State Government

The state approved a contract on Monday agreeing to pay Juneau’s new hydroelectric utility $1.3 million to power the controversial Cascade Point Ferry Terminal — a project that has yet to be finalized.

That money will pay for a transformer and engineering for a submarine cable required to connect the Alaska Department of Transportation’s proposed ferry terminal to the Sweetheart Lake hydroelectric project that Juneau Hydropower plans to bring online in 2028. 

According to the contract, the state will pay Juneau Hydropower whether or not the ferry terminal project proceeds.

“If they live up to their part of the bargain, we would be responsible to pay for that,” said Christopher Goins, southcoast regional director at the department.

Goins said one major reason the state signed this contract now is because the cost would rise if the department decides to electrify later on, after Juneau Hydropower designs its system without this addition. 

Duff Mitchell, the managing director of Juneau Hydropower, said the other main reason is that the equipment takes a long time to get here. 

“We’re looking at between 52 weeks to over three years, depending on the manufacturer,” he said. 

Mitchell said the transformer wouldn’t be used for anything else if the ferry terminal project doesn’t get built. 

“If, in fact, it goes forward, then we would use it,” he said. “Otherwise, it will be sitting there waiting for the future.”

The department plans to break ground on the first phase of the ferry terminal project in the summer, which will establish an access road and staging area, but not the terminal itself. The state extended the public comment period on the proposed Cascade Point Ferry Terminal to Jan. 9. 

Correction: This story has been updated to clarify that the funds will pay for engineering of the submarine cable, not the cable itself.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy has approved a U.S. Defense Department request for Alaska National Guard service members to assist the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Anchorage with “administrative support,” the guard office announced Tuesday.

The Alaska National Guard said five service members will assist with “administrative and logistical” duties at the Anchorage ICE office for up to a year.

“The Alaska National Guard members are administratively supporting the Enforcement & Removal Operations section and Homeland Security Investigations section, ensuring seamless operations at the Anchorage ICE office. Their mission includes a wide range of duties, from vehicle fleet management and safety compliance to office support and processing purchase orders,” the Guard statement said.

The announcement included a list of clerical duties, including data entry and creating reports, answering phones, managing fleet vehicles and checking fire extinguishers. Officials said the partnership is authorized by Title 32 Section 502(f) of the U.S. Code, which enables National Guard members to perform additional duties under the direction of the President or Secretary of Defense.

Grant Robinson, Dunleavy’s deputy press secretary, confirmed the governor approved the request.

“The Alaska National Guard members joined the guard to serve our nation. This support they are providing the Anchorage ICE office is in service of the nation,” he said by email Tuesday.

Grant did not say whether the National Guard would provide further assistance with immigration enforcement actions.

“Any future requests for administrative and logistical support will be considered on a case by case basis,” he said.

The Trump administration has continued to accelerate immigration enforcement operations, and officials have promised to “limit legal and illegal immigration,” after the shooting of two National Guard service members in Washington, D.C. last week. The Trump administration has also continued to roll back humanitarian programs for immigrants, including ending the temporary protected status of 330,000 nationals from Haiti last week.

While ICE has been conducting mass raids, court house arrests and large-scale detentions and deportation operations across the United States, in Alaska ICE has focused enforcement efforts on specific individuals identified through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services or having interactions with law enforcement, according to the ACLU of Alaska. 

Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage is the co-chair of the Alaska Joint Armed Services Committee and has been outspoken about his concerns about the Alaska National Guard being deployed domestically for “civil disturbance operations.”

“I see it’s a long list of boring, banal administrative tasks that are in no way controversial or concerning in and of themselves,” he said of the National Guard announcement. “What’s concerning is that Alaska ICE is requesting additional support, and the assumption that I make is that it’s because Alaska ICE intends to be doing more detainments, and intends to be doing more field operations in which they’re going to need this administrative support behind them. So that’s my concern.”

Gray was reached by phone Tuesday leaving a meeting with U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan in Washington, D.C. Gray said he expressed his concerns at the meeting about the leadership of U.S. Department of Defense, which the Trump administration has renamed the “Department of War,” and Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Gray said he’s also concerned about a wider chilling effect of ICE activity and increased immigration enforcement in Alaska.

