The Mental Health Trust granted Chugach an easement without saying what it charged

Chugach Electric Association can run a line across about three-quarters of an acre of Alaska Mental Health Trust land at Community Park Loop, part of a project to bury the overhead distribution lines along Bragaw Street. The Trust Land Office says the work will add capacity and improve reliability for thousands of customers in northeast Anchorage.

What the Trust gets for the land is not in the decision. It describes the easement terms as competitive market rate and names no figure. The Land Office manages roughly a million acres to earn money for Trust beneficiaries — Alaskans living with mental illness, developmental disabilities, substance use disorders, dementia and traumatic brain injuries — and its trustees signed off on this disposal in May 2025.

Chugach gives up two older holdings in the trade: a 20-foot easement it has held since 1953 and a 40-by-61-foot municipal airspace easement from 1985. It pays for the relocation itself.

The Land Office did not seek competing offers, reasoning that no one else could build, move or operate these particular lines, so the chance of a qualified rival bid was negligible.

The decision became final June 30 after the comment period closed a week earlier with nothing filed. Only people who commented can ask the Land Office to reconsider, and that request costs $500 and dies automatically if the executive director doesn't act within 20 days. The same commenting requirement gates an appeal to Superior Court. Because no one wrote in, no one qualifies to challenge it.

Chugach can start building now under a temporary construction license. The easement itself does not issue until the Land Office accepts a survey of what actually gets built, which will also fix the final acreage.