government for U.S. Senate bill 2012, the Energy Policy Modernization Act. Those are provisions that have positively affected Alaska, reauthorization of weatherization, reauthorization of 

state energy programs, state loan eligibility and several programs 
38 

promoting renewable energy technology. These are the positives 

that have come out of that Modernization Act. 

So in recent years the Alaska renewable energy program has 

funded dozens of projects that demonstrate an impressive degree of 

ingenuity and innovation. And later in the next panel we’ll get 

more into the details because these individuals that are here that, 

Madam Chair, you brought together are going to, in many ways, 

are going to send you very positive results from the past but 

they’re also going to ask you for your help so that we can stay on 

that path. 

We can divide the efforts to achieve a sustainable and affordable 

energy for all Alaskans into four categories, technology, finance, 

human capacity building and policy. Now Alaska is a world leader 

in wind-diesel hybrid systems. In fact, there’s one system that’s in 

this region, that’s a super success story. 

We also can be a leader in renewable microgrid systems. Using 

several vocation training initiatives spearheaded by Alaska Center 

of Energy and Power, renewable energy at Alaska Project and others can build a knowledge-based industry partly based on microgrid 

development. 

Now this state, Alaska, the Chairwoman’s home state, with Federal help should seize the opportunity to use innovative technology 

to lower energy costs but also grow those Alaska businesses that 

provide the technical assistance to microgrids worldwide. And as 

the Secretary earlier has said, these are the things that we are 

going to move forward with and we welcome that. 

In finance we need to, we must move toward equity and debt financing. Renewable energy grant funding soon is going to decrease 

and will not likely to include money for construction projects. But 

in the Energy Policy Modernization Act it would give us access to 

borrow from the Department of Energy loan programs. The state 

can pass those loans on to small communities that often can’t get 

ones. 

Human capacity. We need people. We need training local operators. We must build this capacity. Through Alaska Energy Smart 

REAP is promoting K–12 energy efficiency curriculum that teach 

about the importance of energy efficiency. Finally, in human capacity, the holistic approach, in a lot of ways what we saw in 

Oscarville. It’s let’s go in and use—it’s almost like this pilot project. 

It’s really a test tube baby. If we can do it on a small scale, we 

will succeed. So a holistic approach to technical assistance and 

community development is important. 

Madam Chair, I know I am speaking to the choir, but this model 

is for sustainable northern communities. And so long-term predictable energy policy is needed for private sector investment, human 

capacity, technology innovation and new financing approaches. 

In conclusion I’d like to tell a great story. It is the work of Bethel, a lot of people don’t really think of it that way, but Bethel is 

in the Arctic. The reason that we’re in the Arctic is because of the 

Porcupine Yukon Kuskokwim line, and that’s a line that goes down 

the Porcupine at the Canadian-Alaska border. That line goes down 

the Yukon all the way to Pineview, then over to Kalstag on the old 

trading area road, route, then out the Kuskokwim, everything 

north of that is considered Arctic. 
39 

When we were fighting for statehood President Eisenhower did 

not want it to be a state in holding. He wanted it to be a territory 

above that line and below that line it would be, could become a 

state. We fought hard. We fought really hard. 

And Alaskans, with the Governor’s mentor, Wally Hickel, a fiery 

Senator, John Butrovich from Fairbanks and Bob Atwood were visiting with the President. And the fiery, I’m being polite, the fiery 

Senator said, explained to the President why that’s not possible. 

And President Eisenhower turned to Wall Hickel and said, doesn’t 

he know I’m an American. 

So that’s the fight we’re fighting today. It’s we’re to be involved 

in the conversation and one of our biggest partners is the Federal 

Government. 

And with that, thank you, Madam Chair. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Herron follows:] 
40 
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42 
43 
44 
45 
46 
47 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Representative Herron. 

Thank you both for your words this afternoon and your leadership. 

Governor Walker, you testified before the Energy Committee in 

early December when we had an oversight hearing on ANILCA. I 

think my question to the overall panel that afternoon was what can 

be done to really help Alaska? Your comments at that time were 

bring more Members of Congress to Alaska to see and understand, 

to listen and to learn. You may have included members of the Cabinet as well. 

So I heard you loud and clear. I am so pleased that we are able 

to do a field trip where it is more than just listening, it is observing 

with their eyes. So thank you for your words on that. 

I don’t have any questions for either of you because I get to see 

a lot of you, so I will turn to my colleagues and ask if they have 

any questions of either the Governor or Representative Herron. 

Senator Capito. 

Senator CAPITO. Thank you both. It is wonderful to be here in 

your beautiful state. 

Governor, I just had a clarification question. You mentioned 

LNG, liquefied natural gas, that you are moving in that direction. 

You mentioned, and I was not sure that I heard you correctly and 

I asked my colleague here, Senator King. Did you say you are trying to build a pipeline and take it from here to the tide waters? 

Governor WALKER. Correct. We are taking it from Prudhoe Bay 

to Andreafsky which is located on a peninsula. 

Senator CAPITO. Alright, not the tide water in Virginia. I was 

like, whoa. [Laughter.] 

Senator CAPITO. Okay, good. 

Let me ask you because we were—so I would like to stay on the 

Energy Modernization bill that we have been working on with the 

leadership of your Senator and Senator Cantwell. There are some 

provisions in there that should help with some of the permitting 

that is connected with the LNG permitting. I think it would be particularly useful to all states, but probably I don’t know if you are 

aware of this and what impact it might have on Alaska. 

Governor WALKER. We’ve been pretty, very pleased with the reception we’ve had on the permitting thus far and others, some routing issues that are being dealt with that Senator Murkowski is 

working on. We appreciate that. But overall we’ve been very 

pleased. The pipeline permitting has not in any way been an obstacle to us at all in the navigation of the pipeline at all. 

Senator CAPITO. Okay. 

Finally I would say you mentioned that you have great hopes for, 

in terms of bringing prices down and availability of energy to Alaskans in terms of natural gas again. I guess my question would be 

how are you going to get these pipelines out to these areas? That, 

to me, is difficult in the lower 48 in some congested areas for a totally different reason. But I did not realize, since this is my first 

visit here, how far apart everything is. No roads, no existing infrastructure. What kind of, I guess, solutions would you come up with 

for that? 

Governor WALKER. There are a couple ways that could be done 

and it’s done all over the world. When the pipeline crosses a body 
48 

of water such as the Yukon River, certainly the gas will be taken 

off there and moved up and down the river on barges and moved 

in, sort of, moved in and out somewhere to swap it out of propane 

bottom of your barbeque. So there could be ways of moving it on 

the river, on the coastal communities certainly can do it that way 

by barges, specific barges for moving liquefied natural gas or compressed natural gas. 

And the third is first by way of highway. It can, natural gas is 

moved, liquefied natural gas is moved all over the United States 

by road. That’s why Senator Hoffman was so wise, as usual, when 

he put in the 20 percent provision that some areas of Alaska would 

not be able to have access to because of transportation and so that 

there would be some opportunity for funding for alternative energy. 

Kodiak is an example with 99.7 percent renewable energy between 

hydro and wind. And so that would be funding a vehicle, an ongoing funded vehicle for not just responsible but maybe bringing the 

cost of energy down, but also putting in an alternative energy for 

that area. 

So that’s, sort of the way, the three ways of spreading the benefit 

out across the state. 

Senator CAPITO. Thank you. 

Senator KING. One question. 

Governor, both of you mentioned if only we had access. I mean, 

is that about the pipeline going by a lot of oil? Could you be more 

specific what you are referring to? 

Governor WALKER. Oh, I certainly can. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator KING. I got the feeling you were talking and everybody 

got it. 

Governor WALKER. Let me pull the mic a little closer. 

[Laughter.] 

You know, there’s an area on the North Slope. It’s in the ANWR 

area. And, you know, there’s was one section of it, the 10–02 section which is four percent, I’m sorry, eight percent of ANWR but 

the coastal plain was set aside for potential development. That’s 

eight percent of it. 

We only need half of that. So we need four percent of ANWR to 

have access to that which happens to be adjacent to our own development field at Fort Thompson. So that’s the very small area in the 

coastal plain that we need access to be able to have access to that 

16 billion barrels of oil. 

So it’s, you know, I’m looking across the fence line and see where 

we need to be. And it’s very frustrating to have a pipeline that is 

three-quarters empty that close. You can even look one way to see 

the pipeline and look the other way to see where that resource is. 

So it’s a very specific delineated. There’s been one well drilled 

there already. We don’t know the results of that. Only a few people 

know the results of that. One of them works for me, and he still 

won’t tell me what they found because it was something they 

shared about 8 years ago and can’t be divulged. 

But so it’s a very specific area, very close to our current infrastructure. It would really be about a three-mile pipeline to tie into 

the Trans Alaska oil pipeline. So we know exactly where it’s at. 

Happy to take, I’d love to take any of you there to view it, to see. 
49 

I know there’s a lot of things that have changed, the technology 

in drilling over the years, the directional drilling. 

Senator KING. I was going to ask a question. 

Because is it close enough to be accessed with directional drilling 

instead of having to drill in the wildlife refuge? 

Governor WALKER. We have a lot of press here, let me prepare 

my answer? Maybe. As somebody who doesn’t want my view—— 

Senator KING. Is that a definite maybe, Governor? 

Governor WALKER. That’s a strong maybe. 

There’s advantages of directional drilling and there’s some disadvantages as far as being able to fully explore an area. So we’re 

going to look at all options. I am laser focused on that issue because that’s my job, to make sure that that’s our lifeblood of our 

economy is developed to the national benefit, responsibly, safely, 

environmental sound conditions. If we can do offshore, we can certainly do onshore responsibly. So. 