“It’s going to increase fear, not only in the undocumented folks that might be in Anchorage and the rest of Alaska, but also fear in people who are here legally, and even U.S. citizens who might be mistaken for someone who might be undocumented,” he said.

An October investigation by ProPublica found that more than 170 U.S. citizens were detained by ICE in raids and at protests, and the government does not track how many citizens are held by immigration agents.

Dunleavy’s office did not respond to requests for comment on the concern around ICE overreaching its authority, and arresting and detaining U.S. citizens.

“It seems that Alaska’s notorious SNAP backlog caused by a lack of workforce doing many of the tasks in this memo would be much better use of our Guard,” Gray added. “Why not deploy Guard members to feed Alaskans instead of deploying them to earn brownie points with the Trump administration?”

Cindy Woods, senior staff attorney on immigration rights with the ACLU of Alaska, said they have tracked at least 70 ICE arrests this year, as reported in the custody of the Alaska Department of Corrections. That’s an almost 500% increase from last year.

“We have been seeing a growing ICE presence in the state and a growing trend of ICE enforcement,” she said. The ICE activity has been largely in Anchorage, she said.

“We are very concerned about what this signals in relation to our state government’s willingness to cooperate with federal law enforcement, specifically in relation to ICE enforcement operations,” she said of the National Guard announcement. “I think it can’t be overstated the negative impact that increased enforcement has had across the country and Alaska, unfortunately, is not immune to that.”

An estimated 7.7% of the population, or more than 57,000 people, in Alaska are foreign-born, Woods pointed out, and the Trump administration’s continued restrictions on paths to legal immigration and citizenship, as well as humanitarian and refugee resettlement programs are impacting Alaskans.

“It’s kind of an assault from both sides, and so we’re really concerned about that as well,” she said.

Woods said the ACLU is not aware of any U.S. citizens being detained by ICE in Alaska, but there is heightened scrutiny.

“One case that we have heard of recently is of a longtime Anchorage resident who has been happily married and was going to their interview for their green card based on that marriage, and being arrested with basically accusations of marriage fraud,” she said. “And so we’re seeing folks who are in affirmative applications, who are not in any sort of civil enforcement proceedings, who are also being subject to heightened scrutiny and enforcement actions.”

Republicans in the Alaska House have a new leader. Palmer Rep. DeLena Johnson replaced Anchorage Rep. Mia Costello as minority leader on Saturday after a hastily-called vote. And some members of the caucus are crying foul.

Alaska Public Media’s state government reporter, Eric Stone, joined Alaska News Nightly host Casey Grove to break down the transition.

The following transcript has been edited for clarity.

Casey Grove: So, Eric, what happened over the Thanksgiving holiday?

Eric Stone: Well, the story starts a little before that. In mid-November, a couple of Republican lawmakers approached Mia Costello. One of those was DeLena Johnson. She was a little hesitant to tell me exactly how that meeting went, but she told me she did not go into it looking to force Costello out.

Shortly after that, Costello stepped down as minority leader. Here’s what she told me about why.

Mia Costello: I stepped aside because it was clear that I was not able to unite the caucus, and I felt that it was time for somebody else to give it a shot that everyone could unite behind

ES: That, of course, left the House minority caucus without a leader. And it’s a big task to unite a pretty ideologically diverse Republican caucus that has struggled with internal divisions. Some are staunch allies of Gov. Mike Dunleavy, and some have voted on several occasions to override the governor’s vetoes.

But into that vacuum stepped DeLena Johnson. On Saturday, she called a caucus meeting over Zoom, basically just to talk about the way forward. By the end of it, there was a vote, and Johnson won.

Johnson says she wasn’t planning to call a vote. But she says the subject came up organically, so the caucus went ahead and voted. Here’s how she put it.

DeLena Johnson: I’m looking at it thinking, “Well, if the votes don’t change, and they’re not going to change, well, let’s just take the vote now, and then we can just start moving along.”

ES: But here’s the thing: not everybody was there. In fact, six Republicans were absent — basically, the most conservative members. Folks like Big Lake Rep. Kevin McCabe, Homer Rep. Sarah Vance, Anchorage Rep. Jamie Allard and Fairbanks Rep. Frank Tomaszewski.

CG: Not to mention two districts that don’t have any representatives at all.

