Alaska's biggest utility may start importing the gas its own region once exported

For decades, Cook Inlet shipped liquefied natural gas to the world from the docks at Nikiski. Now the region's largest electric utility is preparing to bring LNG back the other way. Chugach Electric Association — which powers nearly 89,000 member-owners across Anchorage and the northern Kenai Peninsula, about 80% of it on natural gas — is running short of local supply, and CEO Arthur Miller told members Thursday the utility will import if it has to. "Not having gas available in 2028, 2029 is not an option for Chugach," he said.

The cliff is close and concrete. The Hilcorp contract that covers 40% of Chugach's gas expires in early 2028. The rest comes from the Beluga River Unit, which Chugach partly owns and which is headed for the end of its economic life by 2035. The only reason the deadline isn't already here is Beluga itself: strong production has pushed the crunch to early 2029 and saved members more than $149 million in fuel costs since 2016.

Miller said he'd rather burn Alaska gas. "We support in-state gas development," he said. "But if no in-state supply options exist or are available, then we will pursue importing liquefied natural gas."

For now, the utility is buying time. Through banking arrangements with Marathon and Hilcorp, it has roughly 75% of a year's worth of gas already stored or set aside, and it's scouting additional storage on the west side of Cook Inlet. The longer game is to lean less on gas at all — more hydro, wind and solar — but that's a years-long build, not a 2029 fix, which is why locking down fuel comes first.

The clock is the story: a gas-rich region that once sold its surplus abroad, now racing to secure enough to keep its own lights on.