newsminer.com

Wanting to hear first-hand from Bush Alaska, members of the House Energy Committee are planning to fly to far-flung areas.

Co-chair Rep. Charisse Millett, R-Anchorage, said the committee will meet with residents in Kotzebue on Feb. 7 and in Nome on Feb. 8 to hear what people faced with some of the highest energy costs in the state want from a statewide energy plan.

Alaska Energy Authority director Steve Haagenson detailed a report last week before House and Senate committees that many thought was to be a statewide energy plan. Haagenson acknowledged his document was really a starting point, or a first step, toward such a plan.

Gov. Sarah Palin, in her State of the State address to the Legislature Jan. 22, referred to the document as "our unprecedented energy plan."

Both the House Energy and Senate Resources committees are taking on the task of developing a plan to lay out the state's policy for renewable, alternative and regular energy development. Millett said the House committee is communicating with the Senate group, and they hope to work together on a plan.

Later this month the House committee plans to travel to Bethel and to Dillingham, home of committee co-chair Rep. Bryce Edgmon, a Democrat.

The Alaska Energy Authority's report, Alaska Energy: A First Step Toward Energy Independence, can be downloaded at www.akenergyauthority.org