By Jonson Kuhn
Published: Jun. 17, 2024 at 5:29 PM AKDT
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Alaska U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan recently voted to advance the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act from committee, authorizing more than $790 million in military construction for Alaska and expanding support for Alaska-based service members.
The measure advanced from the Senate Armed Services Committee last Friday and is part of $923 billion defense authorization spending for 2025, which includes 34 provisions authored by Sullivan. He said in a Zoom interview with Alaska’s News Source that he anticipates the bipartisan bill will “almost certainly” pass Congress as it has consistently done so for the last 65 years.
“This (bill) reinforces the strategic importance of Alaska,” Sullivan said. “There is almost $800 million in military construction for projects across the board in Alaska, that is really big. That’s everything from housing to additional training to operations centers. This is great for the national security of our nation because our state is so strategically important.”
Sullivan added that the vast majority of the military construction funds will go to Alaska-based contractors and workers who are best familiar with building within a state that sometimes can create unique challenges.
Among the many provisions, Sullivan said he made sure to provide considerations around extended travel allowance for service members stationed within the state to more easily visit homes. He said this allowance directly impacts the morale and quality of life at a time when the Department of Defense is especially considering the mental health challenges of serving in Alaska.
Additional provisions aim at reevaluating how cost of living allowances are calculated to include appropriate costs of location-specific items — such as food and clothing — as it pertains to Alaskan service members specifically.
“We have a lot of challenges with regard to cost of living, and this is something that the Department of Defense, in my view, has not done a good job of evaluating,” Sullivan said. “We have great military members, but as you know, we’ve had very high rates of suicide among our active duty forces in Alaska. So a number of things that I’ve been working on over the course of several years, but was able to get a number of provisions back in this NDAA were things that make it better for the quality of life of our troops, whether better, better barracks, which is a lot of what the military construction is better training.”
Another Alaska-related provision looks to create a pilot program to make Coast Guard installations eligible for the Defense Community Infrastructure Program, which funds infrastructure improvements — including for schools and police stations — in communities in Alaska near Coast Guard stations.
Sullivan also touched on the number of provisions centered around “critical minerals, specifically the restoration of the Ambler Access Project, which was rejected by the Biden administration earlier this year. Though often a controversial topic, Sullivan said the amendment would not affect the Alaska Native lands through sections where the route would cross and further puts the Ambler decision into the “hands of Alaskans.”
“We are completely reliant, way too reliant on the Chinese Communist economy, on China for critical minerals,” he said. “So we have to produce and mine these minerals in our own country. That just makes sense. We should not be reliant on one of our biggest adversaries.”
The Ambler Road project proposes a 210-mile road through the foothills of the Brooks Range that would allow mining of critical minerals including copper, cobalt, zinc, silver, and gold. There are no mining proposals or current mines in the area, however, and the proposed funding model for the Ambler Road project is speculative, the Interior Department said in a statement.
Other provisions authored by Sullivan include considerations for a one-year stay on the Air National Guard Program Element Code (PEC)-leveling; oversight of the Navy’s investment plan to make support in Adak sufficient to refuel Navy vessels; and a prohibition on military dining facilities from purchasing or selling seafood originating from or processed in China.
Also contributing to the annual defense bill is Representative Mary Peltola, who put through an amendment that would add the Coast Guard Commandant to the defense Joint Chiefs of Staff, recognizing the Coast Guard’s vital role in National security.
“In Alaska, the Coast Guard is so critical because we do have more coastline than all of the Lower 48 combined,” Peltola said. “I think it’s very important to make sure that our service men and women across our state and country know that we support them and we intend for them to be fully paid on time, and we appreciate the work that they do for our country.”
The $790 million in military construction authorizations for Alaska include:
- $250 million for the Joint Integrated Test and Training Facility at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson (JBER).
- $198 million for unaccompanied enlisted personnel housing at Ft. Wainwright.
- $120 million for family housing at JBER.
- $67 million for a National Guard readiness center at JBER.
- $55 million for fuel facilities at JBER.
- $44 million for an Air National Guard base supply complex at JBER.
- $23 million for an automated multipurpose machine gun range at Ft. Wainwright.
- $19.3 million for a combat rescue helicopter simulator at JBER.
- $14 million for a fuels operations and lab facility at Eielson Air Force Base.
This version of the defense authorization still must be debated and voted on by the full senate before going to the President’s desk, and is expected to be signed into law before the end of the year.
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