Articles & Op-eds
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: Sen. Murkowski highlights infrastructure package for Alaska
by Linda Hersey
Rebuilding infrastructure is not a Republican issue or a Democratic issue. It is an Alaska issue. U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski delivered that message Wednesday in a press conference on the projects for Alaska. Murkowski helped to carry the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package that President Biden plans to sign early next week. She was among a core group of 10 senators - five Republicans and five Democrats - who worked to usher the package through Congress. Alaska's thre… Continue Reading
11.10.21
Juneau Empire: ‘It is a win for Alaska’ Murkowski touts bipartisan infrastructure bill
by Peter Segall
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, hailed the $1.2 trillion dollar infrastructure bill recently passed by Congress, saying it was going to make the Alaska and the nation more competitive. "There's so much to advertise," Murkowski said Wednesday at an Anchorage news conference. "If we can get these programs up and running, Alaskans are going to be working and we're going to more competitive." President Joe Biden is expected to sign the bill on Monday, Murkowski said, and it would take some time bef… Continue Reading
11.08.21
Alaska Public Media: Highways, ferries and more: What the federal infrastructure bill will fund in Alaska
by Liz Ruskin
The U.S. House on Friday passed an enormous infrastructure bill, sending it to President Biden for his signature. All three members of Alaska's Republican delegation to Congress voted for the $1.2 trillion bill - reflecting how important the bill is to the 49th state. In federal highway funding alone, the legislation will send Alaska $3.5 billion. That's just the start. "I think it's very big for Alaska. Very far reaching," said Garrett Boyle, federal co-chair of the Denali Commission, whose m… Continue Reading
11.05.21
Anchorage Daily News OPINION: Telling Alaska’s story at the U.N. climate summit
by Senator Lisa Murkowski
COP26 - the 26th iteration of the United Nations' annual climate conference - is currently underway in Glasgow, Scotland. This weekend, I'm attending as part of a bipartisan congressional delegation. I'm participating as an Alaskan, the senior senator for a warming state, and one of only a few Republicans. I'm here because I recognize that climate change is real, we need to act, and we need to work together - across the aisle and with the rest of the world - to find reasonable ways to reduce em… Continue Reading
10.27.21
Alaska Public Media: Earmarks: They’re back, and Murkowski is using them to steer money home
by Liz Ruskin
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has issued a $230 million wish list of dozens of Alaska projects she's hoping Congress will pass with the next batch of appropriations bills. Her list has big-ticket items: Nearly $28 million to expand the emergency room at the Alaska Native Medical Center and the same amount for a road between Kotzebue and a possible deepwater port at Cape Blossom. It has small items: $50,000 to the Kodiak Area Native Association to study the health impact of harmful algae blooms. I… Continue Reading
10.25.21
Anchorage Daily News: Alaska stands to benefit big with passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
by Alicia Siira, Rebecca Logan, Marleanna Hall, Kati Capozzi, Deantha Skibinski, Renee Limoge Reeve, Tessa Axelson and Joe Michel
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Alaska's infrastructure and economy and highlights the strong work our congressional delegation has done to advocate for Alaska families, workers and communities. Our diverse organizations keep Alaskans working by ensuring opportunities exist to develop our state's natural resource industries, including oil, mining, timber, seafood, tourism, transportation and construction. Add up all the families an… Continue Reading
10.20.21
Alaska tourism industry sees reasons for optimism in 2022 after a roller-coaster year
by Elwood Brehmer
A topsy-turvy visitor season for Alaska ended with plenty of optimism for 2022, according to industry leaders across the state. "Things continued to change. Even though I don't think our industry was in as much of a crisis mode as it was in 2020, I would say 2021, through the summer season, was really a mixed bag," Alaska Travel Industry Association CEO Sarah Leonard said. "Overall, we're super grateful that we had the economic activity that we did for 2021." This year's peak visitor season st… Continue Reading
09.29.21
OPINION: Alaska Journal of Commerce: Alaska’s clean energy leadership
by Senator Lisa Murkowski
In November 1969, Alaska made energy history by exporting the first cargo of American liquefied natural gas, shipping this new, cleaner form of energy to Asia and establishing ourselves as a low-carbon energy innovator. That first transit was the beginning of the longest-term export contract between the U.S. and Japan. Today a worldwide transition to climate-friendly energy is underway, and Alaska is well positioned to accelerate this global transformation. Because of hydrogen's net-zero carbo… Continue Reading
09.22.21
Anchorage Daily News: Alaska will greatly benefit from historic infrastructure bill
by Senator Lisa Murkowski
Several years ago, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave Alaska's infrastructure a C-minus grade. Their report reiterated what too many Alaskans know and face every day: our still-young state is deficient in water and wastewater, ports and harbors, marine transportation, energy and power infrastructure, and more. Even in our highest-graded areas - like roads and airports - Alaska still has plenty of room for improvement. One of the best ways to address these deficiencies is by bringing t… Continue Reading
09.20.21
KINY: Murkowski to introduce bill providing permanant exemption from PVSA for Alaska cruises
by KINY
Alaska U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski unveiled a new bill she will be introducing this week to permanently exempt Alaska cruise ships carrying more than 1000 passengers from the Passenger Vessel Services Act, or PVSA. According to a release from the Senator's office, Alaska hosted over 1.3 million visitors by way of cruise ships in 2019. That number came to a halt in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tourism industry in Alaska typically generates more than $214 million in state and municipal … Continue Reading
09.17.21
