Listicle: The Murkowski earmarks proposed for Alaska

The Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee recently published the majority’s proposal for the Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) appropriations bills.

As a senior member of the Committee and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski included $491 million in earmarks to support more than 130 projects throughout Alaska. She prioritized investments in workforce development, housing, healthcare, water and wastewater infrastructure, community safety, fisheries research, wildfire mitigation and response, working waterfronts, and Alaska’s military members and their families.

“Alaskans have asked me for help in addressing their community priorities, and in my position on the Appropriations Committee, I successfully advocated for them. I’m proud to have included in these draft bills such a significant investment that will be spread across our state. 

“Alaskans have asked for my help in addressing workforce shortages, food insecurity, and lack of housing. To support Anchorage’s police force, the Alaska State Troopers, and the readiness of our military. To enable the expansion of the port in Dutch Harbor, a significant study of the proposed Alaska Gasline, and the construction of new backcountry trails. And I was able to include funding for each of those priorities.

“In addition, I’ve worked with local leaders to include funding to mitigate the threat of wildfires, remediate contaminated ANCSA lands, and provide safe and clean drinking and wastewater systems. Multiple projects will reduce the cost and increase accessibility to healthcare and childcare. And I continue to prioritize some of the most vulnerable, yet resilient, Alaskans by funding projects for victims of domestic violence, to house those experiencing homelessness, and to support the Alaska Native Justice Center.  

“It is important to remember that this is just one step in the year-long appropriations process. The Committee leadership must still come together to agree on the process for moving all 12 Appropriations bills, so that we can continue our essential work to fund the federal government for the next fiscal year.”

The “congressionally directed spending process” (earmarks) restores Alaskans’ ability to have a voice in federal budget decisions by helping to identify and address needs in the state, she said. Without this process, many of these dollars would flow to other states based on decisions made at federal departments and agencies.

The list of proposed earmarks that Sen. Murkowski included for Alaska for Fiscal Year 2023 is below. 

Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies

·         Aniak: $221,000 to TKC Fish Wheel, to construct the Arviiq Regional Economic Development and Training Center.

·         Bethel: $10 million to expand the main training building on the Yuut Elitnaurviat Campus to provide a permanent home for the Kuskokwim Learning Academy.

·         Kenai: $4.7 million to construct a new Kenai Boys and Girls Club clubhouse.

·         Kenai: $1 million to the Alaska Children’s Institute for rebuilding a community theater in Kenai.

·         Kotzebue: $825,000 to the University of Alaska Fairbanks for renovations and safety improvements to the Chukchi Campus in Kotzebue.

·         Nome: $2.3 million to the Norton Sound Health Corporation for construction on a childcare facility.

·         Utqiaġvik: $5 million to Ilisaġvik College to advance and complete the design phase of a new college campus.

·         Wasilla: $17,000 to Family Promise Mat-Su for childcare facility improvements.

Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies

·         Anchorage: $2 million for replacement of police vehicles.

·         Anchorage: $500,000 to the University of Alaska Anchorage to implement a forensic training program for healthcare providers and advocates. 

·         Anchorage: $250,000 for law enforcement technology and equipment, specifically for the Anchorage Police Department to replace and upgrade cameras.

·         Anchorage: $1.7 million for law enforcement technology and equipment, specifically for the Anchorage Police Department to replace radios. 

·         Bering Sea: $2.75 million for the Bering Sea Fisheries Research Foundation to monitor commercial fisheries in the Bering Sea.

·         Fairbanks/Statewide: $1 million to the University of Alaska Fairbanks to support research on seasonal weather forecasting.

·         Fairbanks/Statewide: $1.75 million to the University of Alaska Fairbanks to conduct baseline marine fishery surveys.

·         St. Paul/Statewide: $250,000 to the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island for surveillance monitoring of fisheries and ecosystems.

·         Statewide: $3 million Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault to support victim service organizations.

·         Statewide: $4 million to the Alaska Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault to support advocacy organizations and services for victims of violent crime.

·         Statewide: $1 million to the Alaska Police and Fire Chaplains to support counseling and emotional support programs for victims of crime and law enforcement officers.

