Alaska-Washington Connection 2011: Alaska grapples with rural energy puzzle

Resource-rich state joins federal government, private sector in seeking ways to reduce costs, ease burden on small communities

Rose Ragsdale

For Alaska-Washington Connection

Alaska has enormous quantities of untapped or under-utilized energy resources, including some of the highest concentrations of fossil and renewable energy resources on earth. In addition to vast oil and natural gas resources, primarily located on the North Slope and in Cook Inlet, the state has proven coal reserves that rank as the fourth-largest fossil energy resource in the world. Nature also bestowed significant undeveloped geothermal resources in the volcanic art of the Aleutian Islands, abundant untapped hydropower, wind, and biomass resources, and the majority of the tidal and wave power potential in the United States.

Yet rural

Source: Petroleum News