DOT Secretary Buttigieg On 3-Day Visit to Alaska
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- Created on Monday, 14 August 2023 16:01
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By Lex Treinen
Chilkat Valley News
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg will visit Haines Wednesday as part of a three-day trip to Alaska to promote President Joe Biden’s infrastructure spending.
A release from DOT said the tour began in Kotzebue today, and continues Tuesday in Anchorage. On Wednesday, Buttigieg, along with U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, will begin the visit to Haines listening to concerns from Alaska Seaplanes. They next will tour the Haines community and stop at the Lutak Dock, which was awarded a $20 million grant to rebuild. After the tour, Buttigieg and Murkowski will meet with community and tribal leaders.
The stop is expected to last just a few hours. From Haines, Murkowski and Buttigieg will take a state ferry to Skagway and hear concerns about the Alaska Marine Highway System en route. In Skagway, they will tour ferry infrastructure and meet with community and tribal leaders.
“They will be here several hours in the morning on Wednesday and then on to Skagway,” Haines Borough manager Annette Kreitzer said.
According to an earlier release from the Department of Transportation, Buttigieg’s tour is to learn “about transportation needs in rural and tribal areas,” as well as to promote the Biden administration’s infrastructure spending.
“The tour will highlight projects made possible by the Biden-Harris administration’s investments in American infrastructure while allowing the secretary to experience first-hand all of the modes of transportation and types of infrastructure that power remote American communities,” reads the release.
As of May, the Biden administration says, it has committed $2.5 billion in infrastructure projects to Alaska, spread out over 885 projects. They include $286 million for the Alaska Marine Highway System, nearly $300,000 for a climate resiliency plan in Klukwan, $20 million for the Lutak Dock replacement, and $1 million for airport upgrades.
Buttigieg is a former presidential candidate who ran against Biden in the 2020 election.
Thanks to the generosity and expertise of the the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska broadband department, Tidal Network ; Christopher Cropley, director of Tidal Network; and Luke Johnson, Tidal Network technician, SitkaSentinel.com is again being updated. Tidal Network has been working tirelessly to install Starlink satellite equipment for city and other critical institutions, including the Sentinel, following the sudden breakage of GCI's fiberoptic cable on August 29, which left most of Sitka without internet or phone connections. CCTHITA's public-spirited response to the emergency is inspiring.
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