ES: That’s right — after Reps. Cathy Tilton and George Rauscher got kicked across the Capitol to the Senate to replace Sens. Mike Shower and Shelley Hughes, two districts don’t have anyone in the House, at least not yet. And all of that is a major sticking point for conservatives like McCabe — not least because he’d like to be minority leader himself.

Kevin McCabe: If I had been there — I was also in the running, there were some folks that were supporting me — we could have maybe at least had a debate instead of just a coronation.

ES: Of course, it might not have changed the outcome of the vote. It does not sound to me like McCabe had the votes to lead the House Republicans. But he says the decision to hold the vote — without telling the caucus it was coming — robbed him and other conservatives of a chance to make their case and possibly change some minds.

Johnson says she wanted to have the vote sooner rather than later, actually in part because of those two vacancies.

DeLena Johnson: There’s some desire to have some leadership as we move through the next month, because we have two new members that we’re going to have to interview, and then we will have to go through a mini-reorganization process for our new members, shuffling around committees and assigning committees.

ES: Gov. Mike Dunleavy appoints the replacement representatives, but they are subject to a confirmation vote by House Republicans. And Tilton’s elevation to the Senate along with Costello’s stepping aside left the caucus without any leadership — Tilton was the minority whip, the number two in the caucus.

In any case, Johnson says she’d be happy to hold more discussions and votes about caucus leadership.

CG: So the Republican caucus has a new leader. What does that mean for how the legislative session will go this year?

ES: That’s a little harder to say. If you ask McCabe, he says the leadership transition is a move towards the center for the Republican minority.

Kevin McCabe: There is a push from inside our caucus to do that, mainly because they think it will allow them the ability to elect representatives — more moderate representatives that are least Republican in name — from Anchorage. I think that’s a mistake. But yes, there is a push to to drive us to a more centrist position

ES: Johnson rejects that view — she does not see it as a move towards the center. And she says she’s excited about the work ahead. She calls this a “rough patch” but says she’s hoping the House minority can push some Republican priorities forward this session.

DeLena Johnson: There’s a lot of different things out there. We’ve got the movement on the gas line on the national front — we have a lot of eyes on Alaska. And I hope, and I want our house minority, our Republican minority (to have) the opportunity to really be a part of a solution on a number of those things.

ES: But this might not be over. I asked McCabe whether the move has him considering whether to leave the minority caucus. Here’s what he said.

Kevin McCabe: You just never know what’s going to happen in in the legislature

CG: I’ve got to say, that doesn’t sound like a no.

ES: It does not. So there might be some more turbulence ahead.

Ten years ago, the state of Alaska signed an agreement with British Columbia that sought to give Alaskans a say in the development of mines upstream of Southeast Alaska. Environmental advocates say Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration has walked away from key pillars of that agreement — but state officials say they remain committed to keeping cross-border rivers clean.

It’s a boom time for mines in British Columbia. There are a few reasons for that — the rise of renewable energy and the growing importance of microchips, and, of course, President Trump’s trade war. Provincial leaders have fast-tracked a variety of resource development projects — including some proposed mines upstream of communities in Southeast Alaska.

“The majority of this region is staked with mining claims,” said Breanna Walker with the group Salmon Beyond Borders, which has campaigned for stricter limits on mines near rivers that cross into Southeast Alaska.

Ten years ago, Gov. Bill Walker signed an agreement with the premier of British Columbia that he said would give Alaskans a greater voice in the future of B.C. mines. It led to the creation of a working group where senior officials from Alaska and B.C. would meet twice a year to discuss mining and the environment.

Breanna Walker says that was a reason for optimism — but she says in the years since, the Dunleavy administration has failed to live up to its commitments.

She pointed to a variety of issues, including the Dunleavy administration’s decision to discontinue water quality monitoring on cross-border rivers in 2021. Walker said she’d also like to see the meetings between provincial and state leaders include other stakeholders, like Alaska tribes and fishermen.

Additionally, Walker said the Dunleavy administration has failed to keep up the pressure on B.C. to clean up the Tulsequah Chief Mine upstream of Juneau that’s been polluting the Taku River for decades. And she said the state has failed to keep Alaskans informed about other mining activity and pollution upstream of Southeast — despite a portion of the agreement that says Alaskans should be notified.

Walker points in particular to pollution at a mine near Hyder, at the state’s southeastern tip.