·         Utqiaġvik: $2.7 million to the North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management for marine mammal and co-management research on the North Slope.

·         Yukon River Drainage: $825,000 to the Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association to support research, surveys, and community engagement.

Energy and Water Development

·         Statewide: $5 million to the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation to assist in conducting the necessary analysis for a Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) study of a liquid natural gas pipeline in Alaska.

·         Ambler: $650,000 to the City of Ambler to expand the City’s current fuel storage capacity to be able to adequately store enough fuel supply for the community’s stove oil and gasoline needs without having to rely on costly air deliveries in winter months,

·         False Pass: $1.25 million for procurement, assembly, and installation of a hydrokinetic power system for the City of False Pass. A hydrokinetic power system will provide alternative renewable energy option to the increasingly high-cost of diesel generation to the residents in the False Pass. 

·         Homer: $300,000 to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct the feasibility study for the proposed large vessel harbor expansion in Homer.

·         St. George: $2.5 million to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Alaska District to support priority funding for the federal share for Preliminary Engineering and Design and Construction of St. George Harbor.

·         Unalaska: $5 million to the City of Unalaska for reliability and efficiency upgrades for Unalaska’s electrical distribution system.

·         Unalaska Channels: $25.6 million to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to expand Dutch Harbor.

Financial Services and General Government

·         Anchorage: $6 million to the Alaska Community Foundation to support the preservation, processing, and digitization of records of Alaskan leaders.

·         Statewide: $1 million to the University of Alaska Anchorage to expand UAA’s business development services to rural and young entrepreneurs in Alaska.

Homeland Security

·         Anchorage: $500,000 to the Municipality of Anchorage to replace the roof of the Anchorage Emergency Operations Center. 

·         Dillingham: $5 million to the City of Dillingham for shoreline protection for the City’s sewage facility.

·         Ouzinkie: $2 million to the Native Village of Ouzinkie to mitigate potential disaster threat implications from major tsunami events through the construction of an Emergency Response Shelter and Equipment Staging Complex

Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies

• Anchorage: $13 million to the Municipality of Anchorage for the safe disposal of wastewater in Anchorage.
• Anchorage: $4 million to implement the Municipality of Anchorage’s Community Wildfire Protection Plan.
• Chickaloon: $250,000 for the Chickaloon Native Village for a community well.
• Chignik: $5.3 million to the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium for safe drinking water in Chignik.
• Chugach National Forest: $2.3 million to construct and improve recreational trails and access on the Iditarod National Historic Trail.
• Craig: $760,000 for upgrades to Craig’s wastewater treatment plant.
• Denali: $2.2 million for design and construction of pedestrian pathways along the Parks Highway corridor in the Denali Borough. 
• Eagle River: $4.5 million to the Municipality of Anchorage for the safe disposal of wastewater in Eagle River.
• Girdwood: $1.6 million to replace the Ruane Road culvert in Girdwood.
• Girdwood: $2.5 million for a sewer access project, for the safe disposal of wastewater in Girdwood.
• Juneau: $2.5 million to the City and Borough of Juneau to design and construct a commercial-scale composting facility to serve Juneau residents and businesses.
• Kenai: $875,000 to the Alaska Electric & Energy Cooperative, Inc. for the installation of a combined heat and power project at the Kenai Peninsula Borough’s Central Peninsula Landfill.
• Kenai: $2.9 million for the safe disposal of wastewater in Kenai.
• Kenai: $1.5 million to implement the Kenai Peninsula Borough Community Wildfire Protection Plan.
• Ketchikan: $1.7 million to the Ketchikan Gateway Borough for wastewater treatment plant upgrades.
• Kivalina: $8 million to the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium to construct a new Kivalina landfill that meets state regulatory standards.
• Kodiak: $1 million to the Island Trails Network for removal, recycling and recovery of debris from the Alaska marine environment.
• Kotzebue: $140,000 to build cyanotoxin analysis capacity at the Native Village of Kotzebue.
• Nome: $1.6 million for safe drinking water distribution and wastewater collection.
• North Slope: $1.2 million for a wastewater replacement project.
• North Slope: $2.5 million for the Northern Route of the North Slope Borough Community Winter Access Trails pilot program, which provides for the creation of temporary winter trail access between communities where year-round connecting roads do not exist.
• Palmer: $6.9 million for wastewater treatment system upgrades.
• Petersburg: $1.6 million for water treatment plant upgrades. 
• St. Paul: $3 million to improve solid waste disposal facilities.
• Seldovia: $746,000 for a sewer line replacement.
• Seldovia: $414,000 for safe drinking water.
• Seward: $2 million for the safe disposal of wastewater.
• Soldotna: $680,000 for a wastewater treatment plant.
• Soldotna: $320,000 to improve wastewater effluent before discharge to the Kenai River.
• Soldotna: $960,000 for upgrades to upgrade equipment used to dewater treated solids at the Soldotna Wastewater Treatment Plant.
• St. George: $3 million to replace the 50-year-old water distribution and wastewater collection infrastructure.
• Statewide: $2 million for salmon monitoring in the Yukon and Kuskokwim River watersheds.
• Statewide: $500,000 to the Tanana Chiefs Conference to address the large data gap regarding salmon populations on the Yukon River.
• Statewide: $880,000 for implementation of the Intertribal Federal Subsistence Cooperative Management Program at the Kuskokwim River Watershed.
• Statewide: $1.2 million for ecological monitoring in the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers.
• Statewide: $1.5 million for the Denali Commission to develop regional solid waste management plans.
• Statewide: $1 million for to complete a National Scenic Trail feasibility study to connect Seward and Fairbanks.
• Statewide: $3 million for the Alaska Native Justice Center for Alaska tribal public safety empowerment activities. 
• Statewide: $7 million to support the State of Alaska in conducting an inventory and verification of contaminated sites conveyed to Alaska Natives under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.
• Statewide: $300,000 for the University of Alaska Anchorage to study the need and economic feasibility of constructing and operating a hazardous waste processing facility and landfill in the State of Alaska.
• Statewide: $250,000 to the Alaska Native Village Corporation Association to build further tribal capacity for the inventory and verification of ANCSA contaminated lands. 
• Statewide: $250,000 to the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium to build further tribal capacity for the inventory and verification of ANCSA contaminated lands.
• Valdez: $5 million for the safe disposal of wastewater in Valdez.
• Wasilla: $5.7 million for improvements to wastewater treatment facilities. 
• Whittier: $1.2 million for well field upgrades.
• Yakutat: $5.1 million for a water line extension project.

Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies 

·         Anchorage: $2.25 million to the University of Alaska to renovate UA’s facilities for nursing education, telehealth training, and inter-professional education programs.

·         Anchorage: $290,000 for Providence Alaska to establish and launch the Alaska Psychiatry Residency Program.

·         Anchorage: $1.2 million to update and improve the Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center.

·         Anchorage: $5 million to Southcentral Foundation towards construction of the Fireweed Specialty Dental Clinic.

·         Anchorage: $500,000 to the Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center to establish a new Dental Assistant Training Apprenticeship.

·         Anchorage: $2 million for a Southcentral Foundation Workforce Development Program, to provide resources and support to students training as nurses, certified medical assistants, dental health aid therapists, and as behavioral health providers. 

·         Anchorage: $400,000 to the Alaska Center for FASD to connect individuals with FASD to services.

·         Anchorage: $750,000 for construction of a Crisis Stabilization Center at Providence Alaska Medical Center.

·         Akiak: $500,000 to the Rural Alaska Community Action Program to recruit and train local community members to become early educators and certified teachers.

·         Bethel: $100,000 to purchase a portable X-Ray and other medical equipment for the Bethel Family Clinic in Bethel.

·         Bethel: $600,000 to the Bethel Family Services Community Health Center to provide well child exams to children in 55 locations throughout YK Delta.

·         Healy: $2.5 million to construct a health center in Healy.

·         Homer: $633,000 to the Seldovia Village Tribe to expand the Homer Health Center.

