Congressional delegation nets funding for Alaska projects
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, steered $500 million to Alaska in special funding for 130 proj- ects in the year-end 2022 federal om- nibus spending bill. The special appropriations for Alaska were heavy on construction for ports and harbors and basic infra- structure like water and wastewater projects. The bill also approved 12 feder- al agency appropriation bills overall, including for the Department of De- fense, which is important for Alaska. The defense bill itself included a 4.6 percent pay raise for military person- nel; improvements to veterans’ ben- efits and additional Alaska programs developed in the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA. Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan, the state’s other U.S. Senator, played a key role in the NDAA as a member of the Senate Armed Services Commit - tee. Mary Peltola, Alaska’s new con- gresswoman, is also important in this as she must get what the Senate pass - es through the U.S. House. Among defense items, Anchorage will receive $63 million to build an aircraft maintenance hangar and $5.2 million to remove PFAS contaminated soil at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richard - son. Fairbanks will get $99 million to build a physical fitness center annex at Fort Wainwright. Basic infrastructure projects in - cluded $25.6 million to expand the harbor at Unalaska, an important fisheries port in the Aleutians, and $7 million for a new bridge across Gastineau Channel in Juneau, provid- ing a second crossing of the channel to Douglas, a residential area. There was also $5 million funded to support additional work at the Port of Alaska in Anchorage, where a major recon- struction is underway. In Homer, on the Kenai Peninsula, $300,000 went to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct the feasibili- ty study for the proposed large vessel harbor expansion in the community’s harbor. On St. George, in the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea $2.5 million
Photo Courtesy Port of Alaska
The Port of Alaska in Anchorage is among a host of Alaska key infrastructure components that received a part of $500 million in Federal grants.
went to the U.S. Army Corps of En - gineers for the federal share for Pre- liminary Engineering and Design and Construction of the St. George Harbor. In water and wastewater, Anchor- age received $13 million to expand its wastewater system and another $4.5 million was approved for water and waste systems in the Eagle River/ Chugiak area of north Anchorage. In the Mat-Su region, Murkowski’s des - ignated appropriations included $6.9 million for the city of Palmer’s waste- water treatment plant, which will al- low the city to complete the project. In Wasilla, the state’s fastest growing community, three water/ wastewater projects will increase dai- ly capacity to meet growing demands. Elsewhere, Valdez received $5 mil - lion for its water and waste system; Kenai received $2.9 million; Chi- gnik received $5.3 million for water/ wastewater; Yakutat $5.1 million; St. George, in the Pribilofs, $3 million; Seward $2 million; Ketchikan $1.7 million; Nome $1.6 million, and the
North Slope Borough $1.2 million for water and wastewater systems in sev- eral of its communities. The city of Dillingham received $5 million for shoreline protection for the City’s sewage facility. In Chignik, $5.3 million went to the Alaska Na- tive Tribal Health Consortium for safe drinking water. Designated funds also includ- ed $1.5 million to the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative to study the fea- sibility of deploying marine energy in rural Alaska. In Ambler: $650,000 to the City of Ambler to expand the vil- lage’s current fuel storage capacity to be able to store enough fuel supply without having to rely on costly air deliveries in winter months. Four million dollars also went to the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., the state corporation working on a proposed North Slope natural gas project, for continued development work on the big gas project and a pos- sible ammonia and hydrogen export project.
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The Alaska Miner
Winter 2023
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