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Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Sen. Lisa Murkowski makes pitch for renewable energy's value in Alaska communities
Yereth RosenAlaska BeaconIn a political environment where the president and his administration are pushing for more fossil fuel development and scorning alternative energy, Alaska's senior U.S. senator is defending renewable projects in the rural areas of her state.U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, speaking at an Anchorage conference on Tuesday, recounted her efforts to convince Interior Secretary Doug Burgum that wind, solar and other sources of renewable energy are valuable even in oil-producing a phone call Monday that lasted more than an hour and in which Burgum reiterated the administration's support for more extraction of oil, gas and coal and its opposition to wind energy, Murkowski said she made a pitch for renewable projects in Alaska that were previously awarded grants but are now in limbo because of Trump administration funding freezes.'We're coming to the department and saying, 'I know that you put on pause funding for clean energy resources. If you don't like the vernacular that we're using, that's fine, but look at it from the perspective of energy independence for these small communities and what independence means and looks like for them,'' Murkowski said at the Alaska Infrastructure Development three-day symposium is sponsored by the state, the Alaska Municipal League, the Alaska Federation of Natives and other urged conference attendees to help educate officials from the Department of the Interior and other federal departments about rural Alaska communities' situations. Unlike communities in the Lower 48 states, rural Alaska communities are unconnected to larger energy grids and often struggle with expensive and difficult-to-store diesel fuel, making renewables a practical alternative, she a long-desired natural gas pipeline megaproject from Alaska's North Slope, which President Donald Trump and others are enthusiastically backing, would not do much to help rural Alaska communities that lie outside of any large power grid.'It's not going to do a spur out to Togiak. It's not going to do a spur out to Kobuk,' Murkowski said, naming a Yup'ik village in Western Alaska and an Inupiat village in Northwest Alaska. 'So I said, 'Please, please don't forget the opportunities that come to our more rural communities that are more isolated who need to be able to access those resources that are there. And those resources may be a little bit of wind, it may be a little bit of solar, it may be a little bit of the of the run of river, it may be a little bit of geothermal.''Murkowski's defense of renewable energy comes as hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of planned rural Alaska projects are in doubt because of Trump administration actions. The administration has frozen much of the infrastructure funding that was awarded during the Biden administration, including funding for renewable energy development. Last month, the Alaska Public Interest Research Group said it had calculated that over $1 billion of Alaska energy and other infrastructure projects were affected. As a result, some local governments, tribes and other organizations have delayed planned projects because they are uncertain about reimbursement. Such delays in rural Alaska can put projects at least a year behind schedule because construction work depends on delivery of heavy equipment and material by barges that can travel only in ice-free of yet, there has been little clarity on which projects will actually get funded and which will have to be canceled, said Murkowski and municipal officials attending the said at least a couple of Trump administration department secretaries are planning trips to Alaska in June, and that might present an educational opportunity. She did not specify which cabinet members may be has been dismissive of renewable energy and, in particular, hostile to wind energy for several years. He has claimed, without evidence, that wind turbines cause cancer, drastically depress property values and kill massive numbers of whales. His disdain for wind energy dates back at least to 2012, when he fought unsuccessfully against a wind farm off the coast of a golf course he owned in of his Inauguration Day executive orders earlier this year halted federal funding and permitting for all wind projects, both offshore and energy has been important to rural Alaska communities, where diesel-fueled energy costs are extremely a mostly Inupiat community, is an example. The Northwest Arctic hub, home to about 3,000 people, has been using wind energy since the 1990s. The system has grown over the years, and by 2020, wind was supplying a fifth of annual local power needs, according to the Kotzebue Electric Association. That displaced the annual need for 250,000 to 300,000 gallons of diesel fuel each year, according to the community has also been using solar energy since 2020, and it has a longer-term goal of using renewables for 50 percent of its power, according to the the Northwest Arctic Borough and several surrounding villages are among the communities with planned energy projects that have been paused because of Trump administration actions. Last year, during the Biden administration, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded $58.4 million in grants to local governments and other entities in the region to develop more solar arrays, an energy-storing battery system, heat pumps and other projects.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Sen. Murkowski makes pitch for renewable energy's value in Alaska communities