Mr. HERRON. So Madam Chair, I’d like to just add a little to Senator King’s question as this is the second time that I’ve had the 

privilege of testifying in front of this Committee and it was in 

Washington, DC and it was about, mostly about, Arctic policy. 

But one of your Senators made a statement. I’ll leave that individual’s name alone for now. But he brought up our community— 

and he was incredulous that Alaskans wanted access to develop 

their resources so they could, we could have sustainable communities. 

And the comment by that U.S. Senator was I don’t get it. You 

want to have access to your resources so you can put more carbon 

in the atmosphere and drown out—and I was, so he allowed me to 

rebut that, is that he almost answered the same question is it 

doesn’t matter what state you’re from if someone else. And that’s 

what I tried to share in my comments, if someone else tries to tell 

you how to live your lives without including you in the conversation it only hurts Alaska. And that’s, well Senator Murkowski has 

heard this probably ad nauseam from me and Lisil, this is what 

we’re talking about. 

The CHAIRMAN. Secretary Moniz was going to comment, I think, 

on the pipeline. 

Secretary MONIZ. Well thank you, Chairman. 

Just to go back to Senator Capito’s question about the natural 

gas pipeline from the North Slope to a future LNG facility. I guess 

I’ll just reiterate the position that we put out in terms of providing 

what’s called a conditional approval which is something we do not 

do for the lower 48 projects but we specifically recognize the very 

different situation here in Alaska. 

So I thought it might just be worth it to reiterate that position. 

It certainly remains our position. Clearly there will be future environmental reviews, etcetera, to be sure upon its review but the conditional has been approved. 

The CHAIRMAN. Other questions? 

Senator Daines. 

Senator DAINES. First of all, Governor Walker, I love your state, 

and that is saying something from a Montanan. You have got an 

amazing state. Thank you for your warm and gracious hospitality, 

truly. 
50 

It is just a follow up from Senator King’s comment. Again, this 

is Governor to Governor conversations when we had Senator King 

speaking. With all due respect, there is six percent of the U.S. Senate here today, but there is actually two percent of the nation’s 

Governors here today. 

Governor WALKER. Yes, that’s true. 

Senator DAINES. It just takes one to get to two percent. It takes 

six to get to six percent. So it is very important. 

Senator KING. Sixty-six percent of us, of the independents. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator DAINES. And 6.7 percent of the President’s Cabinet is 

here today. 

Secretary Moniz, I looked and you are actually 15th in succession 

to the presidency right here. So we have got to keep an eye on 

you—— [Laughter.] 

Senator DAINES. Yes, I would love for you to—— 

[Many people talking at once.] [Laughter.] 

Senator DAINES. So anyway, get yourself mirandized here, if 

nothing else. [Laughter.] 

UNKNOWN SPEAKER: A non-disclosed location during the State of 

the Union. [Laughter.] 

Senator DAINES. So with all of this fire power here, we are from 

DC. We are here to help. That is a full on quote. But we face these 

small challenges in a state like Montana where we want to make 

sure Montana’s voice is heard in the debate about how our lands 

are used. I hope our Committee takes away what you have said 

here just recently. I can tell you working alongside the Chair of 

this Committee, Lisa Murkowski, she is fighting for Alaskan’s voice 

in sovereignty of Alaska in this discussion and so does your new 

Senator, Dan Sullivan. But it does seem like it is out of balance. 

Look at ANWR, that 96 percent of ANWR would still be protected. 

Governor WALKER. Right. 

Senator DAINES. You are asking for four percent with the infrastructure readily available to hook up. If there is something we 

could do as a Committee—we have the Secretary of Energy here, 

we have a significant part of the Energy Committee here today. 

What should we put on our to-do list so that we can hear the people of Alaska? The U.S. Senate is the guardian of the states in 

many ways, the voice of the state back in Washington. What should 

be put on our to-do list, specifically, that relates to allowing Alaskans access to that four percent? 

Governor WALKER. You can’t imagine how much I appreciate 

that question and how, I know, Governors Bullock and Mead, 

both—that Governor Mead, the Chair of the Western Governors 

Conference. Governor Bullock from Montana, the chair or Co-Chair 

of the Western Governors Association. We talk about this a lot as 

far as how do we engage with Washington on our situation. It’s not 

a matter of being heard, but let us control our own destiny. Thank 

you. 

So I think the message of that and no one has been a bigger 

champion of this than, you know, Chairwoman Murkowski. I mean, 

she has led the charge on this. We have gotten things to the House. 

You had, sometimes had, a chance of total of the Senators all getting permission to have access to that. 
51 

You know, I would say it’s just a matter of we won’t stop. I know 

that Senator Murkowski, you won’t. And thank you for not. 

We are going to continue to ask you too. I mean, I sometimes try 

baiting the First Lady when I say, you know, sometimes asking for 

forgiveness might be better than asking for permission. And she’s 

afraid I might have to—institution or something. [Laughter.] 

Is always the result of doing something I shouldn’t do but I’m 

working for it now by saying, I mean, if we can’t have access to 

four percent. So we will ask once more. And I mean, I know you’re 

going to introduce legislation. I guess we would just ask you to support that and understand. 

I can’t imagine, I remember well. You don’t have anyone here 

from California so I’m using that example. Driving down Highway 

101 a couple of years ago and when I left there was a roadway, 100 

yards on the left and to the right was offshore drilling. I went on 

thinking, really? I mean, this is Highway 101 and I am not being 

critical of them doing that. 

But I just have a problem when we cannot control our own destiny because of a higher interest or natural interest. The higher interest says 100 percent of that area has to be off limits to any resources whatsoever. I have to have this conversation with Secretary Jewell way more often than she would want me to have it 

with her. But I’ll do it again on Friday because I will not, will not, 

stop until that message is clear. Four percent is all we’re talking 

about. And that will fill an energy pipeline. That will create an 

economy that’s safe, that we need to have, we need to have rebuilt. 

We don’t have the cushion anymore. So the price of oil will rise. 

Yes, the world is going to turn over to alternative energy. But 

now the President himself said, there will be a big issue. Oil will 

be the big issue. Why not from one of our states? Why not from 

our country? 

And so, I appreciate your offer of support. I certainly had been 

asked and will ask and you can ask for support of others in Washington. And you’re someone in a position to be able to say. 

And then again, there’s nothing like, I remember so well another 

Senator Murkowski that brought through to ANWR. They got off 

the plane and one particular Senator looked around and said, my 

goodness if you can’t drill here where can we drill. He went back 

to Washington and voted against opening that up for drilling. 

So it’s just, we have been out of—I don’t know, it’s just, we’re 

kind of like the second home for some that say, you know, I might 

never visit the second home, but I just don’t want anybody there 

doing anything that would in any way look like activity. We need 

some activity. And the North Slope, Dead Horse, is the Las Vegas 

strip of Alaska where 90 percent of our income comes from. Every 

vehicle has a drill pad underneath it, every vehicle has that. I 

mean, it’s the most protected area you could ever imagine. 

So I really hope sometime we’ll have a, really have a hearing, a 

field hearing at Prudhoe Bay so people can see first-hand the kind 

of care and caution that goes in to what goes on up there and allow 

us to have access to that 4 percent. I really thank you very much 

for that question. 

Thank you, Senator. 

The CHAIRMAN. Governor, thank you. 
52 

I loathe to cut off this conversation because, as you know, this 

is clearly an issue that we have tried to advance for decades now. 

I am cognizant that there are some on our third panel that are 

actually going to be trying to catch the seven o’clock jet. 

I know Senator Barrasso had a question, so I’d like to turn to 

you now, please. 

Senator BARRASSO. Governor and Representative, the President 

in his budget recommended an over $10 a barrel fee with a tax on 

American-produced oil. I just wondered what that impact would be 

here for Alaska in terms of state revenue, jobs, the economy, the 

things that you are concerned about. This would be some brief comments because people are obviously concerned about—— 

Governor WALKER. In a word it would be absolutely devastating 

to do that. When you have oil already that’s at 26. Now if he wanted to impose that on oil being brought in from foreign countries I 

would support that. But on U.S. oil development, no. I just, I’m 

very sorry to see that. That’s a very painful pill for those of us that 

are tied into that, so we will oppose that. At least that’s why I don’t 

think. 

Mr. HERRON. Senator, the Alaska legislature, both House and the 

Senate, both sides of the aisle are questioning, ‘‘Now we need to do 

more,’’ but it really is on top of everything else that—right now 

many of us cannot accept it. 

Senator BARRASSO. Okay. 

The CHAIRMAN. Further questions? 

Governor, Representative Herron, thank you both for your leadership. Thank you for being here and for your comments today. 

Governor WALKER. Thank you very much. 

Mr. HERRON. Thank you, Boss. 

The CHAIRMAN. We will now bring up panel three, to provide an 

opportunity to listen to Alaskans from around this region, around 

the state. 

Our first witness this morning will be Ralph Andersen. Ralph is 

President and CEO of Bristol Bay Native Association, and he hails 

from Dillingham. 

He will be followed by Mr. Michael Black. Mike is the Director 

of Rural Utilities Management Services at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. 

Mr. Black will be followed by Steve Gilbert who is the Manager 

of Projects Development at the Alaska Village Electric Co-op. You 

hear us use the AVEC acronym, and that is what we are talking 

about, the Alaska Village Electric Co-op. 

We will then hear from Jack He ́bert. Jack is the CEO of the Cold 

Climate Housing Research Center located in Fairbanks. 

Mike Hoffman is the Executive Vice President for the Association 

of Village Council Presidents, and he was also our tour guide this 

afternoon as we went off to Oscarville. He did an exceptional job, 

and we thank you for that, Mike. 

