Homer Electric wins state OK for undersea fiber across Kachemak Bay

Fifty-one years ago, Homer Electric Association laid a power cable across the floor of Kachemak Bay so that Seldovia, Port Graham, and Nanwalek — communities on the roadless south side — could keep the lights on. This week, the state made that same underwater corridor a permanent piece of Alaska's internet backbone.

The Department of Natural Resources approved Homer Electric's request to convert its private fiber optic easement across the bay into an indefinite public utility easement. The fiber line runs between the Homer Spit and McKeon Flats, following the route the co-op first established with its 1975 subsea power cable, replaced in 2001. The old corridor turned out to be exactly where the new infrastructure needed to go.

The segment is part of the Nome to Homer Express Middle Mile Network, a 700-mile chain of subsea and terrestrial fiber designed to carry broadband to coastal and Western Alaska — the "middle mile" that hauls data between regional hubs so local providers can deliver it the last stretch to homes. The crossing sits inside the Kachemak Bay Critical Habitat Area, where infrastructure is allowed subject to state review, and DNR processed the conversion under a 2020 policy that treats high-speed internet providers as public utilities.

The decision becomes final 20 days after its June 10 issuance unless appealed to the DNR commissioner.