By Sentinel Staff
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski hailed Thursday’s passage of the fiscal year 2019 federal appropriations bill in a statement today, saying it addresses a range of challenges, needs, and opportunities in Alaska that she championed as chairman of the Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee.
Provisions of the funding measure that passed through that subcommittee, she said, “strengthen Alaska’s economy, improve water and wastewater infrastructure, and create safer and healthier communities across the state.”
“Plain and simple, this bill helps ensure the health, well-being, and safety of Alaskans,” she said.
The bill provides $2.8 billion to improve wastewater and drinking water systems through the Environmental Protection Agency’s State Water Revolving Funds program and $25 million for a new grant program to help bring basic water and sewer infrastructure to communities in need.
It also maintains funding at $192 million for the Indian Health Service’s Sanitation Facilities Construction program, providing American Indian and Alaska Native homes and communities with essential water supply, sewage disposal, and solid waste disposal facilities.
Murskowski said the bill’s funding for the earthquakes hazard program will allow Alaska to develop and enhance earthquake monitoring capabilities, and includes $30.2 million for the USGS volcano hazards program.
The bill fully funds the 10-year average cost of the nation’s wildfire suppression needs, and provides additional resources to the Forest Service in the event of catastrophic wildfires, Murkowski said.
The bill maintains funding for Alaska mapping initiatives at $7.7 million, which will help gather data to improve maps, enhancing the safety of activities such as aviation.
The funding bill also:
– provides $500 million, full funding, for the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program to compensate local governments for the non-taxable federal property within their boundaries.
– maintains Tribal Court funding at $13 million and provides $2 million for training and specific tribal court needs.
– establishes a new IHS grant program providing $10 million to help tribes fight opioid abuse, and provides $8.2 million through the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), to fight opioid addiction.
– has $245 million in increased funding for alcohol and substance abuse prevention programs for tribal youth and incorporating more holistic healthcare models.
– supports the National Endowment for the Arts’ (NEA) Healing Arts Program to help wounded and injured service members and their families in their transition into civilian life. In 2016, Murkowski announced that Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) was selected as a new site tfor the program.
– provides staffing funds for new health care facilities, including $57.3 million for a new facility operated by the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation in Bethel.
– provides $15 million for healthcare infrastructure serving Alaska Natives through the Small Ambulatory Clinics program, and $36 million for Village Built Clinics under the Indian Self Determination Act. The Village Built Clinic program is unique to Alaska and supports approximately 150 health care clinics in rural areas.
– for the first time provides funding for the Commission on Native Children created to identify the complex challenges facing Native children in Alaska.
– fulfills the federal promises made to Alaska Natives by allocating full funding for Contract Support Costs, the operational costs of tribes to deliver services including federal Indian health programs.
– increases construction and deferred maintenance budgets to address the National Park Service’s maintenance backlog, and increases funding for Forest Service recreation activities – including cabins, trails, and recreation – and provides more resources for special use permitting programs that allow certain businesses to operate in Alaska’s national forests.
– provides $9.5 million for cleanup of abandoned drilling sites in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