Gwen Holdmann is the Director for the Alaska Center for Energy 

and Power at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Gwen told me 

that she has just arrived, literally, from Finland. So to come from 

Finland to Bethel is no small feat in and of itself. We thank you 

for your participation as well. 
53 

Again, I would ask you, and I know that this is unfair, but please 

try to keep your comments limited to five minutes each so that we 

will have an opportunity for questions and answers and the exchange after that we are all looking forward to. 

Ralph, if you would like to lead off, please. Thank you. 

STATEMENT OF RALPH ANDERSEN, PRESIDENT & CEO, 

BRISTOL BAY NATIVE ASSOCIATION 

Mr. ANDERSEN. Good afternoon, Senator, members of the Committee. As the Senator introduced me, my name is Ralph Andersen, 

I’m the President and CEO of Bristol Bay Native Association 

(BBNA). Thank you for inviting me to testify today. 

I’ll summarize my written testimony which I already submitted 

for the record. I’d like to start with some background information 

about Bristol Bay and our energy situation. 

BBNA is a consortium of 31 tribes. Our region covers 44,000 

square miles. It is about the size of the State of Ohio. Dillingham 

is nearly the geographic center of the region. It is our regional hub. 

In the spring heating fuel, diesel and gas are shipped by barge 

from Seattle to Dillingham and sub-regional hubs and distributed 

to surrounding villages from there. Prices go up each time the fuel 

is handled. We’re stuck all winter with prices, with fuel prices, over 

the last margin of fall. 

Our homes, all of our homes, are heated with home heating fuel 

or propane which is expensive. The electricity is generated in our 

villages by diesel power plants where many of them are more than 

40 years old. It’s common to hear about a village losing power for 

days or weeks because replacement parts are hard to find. 

The vast majority of our villages are not on power grids, although some of them are just a few miles apart. So with high production costs, small consumer populations, the cost of electricity 

per household in our villages is very high. In Dillingham we pay 

close to $0.50 per kilowatt hour. My electric bill for January was 

over $500. 

In 2010 we got our village residents together for dialogs about 

the future of our region. We held over 50 meetings in schools and 

community halls in 26 villages. We finally resolved the Bristol Bay 

Regional Vision. I have already submitted a copy of that for the 

record. 

Our people said the high cost of energy prevents local business 

development and that reducing energy should be the top priority or 

top strategy to create sustainable economies. The top recommendation to reduce energy costs is to develop renewable energy sources, 

to generate electricity including wind, solar, hydro, tidal and geothermal. 

We realize we have no control over the price of fuel but we can 

control our uses of smoke machines, ATVs, boats, outboards and 

other equipment that are essential for our survival. We know that 

we can help bring down home heating costs by weatherization. We 

also know that we cannot control the cost of electricity. We have 

small alternative or renewable power projects throughout the region designed to meet local village needs and household demands. 

Senator Murkowski is familiar with the project at Igiugig. Thank 

you for spending the time with us there last summer. Igiugig is a 
54 

village of about 70 people at the mouth of the Kvichak River at 

Illiamna Lake. Igiugig is a test ground for Alaska’s first ever riverpowered electrical generator. It’s powered by the current of the 

Kvichak River. The machine looks like a giant wheat thresher. 

There are wind generators either installed or underway in other 

of our villages such as an array of 15 operating in Perryville and 

single wind generators in other communities. Families are also installing wind generators at their homes and fish shacks because 

they’re becoming more affordable. 

In keeping with the Bristol Bay Regional Vision, BBNA is working with our Bristol Bay partners, the Alaska Energy Authority, 

Information Insights and the Southwest Alaska Regional or Municipal Conference on the three based Bristol Bay Regional Energy 

Plan. I submitted a copy of that for the record already. 

Phase One was an inventory of energy-related issues such as 

high fuel prices, high construction and maintenance costs, high 

space heating costs, heavy dependence on diesel for power production or power generation. 

Phase Two is now underway and includes a benchmarking 

project which is an inventory of all non-residential buildings in 27 

communities. A regional energy efficiency and conversion strategy 

will be developed at this stage. 

Phase Three will develop a list of energy projects and priorities 

to carry out the strategy. 

I want to spend a few minutes talking about LIHEAP. Due to 

high costs, few jobs and low family incomes many village members 

rely on LIHEAP to heat their homes. The Alaska heating assistant 

program, AKHAP, also helped many families, but Governor Walker 

recently cut that program all together. 

We’d like to modify LIHEAP so we can meet other home heating 

needs such as helping to cover the costs of weatherization for energy efficient appliances and modern heating systems. We need to 

help families at the borderline to qualify for LIHEAP under current 

law so they don’t fall through the cracks because the Governor cut 

AKHAP. 

LIHEAP is just families up to 100 percent of the poverty guidelines and AKHAP assistance goes between 150 and 225. There are 

families that qualify for AKHAP that don’t for LIHEAP because 

they are just a few dollars above the LIHEAP guidelines. AKHAP 

is now gone so they’ll receive no assistance at all. Either that or 

to qualify for LIHEAP one of the family members immediately 

quits work. 

We need to solve our existing heating and electrical problems. 

We need action to improve our current situation. 

Thank you, Senator Murkowski and Senator Cantwell for developing S. 2012, the Energy Policy Modernization Act. My first take 

on it is pretty simple. I like it. 

The CHAIRMAN. Good. [Laughter.] 

Mr. ANDERSEN. We don’t need any more studies or plans to build 

mega projects that will never reach Bristol Bay or Alaska. We need 

to have hydro projects such as the project at Igiugig designated as 

a renewable energy project, we need to weatherize homes and public facilities, and we need to have villages that are just short distances apart connected together on grids. 
55 

Through the Bristol Bay Energy Plan we’re just now beginning 

to find ways to meet our energy needs, but our plan is not yet done 

and we’ll need help putting it into action. 

The Secretary mentioned regional energy partners. Well, we 

want to be one. 

Basic energy efficient infrastructure is a top priority at Bristol 

Bay, and we’re mindful of the role of fossil fuels in climate change. 

The transitions to other energy sources are taking place, but 

they’re taking place slowly. 

We need to keep our villages alive. We keep them alive by continuing to fund our supplies of diesel and home heating fuel until 

other energy sources are in place. 

I’d like to highlight six of the recommendations I have listed in 

my written testimony. Two of them are for the Secretary. 

Tribal energy needs to be priority and aligned at the highest 

level of DOE. We suggest the Deputy Secretary position for a level. 

Tribal energy must be a dedicated line in the DOE budget. 

And for the panel on before the Committee and even for DOE, 

we think that every home in Bristol Bay should be weatherized by 

2025. We volunteer to be a pilot project or a demonstration project 

that can be used as a result for the entire state. I think all the 

homes in rural Alaska would be an absolutely phenomenal legacy 

to have every home in rural Alaska weatherized. 

Establish an energy revolving loan fund for individuals to make 

energy efficient home improvements. 

Support transmission lines that connect rural villages for greater 

economies of scale. 

Establish energy clearinghouses in rural Alaska to gather and 

share information. 

Again, thank you for the invitation to testify, and I’ll be happy 

to answer any questions. I’m sorry if I over extended my five minutes. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Andersen follows:] 
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The CHAIRMAN. Thank you for your comments. Thank you for 

being here. 

Michael Black, welcome. 

STATEMENT OF MICHAEL BLACK, DIRECTOR OF RURAL UTILITY MANAGEMENT SERVICES, DIVISION OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND ENGINEERING, ALASKA NATIVE TRIBAL HEALTH CONSORTIUM 

Mr. BLACK. First of all, thank you very much for the opportunity, 

Madam Chair, Senator Cantwell, fellow members of the Committee. 

I represent the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. My 

name is Michael Black. I am the Director for Rural Utility Management Services. 

And you might wonder why is a health organization appearing 

for a group to talk about energy but let me show all the reasons. 

First of all, the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium is the 

largest consortium of tribes in the United States and it delivers 

health care throughout the state with our regional partners. We 

run a native hospital in Anchorage as well as many other research 

efforts into native health issues as well as nutritional issues and 

so forth. We also have a very large group of community health 

aides that provide primary health care in rural Alaska and to over 

200 communities and villages. 

We also are very concerned about, of course, infectious diseases 

and so we have assumed the responsibility of the Indian Health 

Service for the provision of water and sewer in many communities 

throughout the state. We do this in cooperation with the State of 

Alaska through their village/state water program. 

But as such, we are very interested in being able to provide proper sanitation to households. In this region one out of every three 

infants is hospitalized each year for lower respiratory disease, and 

that’s because of the lack of adequate water and proper sanitation. 

So as you can see, our vision as an organization is that Alaska 

natives are the healthiest people in the world. That cannot be 

achieved if sanitation is not provided. 

So what does this have to do with energy? In the United States 

four percent of the total energy of the United States is used for 

water and sewer. In Alaska it’s considerably higher, as you might 

imagine. Just from your examination of the environment we’re in, 

water and waste water is prone to freeze. So therefore we require 

energy both to move it from one place to another as well as to keep 

it from becoming a sauna. 

We have estimated that approximately, in villages, that approximately 30 percent of the total energy use is for water and sewer 

in the form of heat, primarily. Although electricity to drive pumps 

and to make mechanical devices work that are necessary for water 

plants, that’s certainly an important aspect of the energy use. But 

most of the energy you see is actually to heat the water and in 

some cases even waste water so that it will be able to be disposed 

of properly and, of course, delivered to homes. 

In our examination of the budgets of these small tribes and cities 

that are operating water and sewer services, we see that the total 
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costs of operating sanitation services, about 40 percent of that is 

related to the cost of energy itself. 

In 2009, well actually in 2010, we began a program called the 

Rural Energy Initiative because of our recognition of this issue. Actually that program began with ARRA funding from the U.S. Government, and it was used to do and conduct a number of energy 

audits. In fact, today we have audited 50 communities, 50 small 

community systems in various parts of the state, primarily in the 

colder environments. 

