Wow! Those fuel and electric prices just keep going up. There are a lot of smart people working on ideas to help out all around the state. The Alaska Energy Authority has been carrying out a series of town hall meetings at 25 communities around Alaska to hear what local regions know about their own energy resources, and what they want or do not want in terms of developing those resources.   The Denali Commission and other state and federal agencies have been participating in those meetings as much as we can, so we can hear what is on people 's minds.

The Commission was notified at the end of April that we will receive $10 million this year for our legacy bulk fuel and power upgrade projects in extremely high energy cost communities (exceeding 275% of average costs in rest of the US). This is down from previous years' funding from USDA Rural Utility Service (RUS) but again represents a significant portion of our energy funding.  RUS' continuing support been integral to the energy program: over one quarter of all energy funding has come through RUS over the life of the Commission.

For the 2008 federal fiscal year, our legacy energy program was allocated about $23 million, while up to $9 mi1lion was allocated to alternative and renewable energy. Denali Commission and Alaska Energy Authority will soon be announcing the results of the FY07 alternative energy proposals, along with energy cost reduction proposals - stay tuned for that announcement. We have also started looking out to a new joint Request for Proposals (RFP) with the Alaska Energy Authority for FY08 alternative energy projects.

It is a volatile and exciting year in the energy business. Don 't forget to save the date for the next Rural Energy Conference, planned for September 16th through 18th in Girdwood this year.