United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
vvEPA
State Incentives for Achieving Clean and Renewable
Energy Development on Contaminated Lands
Alaska
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The development of clean and renewable energy on formerly used land offers many economic and environmental benefits. Combining clean and renewable energy and
contaminated land cleanup incentives can allow investors and communities to create economically viable clean and renewable energy redevelopment projects. This
document provides information about incentives in your state that can be leveraged for clean and renewable energy and development of contaminated land.
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Incentives for Clean and Renewable Energy
Funding (grants, loans, bonds, etc.)
Power Project Loan Fund
www.akenergyauthority.org/programsloan.html
Provides loans to local utilities, local governments, regional and village
corporations, village councils, nonprofit marketing cooperatives, and
independent power producers. Designed for the development or upgrade
of small-scale power production facilities, conservation facilities, and bulk
fuel storage facilities. This includes energy production, transmission and
distribution, and waste energy conservation facilities that depend on fossil
fuel, wind power, tidal, geothermal, biomass, hydroelectric, solar, or other
non-nuclear energy sources. Interest rates vary between tax-exempt rates
at the high end and zero at the low end.
Southeast Alaska RLF
www.jedc.org/forms/RLFApplication.pdf
Offers loans on an amount-requested basis to help businesses cover
financing gaps. The Southeast Alaska RLF is offered through the Juneau
Economic Development Council (JEDC). The JEDC operates several
community-based loan funds and one region-wide loan program that
serves smaller communities throughout Southeast Alaska. The program's
total loan capital is about $4 million, with approximately half that amount
designated for projects in Juneau. Funding is geared toward "viable
projects that create and retain quality jobs and help to diversify local
economies in Southeast Alaska."
Renewable Energy Grant Program
www. aidea. org/aea/RE_Fund. html
Provides funding assistance, in the form of competitive grants, for studies
and work related to the design and construction of renewable energy
facilities. Eligible renewable energy technologies include solar, wind,
hydroelectric, geothermal, hydrothermal, selected types of biomass,
biogas, wave, tidal, waste heat utilization, landfill gas, river in-stream
power, hydropower, selected types of hydrogen fuel cells, and selected
natural gas projects. All projects must be in Alaska. Grant amounts are
determined on a case-by-case basis; $100 million was appropriated for this
program in FY 2009.
Technical Assistance and Other Incentives
Alaska Energy Authority - Anemometer Loan Program
www.akenergyauthority.org/programwindlanemometerloan.html
Supplies meteorological towers, data logging equipment, and technical
support to utilities and communities interested in wind power production.
Wind resource potential is quantified by collecting wind speed and direction
data, as well as temperature for air density calculations. These data allow
for more precise modeling and feasibility studies, and are often required by
potential project funding sources.
Quick Facts
Public Benefit Fund (PBF)
Renewable Portfolio Standard
Net Metering
Interconnection Standards
Yes D No 0
Yes D No 0
Yes D No 0
Yes D No 0
Electric Power Industry Generation by
Primary Energy Source (EIA, 2006)
Petroleum-Fired 11.5% Nuclear
Natural Gas-Fired 60.8% Hydroelectric 18.3%
Coal-Fired 9.2% Other Renewables 0.1%
Points of Contact
Power Project Loan Fund
Bruce Chertkow, bchertkow@aidea.org, (907) 771-3037
Southeast Alaska RLF
Juneau Economic Development Council, Southeast Alaska RLF Director,
Margaret O'Neal, (907) 523-2326
Renewable Energy Grant Program
Butch White, re_fund@aidea.org, (907) 771-3048
Alaska Energy Authority - Anemometer Loan Program
James Jensen, jjensen@aidea.org, (907) 771-3043
Information current as of November 2008; please refer to www.dsireusa.org and the state Web sites
provided, or contact the points of contact identified above for more up to date information.
Alaska Incentives for Clean and Renewable Energy - Page '
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Incentives for Development of Contaminated Land
Funding (grants, loans, bonds, etc.)
Alaska Brownfields Program
www.dec.state.ak.us/spar/csp/brownfields.htm#assess
Conducts environmental site assessments at potential brownfield sites.
The AK Brownfields Program was established under the Alaska
Department of Environmental Conservation's (DEC) Contaminated Sites
Program. Awarded through an application process, these assessments are
intended to help reduce the environmental uncertainties that may hinder
the reuse or redevelopment of brownfields.
Alaska Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program
www.commerce.state.ak.us/dca/grt/blockgrants.htm
Provides single-purpose project grants, at a maximum of $850,000 per
community, awarded to Alaskan communities for public facilities and
planning activities that address issues detrimental to the health and safety
of local residents and reduce the costs of essential community services.
There are three basic grant funding categories: community development,
planning, and special economic development. Funding is utilized based on
applicant need—including uses such as energy facility upgrades (to
improve efficiency) and site cleanup.
Limitations on Liability
Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)
Contaminated Sites Program - Cleanup Complete and Cleanup
Complete with Institutional Controls Determinations
http://dec.alaska.gov/spar/csp/index.htm
Provides a "cleanup complete" determination by the DEC for sites where
risk-based land or groundwater use restrictions or conditions are
unnecessary. A "cleanup complete" determination with institutional controls
is issued for sites if residual contamination remains at levels that require
land or groundwater use restrictions or conditions to prevent exposure.
Streamlined Cleanup Program - Closure Letter
http://dec.alaska.gov/spar/csp/scp.htm
Allows owners to clean up contaminated sites with an emphasis on self-
reporting and reduced government oversight. Following cleanup, the
property owner submits a final report to the Alaska DEC that documents
cleanup activities and demonstrates (through confirmation samples) that
cleanup levels have been met. Once this report is approved, DEC will issue
a site closure letter.
Alaska Brownfields Program - Prospective Purchaser
Agreements (PPAs)
www.dec.state.ak.us/spar/csp/reuse.htm#6
Defines the purchaser's liability for existing contamination through these
agreements with the future property owners. These PPAs do not provide
liability protection from the federal government; rather the protection
provided is a promise from the state not to return to the purchaser for
environmental cleanup for any contamination that existed at the time the
property was purchased, provided that the purchaser fulfills all obligations
under the PPA. Applicants must work with the Alaska Attorney General's
Office as part of the PPA process.
Quick Facts
Limitations on Liability Yes 0 No D
Number of State-Tracked Contaminated Properties: 6,556
Includes all contaminated sites and Leaking Underground Storage Tanks
(LUSTs), both open and closed in remedial status, within the DEC's database
Number of EPA CERCLIS Sites: 83
Sites identified for potential investigation under the federal Superfund Program
Number of EPA Brownfields Properties: 24
Properties being funded or addressed under the EPA Brownfields Program
There may be some overlap among the categories listed and sites listed may not
represent all potentially contaminated sites in Alaska.
Points of Contact
Alaska DEC
Alaska Brownfields Program
John Carnahan, John.Carnahan@alaska.gov, (907) 451-2166
Alaska CDBG Program
Jill Davis, Jill.Davis@alaska.gov, (907) 451-2717
Contaminated Sites Program
Steve Bainbridge, Steve.Bainbridge@alaska.gov, (907) 451-2143
Streamlined Cleanup Program, PPAs
Jim Frechione, Jim.Frechione@alaska.gov (907) 451-5175
Information current as of November 2008; please refer to
www.epa.gov/brownfields/pubs/st_res_prog_report.htm and the state Web sites provided,
or contact the points of contact identified above for more up to date information.
Alaska Incentives for Development of Contaminated Land - Page 2
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