What we mean by an audit is we mean a team of mechanical and 

electrical engineers combined with operational maintenance specialist visiting facilities throughout the state and examining this 

energy use and where energy efficiencies can be derived as well as 

where we can take advantage of renewable energy opportunities. 

And from that effort we’ve been able to put together a plan, if you 

will, for 52 communities to that. 

Of those 52 we see a large number of them could benefit from 

energy efficiency work. And so therefore we’ve begun using funding 

from various sources including USDA, the EPA, but primarily from 

USDA’s RAVG program, Rural Alaska Village Grant program. And 

that has provided a great deal of resources and benefit to communities. 

When we go in we identify those inefficiencies and we’re able to 

address the changing out of antiquated or inefficient components of 

those clients, also and very importantly, the training of operatives. 

I think there is no doubt in anybody’s mind that’s examined the energy efficiency issue is that if you just change out plan components 

you will not achieve efficiencies. You have to actually train and 

change behavior of the operators themselves or those that are actually making decisions daily as to how energy is used. So we’ve seen 

a substantial benefit from that effort. 

We’ve also seen a substantial benefit from working with our partners such as AVEC and others on renewable energy solutions. 

Heat recovery alone provides a huge benefit and heat recovery 

for those that are not familiar with how villages actually generate 

power, it’s mainly through the diesel generator and that generator 

gives off heat. That heat is lost to the environment, oftentimes, if 

it’s not captured through a heat recovery system. 

We take every bit of that heat that we can get and we can put 

it into the water system and avoid having to fire our boilers and 

to try to keep that water from freezing. So that has been a very, 

very important part. 

Now where did we get the funding for that? Primarily from the 

State of Alaska through the Renewable Energy Program. And I 

must say it is disheartening to realize that the State of Alaska will 

not be able to put that much resources into renewable energy 

under its current fiscal situation. We certainly have had major benefits from it. 

We’ve also used waste heat from wind turbines that would have 

otherwise been blowing the energy being produced at night or in 

a low demand period into the atmosphere as well. So we can purchase that as we’ve agreed to with AVEC at a discounted rate. We 

can put that electric energy into resistive heat and put it into the 

water and waste water systems as well. 
267 

We have used biomass where timber is available. You may have 

seen that at the waterfront. There was actually timber available 

here in Bethel. It comes from up river. Anyplace where we have 

standing timber we can use a local resource instead of imported 

fuel. And that certainly does help things. It certainly reduces the 

cost but more importantly it creates local jobs. And that helps the 

economies themselves. 

I would like to now touch on the phylum aspect of rural energy 

initiative and that is remote monitoring. That’s extremely important for these plants whether they’ve been actually addressed 

through energy efficiency efforts or even the use of renewable energy like waste heat. If you’re not monitoring their success or their 

faults, it’s very often that they will lose the efficiencies that you’ve 

actually tried to put into them. 

So we use a system of remote monitoring. Currently we’re monitoring about 25 remote plants around the state. We’re using radio 

technology instead of costly satellite bandwidth, and we use the cell 

phone system that actually the Federal Government had an important part in trying to get established here in rural Alaska. What that allows us to do is for about $15,000 instead of 

$100,000, we can put remote monitoring into rural plants and keep 

track of whether the waste heat is working, whether the temperature of the water is approaching 32 degrees which should set an 

alarm off. So we can do a number of things. 

I believe that the Committee and the Affordable Energy Act is, 

it speaks, or Modernization Act is extremely important. It has a 

number of components that we find interesting. The nexus of the 

energy and water for sustainability, the smart energy and water efficiency pilot programs, these are things that have we’re very interested in. 

The one thing we would want to see is if we could be explicitly 

allowed to be part of that program through the inclusion of Tribal 

Consortium or tribes in eligibility for any of those programs. 

So with that I think I’ve probably exceeded my five minutes. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Black follows:] 
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The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Michael. 

Mr. Steve Gilbert, thank you for being here. 

STATEMENT OF STEVEN GILBERT, MANAGER, PROJECTS DEVELOPMENT AND KEY ACCOUNTS, ALASKA VILLAGE ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE, INC. 

Mr. GILBERT. Thanks, Senator Murkowski, and thank you for the 

opportunity to come and testify. 

I work, as mentioned, at Alaska Village Electric Cooperative and 

I serve as Manager of Projects where I lead a team of dedicated 

professionals who focus on reducing the costs of energy in Alaska. 

And I find that very exciting, very compelling opportunity and in 

my career I guess I just had more fun than anybody should be allowed to have, worked on R-Shield power generation, large scale 

coal and large scale nuclear facilities. 

The last 20 years I’ve actually spent quite a bit of time focusing 

on renewables, currently chair one of the largest wind O and M 

User Groups plus the largest in the United States, obviously 

among the largest in the world of 60 thousand megawatts. So we’ve 

got an Alaskan chairing a very large wind O and M User Group. 

So we extended lessons learned from Alaska to the lower 48 and 

routinely called and asked about well how do you do this, how do 

you do that. 

And so it’s been exciting to be a part of that. So, thank you for 

the opportunity to come and talk a little bit about what we’re doing 

at AVEC. 

We aptly serve 56 rural communities with—the residents of 

whom are among the lowest income families in the United States. 

But we’ve heard that over and over here today, with unfortunately 

some of the highest cost energy. It’s principally diesel fuel. 

We do generate six percent of our total power with wind power. 

We operate more wind turbines than any other company in the 

State of Alaska. We have 34 wind turbines serving—located at 11 

communities and serving 15. 

So the way we do that works is with electric interties. We have 

48 power plants serving those 56 communities. Again, those 

interties give us the ability to then gain what we would otherwise 

cannot have access to and that is economies of scale. 

And when and where ever possible we try to build interties from 

one community to another. We will serve them on two communities, on three communities from a single power plant and then 

convert the other power plants, that have shut down, to stand by 

duty. We save on operating costs and we also enhance efficiency 

through those mechanisms. 

We’re doing that now and we want to do more of that. And so 

the Federal Government and especially has helped us through the 

high energy cost grant programs and the like. 

I was going to mention a couple things. 

Technical support for our company, I mentioned that we have 56 

communities that we serve. Our technical support, i.e., utility engineering, administrative services. There’s billing, that sort of thing. 

That’s where we’re making our buck. It’s a utility after all so we 

send a bill to everybody once a month and hopefully they send us 

a check back. And so that all comes out of our Anchorage office. 
275 

I’m going to put my cheaters on, my $5 cheaters. I thought I 

would tell everybody that I’m a cheap utility engineer and my boss 

likes to remind me that Steve, no, you should say frugal utility engineer. 

The villages that we serve do reflect not only economic poverty 

but energy poverty. And I’ll try to underscore that. Our first witness mentioned this. The national average is somewhere around 

600, 650 kilowatt hours a month. AVEC’s customers are around 

350 to 400 kilowatt hours a month. So people are working diligently to control their costs but their costs are substantial, driven 

principally by diesel when boats are transporting diesel and economies of scale which are difficult for us to access. 

In Alaska, if you think broadly about Alaska there’s roughly 325 

communities, 100 or so of those are rail well communities. And that 

leaves 200 plus as rural communities and those are all supplied 

with stand-alone. This is an important key, important differentiation or stand-alone microgrids. 

I know that DOE along with some of the colleagues that I work 

with, we talk about microgrids, but those are effectively grids within a grid. That definition is an important difference to understand 

that definition because that can sometimes serve as a hindrance to 

funding opportunities because our grids are stand-alone. We don’t 

always have the ability to tie in to other grids. We try to tie communities together but then we’ve created a single grid. It’s not— 

it’s a mountain still. It wouldn’t qualify, I think, as a microgrid 

from a size perspective. 

Again, putting things into perspective for Alaska, state wide, all 

the utilities together generate about 6,300 gigawatt hours of sales. 

That’s about 50 percent of the city of Sacramento. So again, we 

struggle with economies of scale. 

Seventy-seven percent of that energy was sold to the rail well, 

that’s our urban communities. 13 percent to Southeast, Juneau and 

four communities there. And then about 10 percent to rural communities. So where we are today. Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, 

the average is roughly 15.8 cents per kilowatt hour. 

Capital investment, there’s another start differentiation, you 

know, in the utility business. We look at our capital costs, operating costs, and they’re our two big, main categories. So capital 

costs to serve rural communities per customer is about $17,000 per 

village customer. So think about it. Seventeen thousand dollars. 

That’s the infrastructure that happens, power lines, power plants 

and the like. Compare that to the lower 48, where it’s about $2,500 

per kilowatt so it gives you a sense of the hurdle that we face. 

Diesel generation. And so if you want to install a new power, diesel power plant, it’s about $3,000 per kW installed, the kilowatt, installed. And it’s a quick reference that we use in our industry. 

Wind generation, I already said, came out of I’m a big advocate 

of renewables. It’s a flat price power. But wind generates about 

$10,000 per kW installed. 

Compare that to a diesel plant. Diesel plant works you’ve got to 

buy fuel for and your maintenance costs per kilowatt hour are 

higher than they would be for a wind power plant but your upfront capital cost is much, much higher. So it creates a hurdle 

force. 
276 

The way we run our power plants and this is true of all utilities, 

we have the costs or the price of power but people are very interested in reliability. So we back up our wind. In other words, when 

we’re leaning on wind or we’re using a wind power, we’re using a 

diesel power system on, sort of, a stand by effect. We call that spinning reserve. 

Currently we’re basically forced to carry out 100 percent of that 

passage for balancing purposes. There are mechanisms. They’re off 

the shelf. They’re called grid bridging which would give us the ability to use a much smaller engine in parallel with our wind power. 

So that will substantially increase our penetration of wind. 

I mentioned that we have 11 locations where we have wind turbines now. Six percent of our total system is generated by wind. 

