The city of Unalaska council will meet tonight to consider forfeiting a $1 million federal grant for developing Makushin Volcano. They’d transfer the money to the city of Akutan for a geothermal project there.
Unalaska received the funding back in 2009. At the time, city manager Chris Hladick said he would try to attract interest from private geothermal companies, and negotiate rights with the land and fluid owners. But in a memo to council this week, Hladick wrote that those negotiations have ”stalled.” And the cost of developing Makushin has only increased -- to more than $300 million, according to Hladick. He’s encouraging council to approve an agreement with the DOE to give up the grant, and redeposit their matching funds into the city’s general coffer.
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