Wind turbines spin in Nome on Sept. 30, 2020. Renewable energy has been embraced in much of rural Alaska as an alternative to expensive diesel-fueled power. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon) In a political environment where the president and his administration are pushing for more fossil fuel development and scorning alternative energy, Alaska's senior U.S. senator is defending renewable projects in the rural areas of her state. U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, speaking at an Anchorage conference on Tuesday, recounted her efforts to convince Interior Secretary Doug Burgum that wind, solar and other sources of renewable energy are valuable even in oil-producing Alaska. In a phone call Monday that lasted more than an hour and in which Burgum reiterated the administration's support for more extraction of oil, gas and coal and its opposition to wind energy, Murkowski said she made a pitch for renewable projects in Alaska that were previously awarded grants but are now in limbo because of Trump administration funding freezes. 'We're coming to the department and saying, 'I know that you put on pause funding for clean energy resources. If you don't like the vernacular that we're using, that's fine, but look at it from the perspective of energy independence for these small communities and what independence means and looks like for them,'' Murkowski said at the Alaska Infrastructure Development Symposium. The three-day symposium is sponsored by the state, the Alaska Municipal League, the Alaska Federation of Natives and other organizations. Murkowski urged conference attendees to help educate officials from the Department of the Interior and other federal departments about rural Alaska communities' situations. Unlike communities in the Lower 48 states, rural Alaska communities are unconnected to larger energy grids and often struggle with expensive and difficult-to-store diesel fuel, making renewables a practical alternative, she noted. Even a long-desired natural gas pipeline megaproject from Alaska's North Slope, which President Donald Trump and others are enthusiastically backing, would not do much to help rural Alaska communities that lie outside of any large power grid. 'It's not going to do a spur out to Togiak. It's not going to do a spur out to Kobuk,' Murkowski said, naming a Yup'ik village in Western Alaska and an Inupiat village in Northwest Alaska. 'So I said, 'Please, please don't forget the opportunities that come to our more rural communities that are more isolated who need to be able to access those resources that are there. And those resources may be a little bit of wind, it may be a little bit of solar, it may be a little bit of the of the run of river, it may be a little bit of geothermal.'' Murkowski's defense of renewable energy comes as hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of planned rural Alaska projects are in doubt because of Trump administration actions. The administration has frozen much of the infrastructure funding that was awarded during the Biden administration, including funding for renewable energy development. Last month, the Alaska Public Interest Research Group said it had calculated that over $1 billion of Alaska energy and other infrastructure projects were affected. As a result, some local governments, tribes and other organizations have delayed planned projects because they are uncertain about reimbursement. Such delays in rural Alaska can put projects at least a year behind schedule because construction work depends on delivery of heavy equipment and material by barges that can travel only in ice-free conditions As of yet, there has been little clarity on which projects will actually get funded and which will have to be canceled, said Murkowski and municipal officials attending the symposium. Murkowski said at least a couple of Trump administration department secretaries are planning trips to Alaska in June, and that might present an educational opportunity. She did not specify which cabinet members may be visiting. Trump has been dismissive of renewable energy and, in particular, hostile to wind energy for several years. He has claimed, without evidence, that wind turbines cause cancer, drastically depress property values and kill massive numbers of whales. His disdain for wind energy dates back at least to 2012, when he fought unsuccessfully against a wind farm off the coast of a golf course he owned in Scotland. One of his Inauguration Day executive orders earlier this year halted federal funding and permitting for all wind projects, both offshore and onshore. Wind energy has been important to rural Alaska communities, where diesel-fueled energy costs are extremely high. Kotzebue, a mostly Inupiat community, is an example. The Northwest Arctic hub, home to about 3,000 people, has been using wind energy since the 1990s. The system has grown over the years, and by 2020, wind was supplying a fifth of annual local power needs, according to the Kotzebue Electric Association. That displaced the annual need for 250,000 to 300,000 gallons of diesel fuel each year, according to the utility. The community has also been using solar energy since 2020, and it has a longer-term goal of using renewables for 50% of its power, according to the utility. Kotzebue, the Northwest Arctic Borough and several surrounding villages are among the communities with planned energy projects that have been paused because of Trump administration actions. Last year, during the Biden administration, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded $58.4 million in grants to local governments and other entities in the region to develop more solar arrays, an energy-storing battery system, heat pumps and other projects. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Uncertainty and confusion in Alaska as Trump attempts to freeze federal spending