But if you go to those villages where we have the wind installed 

that’s where we’re seeing, in some cases, 25 percent of the total 

power for that community generated from wind. We believe we can 

exceed that with things like grid bridging. It’s a concept but it’s 

based on off-the-shelf technology. We put that together. It’s actually being used in other segments of industry, as I mentioned I’m 

a cheap utility engineer so I’m always looking for opportunities 

that already exist. 

So a point I guess we’ve already made but sustainable communities must have jobs and essential services, the underpinning of 

which is low cost energy. 

Federal help needed through the NAV Commission has been a 

fantastic partner with AVEC has been able to partner with and 

serve as a mechanism where Federal policy has a lot to bear to 

help us lower the cost of energy in rural Alaska. I mentioned earlier the high energy cost program. That has actually funded several 

of our interties. And we have one, actually, in process right now 

where I understand the funding for that program is in peril or perhaps already largely detailed but we would advise some consideration to channeling funding through that program again. 

Transmission funding to enhance microgrid, stand-alone 

microgrid efficiency, grants and loan programs to develop renewables and alternatives. We see that as a huge benefit and opportunity for us to lower our costs of energy in rural Alaska. 

And then energy independence. We’ve heard that talked about, 

a little bit, maybe a lot of it. And it has to do with globally-grown, 

if you will, globally-produced energy and that’s what the renewables do for you. And maybe it’s a little higher cost up front, but 

it’s a lower cost over time. And so that’s the direction we would like 

to go. It’s the direction we’d like to transition to. 

So specifically speaking, interties between communities to enhance economies of scale and mechanisms for helping us fund 

those. 

Grid Bridging to increase renewable penetration. 

Thermal storage. Mr. Black alluded to that. That’s where we recover heat from our engines and use that to deliver heat to community facilities. That allows the community to avoid burning fuel in 

their boilers. 

And the wind and heat. This is very exciting. We actually have 

enough of, well four of our existing installations, where we’re actually having to shed the wind. In the wind business we call that cur-
277 

tailment if you actually let the wind go by your place because it’s 

more wind than you can use at that moment in time. 

Well we’ve come up with a way where we can turn on and off 

electric boilers in water plants and it allows these communities to 

avoid thousands of gallons of fuel a year. Some of them are around 

8,000, some of them are over 10,000 gallons a year. So working 

closely with ANTHC we’ve got four of those in place now. There’s 

more opportunities like that. 

Training of personnel. We know we’re going to transition to a 

model which is actually more complicated. So training of personnel, 

I mentioned our participation in the actual O and M Users Group. 

Our subject at the spring meeting is training and what does it take 

to train people. What skill sets do people need? 

And so finally I was going to just mention we are very interested 

and I think you’re going to hear about that from Ms. Holdmann, 

and this is the Alaska Energy Network of Innovation Hub. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Gilbert follows:] 
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The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Steve, we appreciate it. 

Jack He ́bert, with the Cold Climate Housing Center, welcome. 

STATEMENT OF JACK HE ́ BERT, FOUNDER AND CEO, COLD 

CLIMATE HOUSING RESEARCH CENTER 

Mr. HE ́ BERT. Welcome and thank you so much. This is quite an 

honor to be here. And it was, as well, a real wonderful experience 

to share our work in Oscarville with you today. 

I did and have submitted written testimony, and I’m summarizing a bit of it here. But I’ll begin talking about problems in Alaska. I think, from what I’ve heard, you’ve got a pretty good idea of 

our challenges. 

The Cold Climate Housing Research Center is a 501(c)(3). We’re 

16 years old now. We’re on the campus of the University of Alaska 

in the center of the state, but we are state and privately-funded 

and federally-supported. 

We’re not part of the University of Alaska. We are really part of 

all Alaska. We’ve worked everywhere in the state to a great deal 

of success with our partners and our collaborators. And that’s due 

to a real embedded, deep respect for people that live in the regions 

of Alaska and their understanding. 

I’m going to talk a little bit about some of our work because Senator Cantwell was curious about it. 

We, our home, is the farthest north, LEED platinum building in 

the world. It’s 25,000 square feet in Fairbanks. It has over 2,000 

sensors embedded in it. It’s on degrading permafrost so the foundation itself is adjustable. It has advanced mechanical systems. In 

fact, SIEMENS awarded us runner up for the smartest building in 

America for the systems that we put in this building. I would love 

to show it to you. And Senator Murkowski, bless her, comes by and 

sees us a great deal. But it is a fascinating building. 

And our research is very, very broad. Everything from public policy to the housing needs assessment for the state which very clearly shows a great need in rural Alaska, but elsewhere, to improve 

the quality of housing. Ten thousand homes in rural Alaska are on 

the verge of catastrophic structural failure, and these are in communities with no economy. 

Now as a lifelong home builder and involved in that industry, I 

understand what an economy that can be built on housing itself. 

It is essentially, in many communities, the only economic engine 

we have. We have to use local resources, we have to listen to the 

local people, we need to design for that place in an appropriate 

way, and we need to keep the money there. And we’ve had remarkable success with that kind of collaboration which were expanded 

into the holistic approach that you saw in Oscarville. 

By dramatic success I’m talking about reducing the cost of construction of rural housing by 50 percent. The energy use in rural 

housing by 89 percent. And in fact, we have net zero homes that 

we’ve designed and built with partners in the Fairbanks area with 

15,000 heating degree days, a net zero building. 

Our research center, right now, is not using for space heating a 

25,000 square feet, anything but renewables today as we speak. 

And that began two weeks ago at minus 20 Fahrenheit in Fairbanks, just the sun. We have created photovoltaics with ground 
286 

source heat pumps of which we have done in frozen ground, probably the most amount of research on heat pumps in frozen ground 

of anyone in the, certainly for the world and have collaborators everywhere. 

We also have worked with air source heat pumps using the air 

itself to extract heat. 

We’ve done refrigeration studies using cold air in the wintertime 

to refrigerate subsistence foods rather than using electricity. And 

then when the sun comes back, refrigerate with the sun. 

We’ve done countless studies that I would encourage you to go 

on our website and see. And I implore you, really implore you, that 

we need a national lab here in Alaska. We have the talent here in 

Alaska. 

We do find that people, like myself, who are in love with the 

tools and like to build and do things, it’s very frustrating when we 

see others come here with the solutions, when we’re seeing the solutions being applied every day by Alaskans in Alaska. So I really 

would love to discuss that with you. And I really do feel and EPA 

feels that in the center of the state, at the Housing Research Center, is the perfect place for that lab whether it’s part of a lab, your 

nationwide labs or a stand-alone, that it be part of that strength 

and that research strength. 

And we can mentor the other labs and introduce them to what’s 

going on. But many times we feel like, a little bit like the Who. We 

are here. We are here. Horton hears a Who. 

[Laughter.] 

And we’re not shouting loud enough. We’re too busy swinging 

hammers and banging nails and trying to get things done. So 

please remember that. 

I was very encouraged with Secretary Moniz and what is going 

on with the energy bill and what you’re doing with DOE in Alaska. 

We’ve got a lone captain here. He’s got a long beard, but he’s not 

that wise. 

[Laughter.] 

All it’s all of my own stuff. 

And he needs, as part of his team, others helping him and well, 

others need to be rooted to this land. We need Native Alaskans involved in that. We need the voice of rural Alaska as part of DOE’s 

policy. 

And we’ll all win. And we’ll all work together. And this holistic 

approach doesn’t mean we’ve got all the answers. It means we’re 

working on them and we want to work on them with you, with all 

of you in your states. 

I love these Western states. I was a big climber years ago, and 

I climbed in Montana in the Tetons. And I know that you understand the essence of the land. 

And then when you come up here your eyes were like mine when 

I came up here 45 years ago. They were this big around looking 

at the greatness of this land and the greatness of the people. We’re 

a resource to you. Use us, use that talent. 

So those are my written, or not, statements, but thank you so 

much. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. He ́bert follows:] 
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The CHAIRMAN. Jack, thank you. 

I think that you know that every time I have an opportunity to 

bring an out of towner by the Cold Climate Housing facility to 

showcase what you have built and demonstrate what we are putting into practice, we certainly do. So thank you. We really appreciate it. 

Mr. HE ́ BERT. Well I would love to, I actually wouldn’t love to, but 

we’re, if we had the resources and I could go around the world and 

go around the nation, telling everybody about ourselves. God help 

me I’d probably have to do it. But we’re busy trying to get things 

done here. And I appreciate everybody focusing on what we can do. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

Mike Hoffman, good to be in your town. 

STATEMENT OF MICHAEL HOFFMAN, EXECUTIVE VICE 

PRESIDENT, ASSOCIATION OF VILLAGE COUNCIL PRESIDENTS 

Mr. HOFFMAN. Thank you, Senator. 

Before I get started I feel a little guilty, but not too guilty. To 

the panel, I apologize. We strategically maneuvered me to be the 

driver of 6 percent of the Senate today. 

[Laughter.] 

Stopped on the river. And I want to thank you for all the funding 

you promised me. 

[Laughter.] 

Welcome Madam Chair, Secretary Moniz and the members of the 

Committee. 

Thank you very much for inviting AVCP to address you regarding tribal issues and solutions we face related to energy in our region. My name is Mike Hoffman. I’m the Executive Vice President 

for the Association of Village Council Presidents. We are a consortium of 56 tribes. 

My Yup’ik name is Assivigan. I was born here in Bethel and I 

was raised in this region. In a region that we have the lowest per 

capita income, one of the highest rate of unemployment and the 

highest rate of suicide in the nation. 

We live in a region where we don’t have tourism, oil, gas, forestry and our fishing is depleted. But we have a very rich cultural 

way of life where 61 percent of our population still speaks our native language and practices our subsistence way of life and not our 

lifestyle, but our way of life. 

