Murkowski and Sullivan diverge on ferry fund use, align on resource development in speeches to Southeast leaders
- Mark Sabbatini
- 3 hours ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 28 minutes ago
Alaska’s senior senator says Dunleavy administration blew one-time opportunity to ‘save’ aging ferry system during speech at Southeast Conference’s Mid-Session Summit
By Mark Sabbatini
Juneau Independent
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, says the Dunleavy administration has “all but ignored the opportunity to save our marine transportation system” by using federal funds for daily operations instead of long-term upgrades as intended, which is going to make requesting more such funds difficult.
Her remarks on Tuesday to Southeast Conference’s Mid-Session Summit in Juneau were followed a day later by U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, telling the convention he was grateful the Trump administration is authorizing the use of such funds for operations as well as upgrades to vessels and facilities.
The remarks offered during live online appearances by the two senators reflected regional overviews with plenty of overlap on topics, but divergence in the details.
Funding for the Alaska Marine Highway System is a particularly contentious issue at present because its $171 million budget for the current fiscal year includes $78 million from a federal rural ferry program. But the Trump administration didn’t open its annual grant process for those funds last fall, meaning the state might have to either cover the shortfall or make cuts due to what state Sen. Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau called “a federal chaos problem.”
Murkowski said “it really hurts to read a headline” like that since the state should be using its own funds for ongoing operations, rather than dipping into what’s a temporary allocation of federal funds intended for one-time projects.
“The federal funding that was built into the infrastructure law was supposed to be the lifeline,” she said. “It was supposed to be an opportunity to steady this system, to ready the ferry system for the next generation and not to cost-shift at the state level.”
Ferry officials, lawmakers and official reports all declare the state ferry system’s decades-old vessels and terminals are badly in need of major repairs or replacement. The system has ranked at the bottom of state Infrastructure Report Cards issued in 2021 and 2025 by the American Society of Civil Engineers, with “D” grades in both reports.
Murkowski has frequently criticized Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy since the passage of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act for not using ferry funds as intended. With funding from that bill set to end this year “I will lay blame on an administration that I feel has all but ignored the opportunity to save our marine transportation system.”
“This is year five of a five-year boost,” she said. “It's not a permanent entitlement. There's no guarantee that we're ever going to be able to renew any of it. I'm certainly going to make every effort that I can. But I have to tell you what we've seen at the state level is not going to make it easier for me to get that additional renewal or extension of it.”
Dunleavy has defended such use of the funds as proper, and noted the state is in a tight financial situation and thus trying to make the most efficient use of money available. Ryan Anderson, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, has stated one way to deal with the loss of federal funds for the current year could be selling the Matanuska ferry — the state’s oldest active ferry — which is currently docked and being used as a “hotel ship" in Ketchikan. State lawmakers have expressed skepticism about how much the ship can be sold for.
Sullivan, in his remarks, credited Murkowski with getting provisions in the infrastructure law that have resulted in nearly $900 million in funding for the state ferry system.
“Just as important our delegation secured new authority to allow the Trump administration to use funds for operating costs, not just capital projects, for the ferry system in Alaska,” Sullivan added. “So that is a big deal.”
Sullivan said he’s working with Trump administration officials on the current year’s federal grant and has been told the funds “will be released within the month.” Murkowski said she has also been told the funds will eventually be released.
An email inquiry Thursday morning by the Juneau Independent to Sullivan’s office about Murowski’s remarks on the use of those funds did not receive a response as of Thursday afternoon.
Both senators highlighted other issues and projects where they feel progress is occurring.
Sullivan said one of his priorities is altering the National Environmental Policy Act to remove restrictions on project permitting requirements. He said the act will prevent situations such as an approval process for the Kensington Mine that took more than two decades, and would unlock more than $2 trillion in private sector investment in “infrastructure and transportation and resource development projects.”
Upgrades to U.S. Coast Guard ships and facilities in Alaska — with an emphasis on those in Southeast, due to his audience — were also noted by Sullivan. He reiterated that about 200 Coast Guard personnel, plus their families, are expected to relocate to Juneau when the Storis icebreaker is homeported here. Other new cutters and other port facilities are planned during the coming years for communities including Ketchikan, Sitka and Wrangell.
Murkowski, who has been one of the few Republicans in Congress openly critical of Trump, offered support for his efforts to expand resource development in Alaska. Among the projects she mentioned is the U.S. Forest Service advancing the South Revilla logging project near Ketchikan toward final approval, which along with other budget bill action “is going to enable us to harvest more timber in the Tongass.”
“The Roadless Rule is on its way out,” Murkowski added, referring to a conservation policy enacted in 2001 that’s gone through on-again, off-again status under various presidential administrations. “I know you say we've heard that before, but I think it really is.”
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