President Donald Trump addresses the 2025 Republican Issues Conference at the Trump National Doral Miami on Jan. 27, 2025 in Doral, Florida. (Photo by) President Donald Trump's order to pause the spending of billions of dollars in federal grants triggered a wave of anxiety, fear and uncertainty on Tuesday in Alaska, a state dependent more than any other on federal spending. 'For me, it was pandemic-level chaotic,' said Nils Andreassen, director of the Alaska Municipal League, which works with cities and boroughs statewide. A federal judge's ruling late Tuesday temporarily blocked the presidential order, but that only defers an act with broad consequences. 'We're waiting for the other shoe to drop,' said Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak. Federal money pays for more than 40% of Alaska's state budget. The federal government directly employs about 5% of Alaskans. On a per-capita basis, Alaska received more money than any other state from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Federal grants support most of Alaska's nonprofits, which employ tens of thousands of people here. 'Alaskans should be deeply concerned,' said Sen. Löki Tobin, D-Anchorage. 'Even though this has been communicated as a pause and an opportunity to evaluate federal spending priorities, the consequences of even this brief moment could be catastrophic across our state.' Our phones have been ringing off the hook all morning, wondering what it means, how long it's going to last. – U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska Much of Tuesday's uncertainty came from the way that the freeze was announced with few details on Monday. At the start of Tuesday, it wasn't clear how the order would affect hundreds of millions of dollars in public school funding or more than $2 billion in Medicaid funding that comes to the state each year. Clarifying memos released throughout the day reduced but failed to eliminate the anxiety. 'I can tell you, my constituents back home certainly have thoughts about it. Our phones have been ringing off the hook all morning, wondering what it means, how long it's going to last,' said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, as she spoke to reporters at the U.S. Capitol. With firm information in short supply, rumors spread on social media, including one post incorrectly claiming that food stamp benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program would be paused at 1 p.m. Alaska time, the official start of the freeze. 'SNAP is not affected by this temporary pause. Anyone who currently has SNAP benefits will continue to receive them. Anyone who is approved during the funding freeze will also receive their approved benefits in that time,' said Alex Huseman, a spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Health. The University of Alaska, which has already directed some federally funded scientists to stop work under a separate spending freeze, said that for now, 'we've advised employees to continue with their business and operations as usual.' The university doesn't believe GI Bill benefits or federally funded student loans will be affected, a spokesperson said. The U.S. Department of Education issued a statement saying that the freeze will not affect formula-funded programs that pay for a large part of public school education in Alaska, but that still leaves some programs vulnerable, such as those that support teacher training or aid homeless students. By the end of Tuesday, it still wasn't clear what spending would be paused and what would continue. Lon Garrison of the Association of Alaska School Boards said his organization is seeing 'a lot of consternation about this from our members and certainly within our staff, because we implement so many grant programs that are designed really to focus on the conditions for learning for students within each school district. So we're pretty worried about it, and obviously it would have a big impact in our ability to work with districts on those things.' In the state Capitol, where lawmakers are debating the size of next year's state budget, senators spent the morning considering Gov. Mike Dunleavy's proposed budget, which would spend from savings in order to increase the size of the 2025 Permanent Fund dividend. The governor's budget proposal would leave about $500 million in the Constitutional Budget Reserve, the state's principal savings account. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Pausing federal Medicaid reimbursements for just a month would require the state to front several hundred million dollars to maintain cashflow until federal payments resume, said Alexei Painter, the Legislature's chief budget analyst. 'That's why we need to keep some money in reserve, not just for that regular cash flow, but when events like that happen,' he said. Painter's comments came early Tuesday, when it was uncertain whether Medicaid would be affected by the freeze. Later in the day, federal budget officials issued a memo stating that they don't intend to affect that program, but legislators said they remain cautious — they don't know what will come next. Will federally funded highway construction projects be affected? 'Possibly,' Transportation Commissioner Ryan Anderson said between meetings on Tuesday in the state Capitol. 'There are a lot of questions right now.' The office of Gov. Mike Dunleavy released a general statement in response to questions, saying that his office is communicating with the White House Office of Management and Budget. 'It is our understanding (that) programs providing direct benefits to individuals are not subject to the pause and that federal OMB is working quickly with their agency partners to evaluate programs. We are awaiting further guidance from federal OMB and continuing to assess potential impacts as further information is released.' Even with a court ruling that temporarily pauses the freeze, Andreassen of the Alaska Municipal League said he expects nonprofits statewide to hit the brakes. Many operate with limited financial reserves, and he expects many to halt work if there's a risk that the federal government will not reimburse them via grants that were promised. 'I think that everybody's probably risk-averse during this period,' he said. 'It's like, just lay down your pencils, time's up until we hear more, and then you've got to figure out, what do you do in the meantime?' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