·         Juneau: $870,000 to renovate and expand the JAHMI Health & Wellness specialty behavioral health facility.

·         Juneau: $750,000 to establish and operate a commercial driver’s license education training program at the University of Alaska Southeast.

·         Ketchikan: $600,000 for facilities and equipment at the Peacehealth Ketchikan Medical Center.

·         Kodiak: $7.9 million to expand the Kodiak Community Health Center.

·         Naknek: $3 million to renovate and expand the Camai Community Health Center.

·         Seward: $5 million to expand the Seward Community Health Center.

·         Statewide: $2.5 million to expand the Alaska Primary Care Association’s community health worker program into rural areas.

·         Statewide: $350,000 to expand the University of Washington’s Alaska Pediatric Residency Track, to increase opportunities for pediatric residents to train in Alaska

·         Statewide: $350,000 to the Boys & Girls Club of Southcentral Alaska to provide behavioral health support to children and youth.

·         Statewide: $2 million to Covenant House Alaska to strengthen Alaska’s workforce and provide pathways to permanent housing.

·         Statewide: $230,000 to Rural Alaska Community Action Program to identify, train, and support a cohort of interested youth peer mentors.

·         Statewide: $950,000 for Bree’s Law Inc. to address and prevent teen dating violence.

·         Unalaska: $500,000 to Iliuliuk Family & Health Services to purchase a CT scanner and fund associated facility and site work to provide expanded health services at the clinic in Alaska.

·         Upper Susitna River Valley (Talkeetna): $2 million for purchase a complete mobile medical unit to provide medical treatment across the Upper Susitna River Valley..

·         Willow: $1 million to expand the Sunshine Clinic in Willow.

Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies

·         Anchorage: $63 million to build an aircraft maintenance hangar at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

·         Anchorage: $5.2 million to remove PFAS contaminated soil on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

·         Fairbanks: $99 million to build a physical fitness center annex at Fort Wainwright.

Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development, and Related Agencies

·         Ambler: $1.5 million to construct a new firehall and search and rescue facility.

·         Anchorage: $5 million to the Port of Alaska to make site improvements.

·         Anchorage: $7.5 million to Providence Community Foundation to provide permanent supportive housing for those experiencing homelessness in Anchorage.

·         Anchorage: $1.6 million to Rural Alaska Community Action Program to address the Anchorage homelessness issue through improving and expanding permanent supportive housing facilities.

·         Juneau: $7 million to build a bridge over the Gastineau Channel between Douglas and Juneau.

·         Fairbanks: $2.5 million to the North Star Council on Aging to expand the Fairbanks Senior Center.

·         Fairbanks: $6.9 million to acquire and expand a facility to provide a permanent location for Presbyterian Hospitality House.

·         Homer: $750,000 to acquire and construct a facility to support South Peninsula Haven House in building a new financial empowerment facility.

·         Juneau: $5 million to provide a building to house multiple nonprofits which serve children and families.

·         Klawock: $500,000 to build a RISE Campus which will include domestic shelter units and outbuildings to support cultural activities.

·         McCarthy: $200,000 to build a fire hall for the Kennicott-McCarthy Volunteer Fire Department.

·         Nome: $2 million to rehabilitate the Bering Sea Women’s shelter.

·         Nome: $5 million to the Norton Sound Health Corporation to construct patient housing and affordable housing for low-income employees.

·         Rural Alaska: $3 million for the acquisition of facilities, including housing, necessary to establish Alaska State Trooper posts in rural locations.

·         Seldovia: $22,000 for a road resurfacing project.

·         Sitka: $1 million to provide basic housing for chronically homeless Sitka residents.

·         Teller: $5.1 million to the Bering Straits Regional Housing Authority to move homes out of the flood zone and construct affordable housing at safe locations.

·         Wainwright: $1.2 million to Tagiugmiullu Nunamiullu Housing Authority to remodel and convert former National Guard Armory buildings into a modern, energy efficient, tribal childcare facility and multi-use community building.

·         Wasilla: $7 million to Set Free Alaska to build a therapeutic campus consisting of recovery residence facilities.