By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
City officials say they’re hoping the federal infrastructure bill passed by the House Friday will translate into funds coming into the state “and hopefully Sitka.”
The House passed the trillion-dollar infrastructure bill Friday, the last legislative hurdle before the bill goes to President Biden for his signature.
“We’re excited to see what it may mean for our Southeast ferry service and increases in broadband,” commented Melissa Henshaw, city governmental and public relations director. “We’re continually looking at funding opportunities which are mainly focused on our legislative priorities but also deferred maintenance and projects.”
Sitka’s legislative priorities were approved by the last Assembly, for both state and federal delegations, and include such projects as the Working Waterfront (new haulout and Katlian Street seawall); Green Lake hydro rehab, reimbursement of school bond debt, a sustainable ferry system, airport improvements, transfer of land and matching funds for a seaplane base.
Other items include a multipurpose building for the police department and jail; removal of FERC’s use restrictions on the Green Lake hydro parcel; and upgrades on Japonski Island to accommodate a new Coast Guard fast response cutter and expansion of SEARHC.
“This gives Sitka potential funding that we will be pursuing in the following areas: roads, airports, ports and water and wastewater systems,” Henshaw said. “Of course our lobbyists are looking out for us as they are fully apprised of our legislative priorities, deferred maintenance and projects. They will be helping us navigate this complex bill.”
The city’s lobbyists Blank Rome have put together a road map that lists the areas of funding possibilities that the city will be looking into, Henshaw said. “We are ready to pursue (those) when applications are available.”
Public Works Director Michael Harmon said from the perspective of his department, “deferred maintenance is top priority but time will tell what will compete well for funding.” He noted the legislative priorities list as well.
The infrastructure bill contains dozens of Alaska-specific projects, which were detailed in the Sentinel on Aug. 3 this year, when Alaska’s Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, released the contents of the bill she and a small bipartisan committee had been working on for months, and which became the vehicle for the legislation that was passed by the Senate and, on Friday, by the House.
Of particular interest to Sitka, and the rest of Southeast are these items related to transportation and the Alaska Marine Highway:
– $1 billion for a new program that establishes an essential ferry service to support rural communities. This program, which was proposed by Murkowski, will provide funding to the Alaska Marine Highway System. – $250 million for an electric or low-emitting ferry pilot program, with at least one pilot to be conducted in the state with the most Marine Highway System miles — Alaska, which has more than 3,100 miles of Marine Highway, much of which is in Southeast Alaska.
– $342 million for the Construction of Ferry Boats and Ferry Terminal Facilities Program, of which Alaska should receive $73 million. Provides an authorization for recipients of funding under the program to spend on ferry “operating costs”. Alaska operators who previously received formula funds under this program in FY20 were the Alaska Marine Highway System, Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Inter-Island Ferry Authority, and Seldovia Village Tribe.
– Authorizes Federal-aid highway funds to the Alaska Marine Highway System to be spent on operation and repair.
– $5.25 billion for the Low or No Emission Vehicle Program that supports the purchase of zero-emission and low-emission transit buses and construction of supporting facilities – important to communities such as Juneau.
On Wednesday the Sentinel will publish a full list of Alaska projects covered in the bill as passed by the House.