It’s perplexing to us the cost of energy and transportation that 

has risen so dramatically in our region when the price of fuel is decreasing across the nation. You’ve heard it said a number of times 

today, what everyone is paying in America but what we’re paying 

here. 

In our region that’s the size of Oregon but has no roads connecting any of our villages, the price of oil today is less than $30 

a barrel. It costs us over $300 to fly to Hooper Bay which is about 

154 miles to the West of Bethel versus 11 years ago in 2005 when 

the cost of oil was 50 percent more at $58 a barrel and the cost 

to Hooper Bay was $145. 

In ten years the cost of transportation has increased while the 

cost of oil has decreased. Our region would like to know who is reg-
293 

ulating the energy that comes to rural Alaska and how can we honestly justify this. 

This continues to leave our families to make a very tough decision every day in our region. Fuel or food. You’ve heard it a number of times. I’ve seen it first-hand in our villages for families every 

night whether they need to get five gallons of stove oil or food for 

their children in the morning. Our people here cannot improve the 

quality of life without allowing access to the basic needs at affordable costs. Water, health, safety are basic needs that all people in 

villages, not only in Alaska, but across the nation need to need 

help with. As you see today in Oscarville that issue still exists. 

The staff at AVCP work very hard to improve the quality of life 

in this region. Working on reducing energy costs or innovative 

ideas, we’ve been working on long term solutions and short term 

solutions. 

Senator Capito, I know when you asked the question to the Governor on the gas line coming down into the interior how were you 

going to distribute it to the rest of the state? Well, we have an answer here. 

One of our long term solutions our tribes and partners are developing is a freight energy corridor connecting the Yukon and 

Kuskokwim Rivers together at its closest point. These will be two 

lifelines that run through our region. 

We’re preparing our region to be ready for when the State of 

Alaska connects the gas line from the North Slope to the interior 

of Alaska. From there we’ll be able to access the natural gas and 

bring it down river, down the Yukon River to the corridor across 

to the Kuskokwim River. It’s about 40 miles across. The goal is to 

improve commerce, reduce energy and freight costs and position 

the region, this region, for Alaska’s natural gas economy. 

We’ve completed one third of the design and study of this freight 

energy corridor with funds from the State of Alaska, the Denali 

Commission and our tribes. We, and our partners, are inviting the 

Federal Government to join our efforts to complete the design/study 

phase of this project. 

Our short term fix, and as my friend, Jack, here always says, is 

conserving energy. And he does it very well. We’re learning down 

here in our region. 

Our region is partnering with Cold Climate Research to build 

six-star energy rated homes through an integrated trust design. 

Homes that will burn 80 percent less fuel than a conventional 

home. In a region where the price of fuel is well over $6 a gallon 

for the cost, savings could be put toward fuel, food, mortgages or 

other necessities other cities enjoy. 

But what we’re really excited about is the opportunities for economic development. In reopening a sawmill up the river on the 

Kuskokwim where the white spruce grows abundantly, we’ll be 

able to produce one million board feet a year and bring it down the 

river to Bethel. Our staging area will be an old fish pond converted 

into a truss plant located strategically on the river that we’ll build 

the trusses with limited transportation, with limited transportation 

costs. 

We’ve heard all day today, transportation costs here in our region exceed 60 percent. And we’ll be bringing commodities here 
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into our region. The integrated truss plant is an opportunity to reduce, to as low as three percent, the total cost to build a home in 

our region. This is something we’re excited about. The project will 

produce $212 million of economic development and additional sales 

to the region during the first 11 years and at least $27 million per 

year thereafter. 

Secretary Moniz, I’m really thankful for Chris and Givey. We see 

them, I see them, sometimes more than my own family since 

they’ve been in our state, especially Chris. I said to you today that 

you’re in the state all the time, do you ever go to any other states? 

We’re thankful. He is a blessing to our tribes and our state. 

There’s an opportunity for the Federal Government to shine 

through the Department of Energy. Currently their budget has 

only been $15 million a year to work with and seven staff working 

with all 567 tribes in the nation. They need help. 

Through the Office of Energy, Indian Energy, we’d like to see 

even more intertribal technical assistance agencies and funding for 

the development of energy infrastructure and efficiency. We need 

to plan for the future where our homes, facilities and energy infrastructure is robust. And we need to eliminate our need for energy 

subsidies and assistance. 

In our region our definition of energy is more than the price of 

gas at the pump, more than the price of a barrel of oil. When we 

think of energy as we think of food we need to gather to eat so that 

we have the day to day energy to take care of our families. Our 

Yup’ik word, Uqur, which as translated is oil. Seal and whale oil 

for many years was used to provide nourishment for our people, 

light and heat for our homes. 

And with the thoughts and the ideas that we’ve heard today and 

in Oscarville, hopefully we can increase the income, reduce the unemployment and reduce the suicide in a region that wants and 

needs this change. 

Quyana. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Hoffman follows:] 
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The CHAIRMAN. Quyana. Thank you. 

Gwen Holdmann, it is good to have you and your expertise with 

us. 

STATEMENT OF GWEN HOLDMANN, DIRECTOR, ALASKA CENTER FOR ENERGY AND POWER, UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA 

FAIRBANKS 

Ms. HOLDMANN. Good afternoon, Senator Murkowski and members of the Committee. Thank you for giving me a chance to speak. 

And it seems like we’re going a bit late. I guess the lady gets to 

wrap up the panel today. 

So, I’m really glad that so much of the conversation today really 

focused on the kinds of innovation that are happening in Alaska. 

Obviously we have challenges. You’ve seen that and heard about 

that in terms of lack of infrastructure, in terms of the costs of energy here, especially in remote parts of the state, rural parts of the 

state, like here in the Bethel region. 

But I think that this issue about innovation and creativity in 

Alaska and this is something that really stands, you know, back to 

the days of the first Alaskans, kind of, where the spirit of innovation is necessary to survive and thrive in this kind of environment. 

I think that that’s something that carries through to our energy industry today. 

We currently pour into Navigant research here in Alaska about 

12 percent of the world’s hybrid microgrid energy systems. We’re 

considered a global leader in this particular area, and this is something that I’d like to talk a little bit more about because of course 

there’s innovation everywhere. 

Every one of your states has innovative things going on. Senator 

Cantwell, I’ve been very impressed with what Washington State 

has been doing in this area. We really want to expand the partnerships with some of the kind of companies in Washington. Of course 

there’s some fabulous things going on there. 

But for Alaska I gave some examples in my written testimony. 

I think I’ll use a more personal story here. 

Secretary Moniz mentioned that Chena Hot Springs geothermal 

power plant which, I believe, may have received the only R and D 

100 project of worth from a project in the State of Alaska. I was 

actually the lead engineer developing that particular project. And 

I worked in the private sector for a long time developing projects 

like that one. 

And this is the perfect example, just to, kind of, give an example, 

of where Alaska ingenuity and Alaska expertise comes in. We 

worked with the Fortune 500 company, national labs. This was 

funded through the Department of Energy. So we’re very appreciative of that, the Geothermal Technologies Programs and very, 

very good in Alaska and you’ve done a very good job. 

We wanted to put out the Chena geothermal power plant at very 

low temperatures. And so we were able to do that working, again 

like I mentioned, with a Fortune 500 company with very smart 

people. I was the only Alaska onsite person working on this project. 

By the end the day we were able to get that geothermal power 

plant to run, and that was a really wonderful and innovative opportunity for me as a young engineer to be involved in that. 
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But we weren’t able, the people that we were working with that 

were from other parts of the country, never figured out how you 

could economically—in that system and be able to turn off the diesel and run off 100 percent of renewable energy. That’s tricky. 

That’s challenging. 

Secretary Moniz understands that this is not a simple thing. Just 

think, it will turn—renewables doesn’t mean that you can isolate 

your grid and run it off of local energy sources. It’s trickier than 

that. 

And this is, kind of, where Alaska expertise actually comes in. 

We have utilities here in Alaska that are pushing the envelope in 

ways that is really uncommon in the United States. There’s communities that are running, typically, on utilities like AVEC above 

50 percent penetration of wind energy, variable resources like that. 

And if that would make a utility manager in the lower 48 quite 

nervous. You know, people like, I think Dennis Meiners is here in 

the audience and he has been pioneering the Chaninik Wind Group 

here in this region. Strategists are getting to 100 percent diesel off, 

where you turn off the diesel engine, run off 100 percent variable 

resources. 

I go through, you know, managed loads or through batteries. 

These are very innovative things that can help companies like, for 

example, UET and others, to really access a larger market base. 

They’re important strategies for the United States, but they’re important strategies to get Alaska products and non-Alaska products 

and U.S. products with Alaska ingenuity into global energy markets. And that’s really where we see this opportunity to provide 

partnerships. 

And I really did want to mention a couple other parts of the Department of Energy that have really got it right when it comes to 

this partnership between states and local entities and the Federal 

Government. I think Jack alluded to this a little bit. A lot of times 

we feel like, here in Alaska, we’re saying hey, we actually know 

something where we don’t always need you to come in and solve 

our problems. Sometimes we have some solutions for ourselves and 

now also, actually, narrowing that might actually be helpful to 

other regions. 

And I think that the chief programs that I wanted to highlight 

today is first of all, Senator Barrasso, you mentioned DOE—score. 

I couldn’t say more about what this program has meant for the 

University of Alaska in terms of building a center of expertise in 

this particular area. There’s nothing more valuable for us than 

that. We don’t have a current award. That’s been the most important Department of Energy funding we’ve ever gotten, and it’s 

small amounts of money that make a humongous difference. So I’d 

really like to highlight that. 

And then I’d like to also mention the Office of Electricity which 

didn’t directly come up today. But for example, Dan Tons, one of 

the program managers there. He has listened to what Alaska has 

asked for and he’s actually partnering with the State of Alaska and 

the Alaska Energy Authority putting money into our emerging energy technology fund. 

