Rural Alaskan Communities Are Becoming Empowered

摘要

Isolated communities in southeast Alaska's rugged, fjord-punctuated panhandle have moved a step closer to being plugged into a regional electricity grid with the completion of the first of eight electricity transmission projects last month. But costly missing links may still take years to complete. Moving at a glacial pace, the $341-million program was first envisioned 20 years ago and is scheduled to be completed after 2030. About 20 communities will be connected over the next 20 to 30 years, under plans prepared in 2003 by D. Hittle & Associates Inc., Ken-newick, Wash., for The Southeast Conference, Juneau, the region's economic development association.