“Alaskans learned about that pollution through the media. They did not learn about that from the state or from the province of British Columbia,” she said. “That’s a clear example, in my opinion, of how the state is abdicating the responsibility that they have to Alaskans.”

The Dunleavy administration disagrees. State officials point to webpages maintained by the state and B.C. detailing the ongoing work between the two governments. And they say the water quality monitoring that ended in 2021 duplicated similar efforts at the federal level.

Sam Dapcevich of the state Department of Environmental Conservation said the state has continued to advocate for Alaskans’ interests at working group meetings.

“DEC is fully engaged and working with our B.C. counterparts on activity awareness and status of projects,” he said.

Just last month, at the most recent cross-border meeting, Dapcevich said the Alaska delegation asked for an update on the cleanup of the Tulsequah Chief Mine. And in response, the company working on cleanup is planning to hold a public webinar on Wednesday.

“I just want people to understand that our agencies are deeply involved between the two governments, advocating for cleanup, and we’re using shared science to protect these rivers,” he said.

Dapcevich said the state remains committed to ensuring Alaskans’ voices aren’t lost in the process.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy has appointed state Reps. George Rauscher, R-Sutton, and Cathy Tilton, R-Wasilla, to two vacancies in the Alaska Senate.

Each nomination will become effective if at least five of the Senate’s nine other Republicans approve them. Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, said the votes will take place by secret ballot at 10 a.m. Saturday in Anchorage.

“Honestly, I think both of them are excellent candidates,” Stevens said on Wednesday, adding that he expects both to be confirmed.

If Rauscher and Tilton are confirmed, their House seats would become vacant, and Dunleavy would be required to appoint replacements within 30 days of their resignations.

The two Senate seats became vacant after Sen. Mike Shower, R-Wasilla, resigned to run for lieutenant governor and Sen. Shelley Hughes, R-Palmer, resigned to run for governor.

Dunleavy’s picks were due no more than 30 days after their resignations, but he acted earlier, which will allow the replacement legislators to take office before the regular legislative session convenes in January.

“I can’t think of two Alaskans more qualified and committed to public service to serve in the Alaska Senate than Representatives Rauscher and Tilton,” Dunleavy said in a statement announcing the selections. “I have known and worked with both for as long as I have been in public office and I look forward to working collaboratively with them as senators. I also want to thank the local Republican district committees for taking the time to meet, deliberate, and send forward names for these seats. This process works best when the people closest to the communities are involved.”

Tilton, first elected to the House in 2014, was Speaker of the House from 2023 through 2024. Reached by phone on Wednesday in the middle of Thanksgiving shopping, she referred to a statement on her Facebook page.

“I look forward to collaborating with my Senate colleagues to advance sensible policy solutions, foster an energy renaissance, and usher in an era of renewed prosperity for all Alaskans,” the statement said in part.

Rauscher said he’s already at work on a letter thanking Dunleavy for his appointment, but he declined to say what he thinks his confirmation chances are.

“It’s an honor,” Rauscher said of the appointment, “and I feel like it was quite the undertaking — the process — and to have it this close to seeing what the final outcome is, is always a relief in some ways, but it’s also very exciting that I am this close. So I appreciate the fact that the governor did consider me and thought highly enough of me to appoint me.”

Several senators said they expect Rauscher and Tilton to be confirmed, but each declined to say how he or she will vote, citing the need to work with them regardless.

Of the nine Republican senators who will be voting on this weekend’s confirmations, five are members of the Senate’s bipartisan majority caucus, and four are members of the Senate’s all-Republican minority.

Shower and Hughes were members of the House minority, and their replacements are expected to be as well.

Stevens said he’s conducting the confirmation vote by secret ballot in order to avoid the possibility of hurt feelings.

“I don’t want to have anybody have bad feelings when we start working together in January,” he said.

Stevens said he wants to give the House’s replacement process as much time as possible, since that will involve the appointment of two people new to the Legislature who will need to hire staff and uproot their lives in order to arrive in Juneau in January and be ready to work.

“I just want to make sure the House has all the time they need,” he said.

Officials with the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management announced a reduction of some state emergency response operations on Friday, and a transition from a response to a recovery phase following the Western Alaska storms as winter sets in.

Emergency personnel with the Alaska Organized Militia, the Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Prevention and veteran-led volunteer organization Team Rubicon are ending their missions and departing the region this week. Their work for the season should be complete by Nov. 26, according to a division update.

