This article demonstrates just how incompetent Alaska remains.  There is no such thing as cheap coal- when the external costs of coal are factored, coal is the most expensive form of energy.  

Coal causes cancer.  Coal contains lots of heavy metals- lead, mercury, uranium- as well as the radioactive isotopes of uranium and even plutonium.  When those metals are spread in the atmosphere it makes people sick- and contaminates the food we eat- especially fish.  Most fish has so much mercury it is dangerous for pregnant women to consume it.

If Alaska had not wasted billions and billions on corporate welfare we'd have small gas lines/fields providing dirty places like Fairbanks with clean affordable energy.