An Alask'm fishing town and local electric co-op count on fuel that falls from the sky to secure their energy future. On a rainy July day in Cordova, Alaska, it's easy to understand why folks in this out-of-the-way seaport view water-bundant, accessible, renewable—as a keystone on which to build. Gray, heavy clouds hang low over the coast, trailing in misty wisps around steep slopes of the Chugach Mountains just blocks from the small but busy downtown. Fog and vapor congeal into a soupy drizzle that eventually setdes onto the streets. Cars and pedestrians splash through puddles draining down to the harbor where salmon boats rock at dockside or cut through blue-green waves of the Orca Inlet past seals and sea otters, seagulls, and bald eagles, toward the Gulf of Alaska and the pitching Pacific Ocean beyond.
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