“Some aspects of the recovery operation might look different, but the support for impacted individuals and communities will continue,” said Bryan Fisher, director of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management in a prepared statement.

He thanked the disaster crews for their service. “The work to get emergency repair personnel, supplies, and equipment to communities and repair homes has been nothing short of amazing,” he said.

The reduction in personnel was expected as winter weather and freezing temperatures set in, said Jeremy Zidek, spokesperson for the State Emergency Operations Center, which is coordinating state, federal, tribal and local partners in the storm disaster response effort.

“We knew when this disaster happened, back on October 8, that we didn’t have a lot of time before winter was going to set in,” Zidek said on Monday. “Here in Alaska, we have two seasons: we have winter and we have construction season. And the ability to work during the winter in these far flung areas that are experiencing below freezing temperatures is very challenging.”

“So we knew this time would come where we would have to kind of cease some of this emergency response work,” he added. “And really focus on supporting the people that couldn’t return home, and making a plan, longer term, to make repairs when conditions are more favorable.”

The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities will continue to work on critical infrastructure projects, Zidek said, as well as coordinate with local residents in impacted communities and regional partners like the Association of Village Council Presidents, the tribal coalition leading storm response efforts on the west coast, to continue work in villages as weather allows.

“A lot of work is still going to continue, particularly on infrastructure,” he said. “And there are going to be local crews that can take better advantage of weather windows, both within communities and out of Bethel. But for the most part, we’re going to focus on repairing critical infrastructure and providing services to people that have been displaced.”

The devastating October storms in Western Alaska prompted the largest emergency disaster response in state history. The remnants of Typhoon Halong killed one person, impacted more than 50 communities, destroyed over 200 homes, damaged thousands of structures, and displaced an estimated 1,600 residents across the state, according to local reporting from KYUK.

Zidek emphasized that communities were impacted at different degrees, and the coordinated response from a wide variety of federal, state, tribal and community organization partners will continue to support communities as needed.

Since the Trump administration approved a federal disaster declaration on Oct 22, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has distributed $17.9 million in assistance, under its individual and household assistance programs, as of Sunday, an agency spokesperson, Alberto Pilot said by email on Monday.

Pilot said the federal agency has dispersed over $172,000 in housing assistance funds and $17.7 million in “other needs” assistance, which can include disaster unemployment assistance, legal services and crisis counseling. FEMA has also dispersed over $1 million to the state for “expedited public assistance,” he said.

The Dunleavy administration has requested a 100 percent cost share covered by FEMA for the storm disaster, but that request is “currently under review,” a FEMA spokesperson confirmed on Monday.

Zidek noted that the state has paused its distribution of disaster assistance to allow FEMA disaster funds to be dispersed first. He said while the programs provide different kinds of support — for example, the state will cover funding repairs to subsistence fishing camps — the relief funding cannot be duplicated on the same projects, like for home repair work. If that occurs, the state will seek repayment from residents or disqualify them from future benefits, according to a division update.

Storm survivors are still encouraged to apply for state disaster assistance and FEMA disaster assistance to cover different costs as the recovery effort continues. Additional assistance is offered by the American Red Cross.

There are currently 600 storm evacuees staying in non-congregate shelters, like hotels, and the process of transitioning to longer term housing is ongoing, Zidek said.

“Our goal is to get as many people as possible into some type of temporary housing by Christmas,” he said. “It’s kind of a lofty goal. We might not be able to get everyone in there, but we want to move a large number of people in non-congregate shelters to something that will be more longer term and more comfortable.”

The Alaska National Guard will largely depart the region and return home by Tuesday, a spokesperson said, except for one UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter air crew stationed in Bethel, which will remain ready to respond at the request of state emergency officials.

As of Monday, the Alaska National Guard reported its service members have assisted 18 communities in the storm disaster relief effort in what officials say is the largest off-the-road-system mobilization in Alaska history.

National Guard service members evacuated 1,160 residents from the region and assisted with resupply efforts, delivering 350,000 pounds of cargo and supplies to coastal villages and logging 364 flight hours. They transported emergency personnel throughout the region, and service members also cleared miles of boardwalks, removed tons of debris, assessed almost 500 homes and secured or moved 94 caskets displaced by the storm.