Now it’s only $250,000. We could use quite a lot more, Federal 

partnership and that. But this is what we want to see. They don’t 
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want to see that the Federal Government is developing new programs for Alaska. We want to see how we can leverage these existing programs we already have because we actually do have a pretty 

good idea on how to solve a lot of our issues here in Alaska. The 

question is just we need a hand up, not necessarily just somebody 

else to come up with other ideas. 

I think another, small example is also with the Office of Electricity working with the Clean Energy State’s Alliance partnering 

with states to figure out what kinds of projects and what kind of 

partnerships we can do and then pulling in the national labs where 

we need their expertise because they have a real role to play. But 

Alaskans are kind of defining what their needs are and the states 

are defining that. So I really appreciate what the Office of Electricity is doing in that regard and we’re lucky that they have it 

right in that way. 

RACEE, I’ll just give like a very tiny example. I fully agree that 

energy efficiency is a really important first step. But as Steve Gilbert mentioned earlier, our communities are very conservative 

when it comes to electric energy use. And a lot of times I think I 

would love to see these communities double for energy use because 

that meant that there was an industry and some businesses going 

on because these energy prices are just crippling our ability to have 

meaningful business and industry. If they doubled their energy use 

I think that’d be a great thing if that meant a fish processor came 

in or something was happening there. 

So I think—we need to be looking at displacing diesel fuel not 

reducing our energy use. If everybody leaves the community they’ll 

cut their energy use. But is that really the goal? That’s not what 

we’re trying to accomplish. 

I think, really, thinking about how we want to define our program goals is pretty important in that respect. 

So I think what I did want to mention, in particular, is that I 

put a lot of thoughts in a proactive person into what we could actually do to develop a new kind of partnership with the Department 

of Energy and with the Federal Government that’s taking advantage of Alaska’s expertise. 

And we, together with utilities representing 88 communities in 

this state, the mayors of our largest municipalities of Anchorage 

and Fairbanks and also smaller communities, tribal entities, native 

corporations, we’ve all signed this request or this partnership opportunity for Alaska to entertain the nation hubs, the Governor 

mentioned this earlier, as a way that we can really be taking advantage of what Alaska has to offer to create national partnerships 

around some of these opportunities. And particularly for our communities to serve as living laboratories for the rest of this country 

in terms of testing innovative technologies and innovative strategies around what we envision as that energy system of the future. 

So that’s something that I’ll be sharing with Secretary Moniz. 

I do think that the timing right now is very critical because, it’s 

been mentioned before, we obviously have budget challenges in the 

State of Alaska. Almost all the innovation that’s been done in Alaska so far, that renewable energy fund, emerging energy technologies. These are state programs. A lot of this has been statefunded. 
301 

And we need to continue the momentum. And the state needs to 

take a little bit of a step back right now. It would be a wonderful 

opportunity for the Federal Government to step forward and, kind 

of, continue the momentum in what we’re doing here in the State 

of Alaska. 

One other small example, as I mentioned and we’ve heard before, 

that Alaska is, kind of, considered a global leader in these areas. 

Well we recently have formed a program that the U.S. is leading 

under the Arctic Council. It’s called Arctic Renewable Energy Networks Academy. It’s a training program for people that are interested in developing renewable energy systems on small, isolated 

communities in the Arctic. 

This particular project was proposed by Alaskans. It was actually 

part of a bill that Representative Herron and Senator McGuire 

sponsored to the U.S. through the Alaska legislature. And this program has co-leads in Iceland, in Canada. It has Finland on board 

as a co-lead and several permanent participants of the Arctic Council. 

And all of them are putting in resources to sponsor this program 

which will be here in Alaska and we’re planning on coming here 

to Bethel, to this region, to highlight Alaska, what Alaska is doing 

in this particular space. And the only organization that’s a sponsor 

to this program that’s not funding it right now is the U.S. Government, the lead organization. And this is one program that’s been 

put forward by the U.S. Government under the sustainable development working group and there’s no funding. The State of Alaska 

has put funding in, but not the lead sponsor. 

So these are the kinds of examples of where we look for what the 

states need but what we’re putting forward and find partnerships 

in that area. 

So thank you very much. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Holdmann follows:] 
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The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Gwen, and thank you to all of you. 

I think we noticed that some people are leaving, and it is because 

Alaska Airlines is leaving. Some of our witnesses, Mr. Andersen, 

had to leave and some others will as well. 

So we have about 15 minutes which is not near enough time to 

query you all after this good presentation. I am going to start with 

a lightning round because we have had an opportunity to expose 

these five Senators and Secretary Moniz to a little glimpse of what 

is out here in the region with Oscarville and kind of this holistic 

concept that Jack led some of the discussion on when we were at 

the school. 

I am going to keep bringing more colleagues to Alaska to see how 

we are pioneering and innovating, not only to help Alaska but to 

help other parts around the country and the globe. 

If you get one project, one community, one initiative that you 

want to have a group of Congressional members to see, what would 

it be? 

I know that Ralph would suggest that we need to go out to 

Igiugig and we need to see the turbine that is in the river there 

which is phenomenal what they are doing with that community. 

Mike, where would you have us go? 

Mr. BLACK. Kivalina. 

The CHAIRMAN. Where? 

Mr. BLACK. Kivalina. 

The CHAIRMAN. Kivalina. 

Mr. BLACK. To look at our new—we were working with Cold Climate on a new in-house system that can actually be moved with 

the home for sanitation purposes and rain water catch mitt. But 

I would suggest that everyone could benefit from looking and seeing how well that’s accepted, but also what kind of public benefit 

from a health standpoint could be derived. 

The CHAIRMAN. It is pretty cool. 

Steve, where can we take people? 

Mr. GILBERT. Well there’s a lot of opportunities. 

The CHAIRMAN. No, you only get one. 

[Laughter.] 

And quickly. 

Mr. GILBERT. Well I would love to showcase our wind to heat and 

demonstrate how we’d like to do more of that. 

The CHAIRMAN. Wind to heat. 

Jack? 

Mr. HE ́ BERT. North Arctic for the moving of Noatak by the people. Great people making a difference finding their village in place. 

The CHAIRMAN. What a sight. 

Mike? 

Mr. HOFFMAN. The fact that you’re here is already helping me. 

Noatak would—but I would like to bring them out to see what 

we’re doing with the freight energy corridor. 

The CHAIRMAN. Gwen? 

Ms. HOLDMANN. I think I’d have to pick Kodiak Island where 

they’ve been able to get to 100 percent renewables year round 

using a combination of wind, hydro, batteries and flywheels. 
307 

The CHAIRMAN. I had an opportunity to go to Kwig and we were, 

well it was a day, it was the first day that we were entirely off of 

diesel and everyone was loving the fact that it was so quiet. 

Colleagues, questions? 

Secretary, do you want to lead off? 

Senator CANTWELL. You do not usually get to ask them the questions—— 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Cantwell? 

Senator CANTWELL. Well thank you, Madam Chair. 

I really applaud this panel because I think this is the future of 

Alaska. The solutions that you are talking about, the empowerment 

of people within the communities, the jobs for the future, the solutions that you are providing and on top of some circumstances. 

So I almost feel like it is unfortunate that it is now 6:30 and that 

we could not have had this earlier so that people could have made 

sure that this was part of the story that was being told today. Because as I think the Senator just said, these are examples that we 

could come back on many, many different trips and see the level 

of innovation that is happening here and then strategize more 

about the solutions. 

Mr. He ́bert. your numbers are just shocking when you talk about 

the amount of energy that can be reduced from businesses being 

50 percent. You want to talk about cost? That is some of my analysis of notes was something that, when we were talking about 40 

or 50 percent of your business cost being energy and you could reduce that by 50 percent. 

You are talking about making people more and more competitive 

but the number on homes being 80 to 90 percent is just, we are 

talking about people’s quality of life. 

Mr. Hoffman, you mentioned 10,000 homes as having immediate 

impact. 

So these are things that can be done now and I don’t know that 

we should be thinking about, as our last witness said, how we can 

help you now in coordination of this effort and move forward on it. 

So I guess the question I would have is, Ms. Holdmann, you mentioned ways in which we could work together. When it comes to 

DOE’s current grid program, are there ways that we can make that 

apply a little better here in Alaska because it is—— 

Ms. HOLDMANN. Yes. 

Senator CANTWELL. Problematic for using the resources. 

Ms. HOLDMANN. Absolutely. I think that this is something that 

Mr. Gilbert touched on earlier. 

This is sort of an issue where right now this is something that 

probably that the Senate Energy and Resources Committee can 

look at. The definition of microgrids technically excludes all of 

Alaska communities, okay? Because it says that a grid must be 

able to connect and disconnect from a larger grid, and we don’t do 

that. So just dropping that second sentence out of the definition 

would make a really big difference because partially it’s a disenfranchisement/franchising kind of issue, not just for Alaska but 

for the Pacific Islands and the developing world. 

But secondly, it does, kind of, provide some limitations on what 

kind of funding we had access to because we have to sit around and 

wait until there’s funding opportunities for the remote or island 
308 

systems. And we view the kinds of things that we’re doing here in 

Alaska is completely applicable to what’s going on in terms of modernizing our electric grid in the United States. We don’t want to 

be a unique case, okay? We want to see how what we’re doing and 

making leverage to modernize the grid nationally. And that’s really 

something that we’d like to help follow up. 

We ask all of you for help in getting people to understand that 

we’re not just this little sub set. But what we’re doing is wholly relevant to the rest of the country, and how can we, kind of, bring 

that together. 

Senator CANTWELL. Thank you for that explanation. I think that 

is so important because obviously you are—on microgrids and just 

because of the nature you are not connecting to one. So it doesn’t 

mean that you are not having applicable information and demonstration. 