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: Murkowski plans bill to buoy Alaska cruise ship tourism
by Linda F. Hersey
Sen. Lisa Murkowski plans to introduce a bill next week to permanently exempt Alaska-bound cruise ships from an 1800s federal law that forces them to stop in Canada. Murkowski said the new legislation waives a measure in the Passenger Vessel Services Act (PVSA) that compels passenger cruise lines between the Lower 48 and Alaska to stop at a foreign port. Murkowski said the law has had the unintended consequences of "putting Alaskan businesses at the mercy of the Canadian government," which ban… Continue Reading
09.16.21
Royal Caribbean Blog: Alaska Senator introduces bill to permanently allow cruise ships to sail to Alaska without stopping in Canada
by Matt Hochberg
A new bill aims to permanently circumvent U.S. cabotage laws so that cruise ships can always visit Alaska without needing to stop in Canada. U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) announced on Wednesday she will introduce a new bill to Congress that would permanently allow foreign flagged cruise ships to sail to Alaska without having to stop in Canada by creating a permanent exemption from the Passenger Vessel Services Act (PVSA). At the onset of the global health crisis, Canada banned cruise ship… Continue Reading
09.16.21
Wrangell Sentinel: Murkowski sees opportunities for Wrangell in infrastructure funding
by Larry Persily
Though its passage is uncertain amid partisan battles in Congress and even disagreements among the majority-holding Democrats, the trillion-dollar infrastructure bill could be an opportunity for federal help with costly improvements to Wrangell's water system. However, all communities in Alaska "have to be honest in regard to timing," said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who visited Wrangell last weekend. In addition to waiting on Congress to decide on the legislation, "we know what it means to bring a (b… Continue Reading
09.07.21
KSFK: Infrastructure bill could boost ferries, energy projects in Southeast
by Katie Anastas
The Senate passed the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill last month. Now, the House of Representatives is set to vote on it at the end of September. As Katie Anastas reports, participants in a recent town hall forum see the bill's potential for funding ferries and energy projects in Southeast Alaska. The House hasn't passed the infrastructure bill just yet. And President Biden will still need to sign it into law. Kaleb Froehlich, Senator Lisa Murkowski's chief of staff, called the bill hi… Continue Reading
08.30.21
Peninsula Clarion: Murkowski pushes to reauthorize heritage site
by Ashlyn O'Hara
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski is working to reauthorize the Kenai Mountains-Turnagain Arm National Heritage Area through 2036, per a Monday release from Murkowski's office. The Kenai Mountains-Turnagain Arm National Heritage Area is one of only 55 NHAs in the United States and is the only one in Alaska. It was originally created through the Omnibus Lands Act in 2009, and is currently set to terminate in 2024. NHAs are "places where natural, cultural, and historic resources combine to form a cohesive… Continue Reading
08.21.21
Anchorage Daily News: Alaska gets a much-needed win with the federal infrastructure bill
by Anchorage Daily News Editorial Board
During the past several months, there's been so much partisan rhetoric thrown out about the federal infrastructure bill that Alaskans can be forgiven any confusion about what's in it - and what isn't. Ironically, the bill has been assailed by hardcore activists on the left and right alike, though for opposite reasons. And when a bipartisan spending bill has too little to satisfy the far left and too much to win approval of the far right, odds are it's settled on a medium that those of us in betw… Continue Reading
08.18.21
KTOO: Energy secretary praises Alaska’s innovation in renewables
by Liz Ruskin
U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm visited Fairbanks and Anchorage this week to learn about how Alaska communities are innovating to produce renewable energy. "What those communities need, given the shifting nature of the permafrost, etc., and what they will need going into the future," she told reporters on Monday. "But then how those solutions could also be solutions for like Puerto Rico - you know, that kind of creating a space that can be incredibly resilient from all manner of weather… Continue Reading
08.15.21
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: Energy Secretary to Alaska: 'You have the solutions'
by Linda F. Hersey
Alaska's clean energy innovations have national and global implications for how America responds to climate change and natural disasters. U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski delivered that message firsthand Sunday to U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, who was in greater Fairbanks to see research facilities and talk with scientists on the forefront of discovering and deploying solutions to real-world problems. "We know in Alaska that we have been pioneering for a long time. But I don't think that… Continue Reading
08.10.21
Anchorage Daily News: Here’s how the Senate infrastructure bill would benefit Alaska
by Alex DeMarban, James Brooks
The $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed Tuesday by the Senate is being called a historic effort to invest in the nation's roads, broadband and utilities. The bill must still pass the House, and there's no specific timeline for when that will happen. The measure includes specific items for Alaska across a variety of categories, according to the bill's language and details from Republican Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who was part of a bipartisan group of senators who helped create it. … Continue Reading
08.06.21
Alaska's News Source: Murkowski highlights how Alaska could benefit from infrastructure bill
by Taylor Clark
Whether it be roads, waterways or airports, Alaska has some of the most unique infrastructure needs in the country. They are not cheap to maintain or build. In a recent announcement, Sen. Lisa Murkowski highlighted how the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act could benefit the state. There is a lot included in the some 2,700 pages of the bill. It calls for a lot of federal money to be spent improving all forms of infrastructure with $550 billion across the nation. It's now headed to the U.S. … Continue Reading
