Political Quotes

“I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 441, the Kantishna Hills Renewable Energy Act, would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to issue permits for a microhydro project within a nonwilderness area of Denali National Park. Additionally, it will facilitate a small land exchange between the National Park Service and Doyon, Ltd., which owns and operates the facilities that will take advantage of the proposed microhydro project. Finally, at the request of the National Park Service, this bill will allow the Park Service to permit similar projects that exist or may exist in the future. Roughly only six acres of land would be affected. Doyon is one of 13 Alaska Native Regional Corporations formed under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Currently, the facilities at Kantishna, which are located at the end of a 90-mile park road, operate exclusively off diesel fuel. Not being connected to any grid system, the roadhouse must produce all its energy onsite. This means trucking thousands of gallons of diesel fuel over the long and treacherous park road. Energy created by this microhydro project could cut the roadhouse's diesel usage in half and drastically reduce the need of these trips. Down the road at the new Eielson Visitor Center, the National Park Service operates a similar microhydro project to great success, and the Kantishna Roadhouse seeks to take advantage of similar technology that could help rid their reliance on costly diesel fuel.…”