Ms. HOLDMANN. No, right. 

Senator CANTWELL. Mr. He ́bert, I am a big fan of this regional 

clean energy partnership, the commitment that we have made. You 

mentioned having a national lab partnership here. 

If we had the regional investments, what would you do? What 

kind of partnership? What will you focus on? 

Mr. HE ́ BERT. Well I think the kind, sorry. 

Pick one, you know, if we’re talking about energy efficient envelopes and their behavior in cold climates and the dynamics of vapor 

drive related to that rather than initiate a study in Colorado to investigate that or come up here to try to find out. 

Just get a hold of us and see what we’re doing or if you have a 

question or the national labs have a question related to the operation of photovoltaics. That was good example today. We have studied photovoltaics in the far north, and we have data on how they 

perform. That will blow your socks off how efficient they are, and 

we’ve already done that. 

Now I hear that a national lab is also doing that study in cold 

climates on photovoltaics. So what I’m saying is know we’re here. 

If we could set a formal relationship so that we are your go to people here, we are a great bang for the buck. 

Senator CANTWELL. Well I am a very big fan of the regions playing the regional role because they are experts and they have to deploy. So rural hybrid states—plus percent hydro, so we want to diversify as well, not that we don’t love two to four cent kilowatt 

power, but we know that we are going to be impacted by climate. 

You talk about no snow pack, that is going to affect us. 

We want to diversify too. We are moving probably faster on 

intermittent power and storage, and you are going to move faster 

on these cold climate issues, what you know is relevant. 

So I think empowering the regions from a strategic research perspective is very important because we are at the stage of innovation. While the innovation is there, it is about the applications. It 

is about implementation that is going to help us find the answers 

to what is really applicable. So I hope that we can move forward 

on. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. I think I saw Senator Daines and Senator King 

who wanted to ask a question. 

Senator Daines? 
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Senator DAINES. One question. 

It was probably for Mr. Andersen, his tests on hydropower, but 

I will throw it out to the great panel here. Thank you for the love 

and passion, the competence displayed here in this room. 

By the way, one of the advantages or successes of this energy bill 

that we are going to pass in the Senate here soon is the fact that 

it actually officially classifies hydropower as a renewable resource. 

Only in Washington, DC would hydro not be classified as renewable. So, kind of, Sesame Street in front of the guy and it will be 

classified as renewable in the energy bill. So that is good news. 

But we source about 30 percent of our electrical supply from 

hydro. Senator Cantwell is about 70 percent in Washington. Any 

thoughts around small hydro developments of the potential here in 

Alaska and barriers to accomplishing such? 

Mr. GILBERT. I could address that if you like, Senator. 

We actually are pursuing a small hydro, 750 kW. It would supply 

a community out on the island of Kodiak. We actually served one 

community on the southern tip of the island of Kodiak, and we’ve 

been working on that for quite a few years. 

The whole licensing process for small hydro is just like that of 

a large hydro and it creates an enormous hurdle. You really have 

to set back and take a good look at what are the potential environmental impacts of the small hydro and ask yourself why do you 

have to go through the same hoops, so to speak, they would have 

to go through for a multi-megawatt, 10,000 megawatt, hydro. 

It’s just not the same potential impact, and yet we’ve spent well 

over a million dollars studying to get it to where we could apply 

for our FERC license for 750 kilowatt hydro. It’s still, we see it as 

a substantial benefit for the communities, flat-priced power, the 

price of water doesn’t change over time. But that NEPA/FERC 

process, if you will, isn’t going—it’s a small hydro. 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator King? 

Senator KING. Just a quick question. 

Mike Hoffman, the corridor you talked about for natural gas is 

that a pipeline or that compressed natural gas? How do you move 

the gas? 

Mr. HOFFMAN. Right now with the study it’s a—we’re looking at 

a crate line. 

Senator KING. So it would be a pipeline corridor. It would be a 

spur off the thing. 

Mr. HOFFMAN. Well when we, we’re looking at a corridor. When 

we say corridor there are three aspects to it. The reason we use 

corridor was because of Secretary LaHood when he was transportation he was pushing freight and energy corridors through the 

United States. So we used that. But what it is is a road, transmission lines and the pipelines. 

Senator KING. Mr. Gilbert, we can talk all fine about this but I 

was surprised at your figures on wind. I used to be in the wind development business, and we would develop a major project at about 

$2,500 a kilowatt. 

I guess you are talking about small scale, sort of, home size? Because I can’t—you said $10,000. That seemed awfully high to me. 
310 

Mr. GILBERT. These are typically 100 kW wind turbines that, you 

know, where the key issue, of course, is transportation and the 

size—— 

Senator KING. Transportation of the equipment itself? 

Mr. GILBERT. Of the device itself, the system itself. We have to 

bring a crane in to erect it, the turbine. There’s an example right 

here in Bethel. It’s 100 Kw turbine. And so we have 30 of that 

same model turbine distributed through 11 different communities. 

The cost of putting those in, putting foundations in. If you had a 

chance, I wish you could go look at the foundation on that turbine. 

It’s set on—— 

Senator KING. Because of the permafrost subsoil. 

Mr. GILBERT. Right. So the piling foundations and then we had 

to put thermal siphons next to those pilings in order to ensure the 

permafrost doesn’t develop—— 

Senator KING. Special challenges in transportation and construction. 

Mr. GILBERT. Correct. 

Senator KING. Mr. He ́bert is that He ́bear? 

Mr. HE ́ BERT. Well it’s like a He ́bear, pronounced teddy bear. 

Senator KING. In Maine it is also pronounced teddy bear. 

I think you answered this question. Photovoltaics will work in 

Alaska, yes or no? 

Mr. HE ́ BERT. Very well. 

Senator KING. Okay. 

So, as the price comes down dramatically, that is going to become 

more economic. 

Mr. HE ́ BERT. And solar hydronic as well works very well. 

Senator KING. So storage becomes a big issue? 

Mr. HE ́ BERT. Storage is the issue. 

Senator KING. Finally I shamelessly promote a small company in 

Maine that fits exactly with what all of you are doing called Tyba 

Energy that makes super sophisticated electronic. But the electronics that connect, for example, solar or wind to a battery or to 

the grid. It is the secret sauce for connecting these kinds of developments that, I think, you all would find very interesting or could 

you hand those out? I have got some material. I think it would be 

very interesting to you because—— 

[Laughter.] 

Hey, I am from Maine. I also have L.L. Bean boots on if you were 

going to ask. 

[Laughter.] 

Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Mr. BLACK. Senator King, if I could add to some of the old storage areas, the storage issue. That’s one thing that we’ve been able 

to use the water tank that’s often found at these villages that are 

called fill and draw systems where once a year you make enough 

water to be used by the entire village for that year. Adding a few 

BTUs to that water tank is a great battery, if you will, for solar 

as well as wind. So that’s been one of our answers. 

Senator KING. I think that is the big, one of the biggest things. 

I know Secretary Moniz is working on this storage that will unlock 

enormous potential of solar and wind once we can deal with the 

intermittency. 
311 

Mr. HE ́ BERT. We think we can get through the heating load when 

we don’t have the sun next year with the thermal storage tank that 

we’ve got. We just want to get it up to just under boiling. 

But we’re working with another company that’s looking at phase 

change materials. And they are actually, and Gwen may know 

more about this than I do, but they have a hydronic system that 

uses phase change material that they can heat up to about a thousand degrees. For an efficient building we need, even in our heating degree, minus 50 design temperature, we can heat the building 

with 90-degree water. So that’s a huge cup of tea. 

Now we can heat our 25,000-gallon tank, it’s a buried railroad 

tanker, super insulated. We can heat it to about 200 degrees. And 

we think we’ll be able to squeak by with that for thermal storage 

in mid-winter. 

Senator KING. I love the idea of a buried railroad tanker. That 

is Alaska ingenuity. [Laughter.] 

Mr. HE ́ BERT. Bernie Karl gave it to us. [Laughter.] 

The CHAIRMAN. Any further questions from colleagues? 

Secretary Moniz, did you have anything that you would ask the 

panel? 

Secretary MONIZ. Got it. 

I think I might ask questions. There is a lot to think about and 

talk about and I did have some suggestions for, opportunities for 

DOE to invest in. 

But I want to go back, actually, to just reinforce that again, our 

interactions here in Alaska have been, I think, terrific. We see the 

innovation and this, we are committed to adding some more staff 

here. And that’s going to be an opportunity for tripling of the opportunities for immediate discussion here in Alaska. 

And we’d like to keep it two ways that again, because I agree 

with what’s been said. I said it earlier that it’s a lot of innovation 

that we can work from for our country, but also as we face the 

global challenges around energy and environment and security— 

these can be quite welcome. So we’re all in. 

The CHAIRMAN. Well thank you all. I think if we were given a 

little bit more time perhaps the rest of the evening we could cover 

you with questions all over the board. But I think what you have 

shared with us is that even given challenges that we have heard 

about all day long, that we have seen in our walkabout over in 

Oscarville and here in Bethel, even with the challenges, Alaskans 

are pioneering in ways that are capturing the attention of others 

and rightly so. 

We do need to be working on that, and you can use us as that 

resource. I think what you have established today is that clearly 

the expertise is available, the innovation is available and the willingness to share it with others is available as well. 

With that, we will conclude the hearing, again, with my thanks 

to colleagues who have come from the farthest ends of the country 

to be here in Bethel, Alaska to see and learn and understand. 

Thank you for your willingness to be here. Thank you for your willingness to listen to us and not only our concerns, but what we have 

to contribute to the rest of the nation. 

And with that, we stand adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 6:49 p.m. the hearing was adjourned.] 
(312) 

APPENDIX MATERIAL SUBMITTED 
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Æ