Eva Creek Wind Farm Permitting Phase Blows Through

The Division of Mining, Land and Water (DMLW) released four separate land-use permits associated with the Eva Creek Wind Farm, proposed for ridges east of Ferry. Of the Eva Creek permits applied for by Golden Valley Electric Association (GVEA), two are associated with road use and development (over approximately 16 miles), one covers material sites and extraction (eight material sites to extract 309,730 cubic yards of gravel), and a fourth covers the land use required for the turbines themselves and associated infrastructure development (including 42,869 acres). In addition to structures planned for state land, a rail siding yard and warm storage building are planned for private land at the base of Ferry Rd.

A fifth land use permit, applied for by Brice, Inc., would grant up to fifteen acres for a construction staging site “adjacent to the Ferry Road, approximately one and one-half miles east of the Alaska Railroad.”

Potential adjustments were specified in the GVEA land use permit, including: “changes in tower configuration, reduction or addition in how many towers are erected, individual lease footprints vs. a large lease area, considering roads and powerlines within the lease as part of the lease or Rights-of-Way, not issuing the lease, type of lease, and term of lease.”   The Department of Fish and Game requested there be no construction traffic on the road during the September hunting season.  DMLW responded that they would not be able to guarantee no traffic, but they would require GVEA to submit a Traffic Safety Plan. These permits are for state lands only, and GVEA will work separately with adjacent property owners for any access to private lands.

DMLW Documents:

Eva_Creek_Public_Notice announcing comment period

Eva_Creek_Project_Map_7-15-2011

Permits:

• ADL #419221: Application for public easement for Alaska Department of Transportation (for realignment and work along eight miles of the existing Ferry Rd); 100 foot wide easement.
• ADL #419216: Application for public easement for GVEA (for construction of an additional eight miles of access road connecting to the site); 60 foot wide easement.
• ADL #418853: Proposed Site Lease to GVEA (land use permit for turbine sites and pads for associated infrastructure); 42,869 acres.
• ADL #419234: Proposed material sale to GVEA (to develop and extend Ferry Rd, and create gravel pads for turbines and associated infrastructure); 309,730 cubic yards of gravel from eight identified material sites.

While there has been little criticism of the Eva Creek project at local meetings, potential competitors have been complaining loudly to state media.  Mike Craft, Delta Wind Farm owner, has been vocal in his opposition, and more recently CIRI Corporation, Fire Island Wind Farm developer, has voiced that it would have wanted an opportunity for competitive bidding on the project.  Read the coverage in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and Alaska Dispatch.