HEA Candidate Questions: Jim Levine

Voting in Homer Electric Association’s election began on March 31. Electronic and mail ballots must be received by 5 p.m. on May 3; members can also vote in person at the HEA Annual Meeting on May 4 at 6 p.m. at Soldotna High School. More information and access to electronic ballots can be found on the HEA Election page.

Here are the answers from Eugene A. (Jim) Levine, one of two candidates running in District Three, which encompasses parts of Kasilof and areas to the south, including Homer. Levine is an engineer and works as a project manager for Jay-Brant General Contractors. He has served on the HEA Board from 2009-14, and 2016 to the present. He has also been a board member at KBBI Radio and served on the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens Advisory Council. His full candidate profile can be found here.

Jim Levine from his HEA candidate profile.

1. Why do you want to be an HEA board member? 

I am currently a director and having lived in Homer for almost 30 yrs I feel it is important to give back to my community.  My background in engineering and construction positions me well for understanding the intricacies of the electrical cooperative.  I also have many years of board experience with the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens Advisory Council in the 1990’s, KBBI Public Radio in the 2000’s and several different stints on the HEA Board since 2009. 

2. Are there any particular policies you would champion as a member of the Board? Are there any current or proposed policies you would oppose? 

 I am proud to have been part of creating and chairing the renewable energy committee at HEA, increasing our hydroelectric capacity, and bringing on the new battery energy storage system, which can handle variable solar and wind power and saves members money as our backup power source.  I analyze the budget thoroughly every year to ensure we are getting the best deal possible while maintaining the reliability of the system.

I would like to see HEA move away from fossil fuels and would oppose expanding the facility in Soldotna to add another generator.  This is not currently on the table but if it were to come up I would not be in favor.

3. What are the biggest challenges HEA will face in the next five to ten years? What can be done to prepare to meet them?

 Natural gas from Cook Inlet has powered the Peninsula since the 1960’s. The state forecasts demand exceeding supply as early as 2027. Hilcorp has told the electric utilities not to count on them for future long-term gas contracts. HEA’s current contract expires next year. With the cost of natural gas going up and the availability going down I feel it is imperative that we diversify our generation portfolio with alternative energy generation so we can minimize future rate increases to our members.

4. In 2022 HEA’s Board spent 38% of their regular public board meetings in Executive Session. While Executive Sessions are sometimes necessary, their extensive use excludes member-owners from significant discussions of issues such as strategic planning and sources of power generation. Do you believe that cooperative boards have an obligation to their member-owners to maximize the openness and transparency of their decision making? Should HEA’s Board minimize its use of Executive Session? What could be done to achieve this goal?

 I do not know where the 38% figure comes from but it seems high.  A typical day of HEA meetings is usually about 6 hrs and maybe an hour of that is spent in executive session, which is about half the amount mentioned.  I do agree with the basic premise of the question that Executive sessions should be minimized to allow public participation and transparency.  However, most of the companies that we have to deal with regarding natural gas and other forms electric appurtenances will not even talk to us in open sessions and sopme of them do not even allow us to say that we are talking to them.  I have objected to some executive sessions and have also made it so presentations are conducted in open session up to the point where proprietary items are discussed. 

5. Hilcorp has said that it cannot guarantee natural gas supplies from Cook Inlet beyond its current contracts (HEA’s contract with Hilcorp ends in 2024). What strategies should HEA use to address potential future shortfalls in Cook Inlet natural gas?

 This question was answered in question 3, as this is the biggest challenge facing HEA and the strategy I recommend is diversifying our generation supply by utilizing renewable energy sources as much as possible.  It is not possible to eliminate our use of gas in the near term, but it is certainly possible to minimize our use of gas.

6. In recent years many have argued that there needs to be greater collaboration among the Railbelt utilities, leading to the creation of the Railbelt Reliability Council (RRC) in 2022. Do you believe that utility Board Directors have a role in fostering greater collaboration and integration among Railbelt utilities, or should they defer to staff on these questions? What can board members do to facilitate greater cooperation?

 We as a board have discussed cooperation with the other boards and generally do meet with other board members during conferences and meetings.  It is always good to know what is happening at other utilities and understand their issues and concerns.  I think there is some misconception that the utilities do not work together because we actually do work together on a lot of things and the staff level has almost continual communication regarding items such as generation assets available at any given time and the cost of those assets.  In my professional work I often travel to Kodiak and have a very good working relationship with the manager at that utility. 

7. The Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) proposal introduced last year by Governor Dunleavy was recently reintroduced in the Alaska Legislature (HB 121 and SB 101). This bill would require utilities to reach 80% renewable power generation by 2040 with intermediate targets along the way. Last year the Railbelt utilities supported amendments that pushed back the milestones and changed the RPS into Clean Energy Standards (CES) that included nuclear power and gas generation technologies (waste heat recovery) that the utilities already have in place. Do you support either the RPS or CES? If so, which do you believe would better serve Alaskans? What role should the Board have in advocacy for either?

 I believe that reducing our use of fossil fuels is critical in regards to both our financial health and the health of the planet and all the beings that live on it.  Either RPS or CES is a step in the right direction to reduce our use of fossil fuels.  You mentioned waste heat recovery that the utilities have in place already.  However, HEA did not have that in place prior to 2014, and it does reduce the amount of gas used because for the same amount of gas burned we get more power generated.  It still uses gas, and it would be good to ultimately not use gas, but in the interim it is better to use it as efficiently as possible.

8. How do you think HEA can best take advantage of the many federal infrastructure incentives and grants created under programs such as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)?

 HEA will be applying grants from these federal programs to investigate power generation from alternative sources that we do not currently use such as wind, solar, hydrokinetics, landfill gas, and geothermal. In addition to the federal grants, HEA has received grant funds from the state of Alaska for some of these items.