- Details
- By Jenna Kunze
On Monday, Alaska’s largest Native organization and several other groups sued state Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration over its move to drain a pool of money that subsidizes high rural energy prices for roughly 84,000 Alaskans in 194 communities.
The so-called Power Cost Equalization Endowment Fund was created in 2000 “to equalize power cost per kilowatt-hour (kWh) statewide at a cost close or equal to the mean of the cost per kWh in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau,” according to the Treasury Department.
Want more Native News? Get the free daily newsletter today.
The rural communities it serves are largely diesel fuel reliant.
The major plaintiff in the suit, the Alaska Federation of Natives, is the largest statewide Native organization. AFN’s membership includes 168 federally recognized tribes, 166 village corporations, eight regional corporations and 12 regional nonprofit and tribal consortiums.
The nonprofit organization, along with more than a dozen electric cooperatives and rural communities, argue that Gov. Dunleavy’s administration violated the Alaska Constitution when it swept more than $1 billion from the Power Cost Equalization (PCE) Endowment Fund into the Constitutional Budget Reserve, a state savings account.
The sweep happened in 2019 during a legislative budget impasse, and has meant that the PCE has not been funding for the current fiscal year—beginning July 1. In past administrations, the suit notes, governors have not subjected the PCE to their annual budget sweet.
Gov. Dunleavy’s administration was the first to include the PCE in the sweep, or budgetary mechanism where budget funds available for appropriation in the general fund at the end of a fiscal year are used to repay prior appropriates from the state savings account.
Moving PCE funds requires a three-quarters vote of each chamber in the Alaska Legislature, a threshold that has not yet been met.
The Legislature and the governor have previously approved a $32 million appropriation to the PCE fund this year, but Dunleavy has swept those funds.
“By taking this position, the Governor has constructively, but unlawfully, vetoed this year’s FY2022 rural energy subsidies, and beneficiaries of the PCE program are expecting to see their utility rates immediately and drastically go up,” the lawsuit reads.
In a statement issued Monday after the lawsuit was filed in Anchorage Superior Court, Gov. Dunleavy said that, in order to fulfill their duties, executive and legislative branches both need clarity from the court on whether or not the PCE is lawfully subject to a sweep.
“I have authorized my administration to pursue an expedited judgement on the future of the Power Cost Equalization Endowment Fund,” Dunleavy said in his statement. “This issue is too important to delay any further. A decision by the court will help clarify what is in the General Fund and what is not to determine what gets swept into the Constitutional Budget Reserve to repay it.”
More Stories Like This
Tribal Homes in Minnesotta Get $1.4M for Clean ElectricityWomen's History Month: Sarah Winnemucca (Northern Paiute)
Chikasha Ihoo (Chickasaw Women) Empowerment Series Returns March 26
Native News Weekly (March 17, 2024): D.C. Briefs
Assistant Secretary Newland Touts President Biden's Commitment to Indian Country
Native Perspective. Native Voices. Native News.
We launched Native News Online because the mainstream media often overlooks news that is important is Native people. We believe that everyone in Indian Country deserves equal access to news and commentary pertaining to them, their relatives and their communities. That's why the story you’ve just finished was free — and we want to keep it that way, for all readers. We hope you'll consider making a donation to support our efforts so that we can continue publishing more stories that make a difference to Native people, whether they live on or off the reservation. Your donation will help us keep producing quality journalism and elevating Indigenous voices. Any contribution of any amount — big or small — gives us a better, stronger future and allows us to remain a force for change. Donate to Native News Online today and support independent Indigenous-centered journalism. Thank you.