U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska discussed the recently passed Consolidated Appropriations Act. As a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, she discussed the Congressionally Directed Spending allocations for Alaska projects, Violence Against Women Act reauthorization, Rural Maternal and Obstetric Modernization of Services Act, and emergency funding for the crisis in Ukraine. The Fiscal Year 2022 Consolidated Appropriations Act passed the Senate last Thursday night and is expected to be signed into law.
More than $230 million within the Fiscal Year 2022 omnibus has been directed to Alaska through the new Congressionally Directed Spending process. Of that, several projects have been earmarked for funding locally, including $3.36 million to the Kenai Peninsula Borough to expand the leachate evaporation capacity at the landfill to help the landfill continue to meet regulatory requirements.
Sen. Murkowski also said:
“There is two specific funding sources for spruce bark beetle. There is funding that’s going to be key to the city of Kenai, $385,000 to implement the community’s wildfire hazard mitigation plan that will really help to address the spruce bark beetle infestation there.
Sen. Murkowski said that she also included within the interior bill:
“Additional funding will go out to the state Division of Forestry to coordinate and implement forest management for everything from wildfire prevention mitigation response and restoration objectives. I think this is also an area where when we think about how we can deal with some of the spruce bark infestation, that’s also an opportunity for funding as well.”
City of Kenai Mayor Brian Gabriel released a statement saying:
“This funding is critical to the City of Kenai as we look to address the devastating impacts of the spruce bark beetle infestation in our community and mitigate the increasing danger of wildfires created by the vast number of spruce trees killed by the spruce bark beetle. With this funding we will be able to remove thousands of hazardous trees in the City to protect homes and public facilities.”
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes all 12 annual appropriations bills and completes the FY22 funding cycle, passed the Senate last week and now heads to the President to be signed into law.
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