By Natalie Spaulding

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration has granted $115,410,041 in federal funding for Alaska’s port infrastructure.

The grant funds are part of the Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP), which has $450 million in available grant money for Fiscal Year 2026. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Pub. L. 117-58, November 15, 2021) (“IIJA”) provided PIDP with $2.25 billion to be given out over 5 years, starting in 2022 and ending this year. The FY 2026 Appropriations Act appropriated an additional $103,330,000 to PIDP FY26.

Grants are awarded to projects that “improve the safety, efficiency, or reliability of the movement of goods into, out of, around, or within a port.”

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By Natalie Spaulding

This morning, April 21, 2026, U.S. Representative Nick Begich (R-Alaska), along with Congressman Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) and Burgess Owens (R-Utah), introduced the House companion bill to the DATA Act of 2026, which seeks to expand energy production without raising costs for Americans.

The Decentralized Access to Technology Alternatives (DATA) Act of 2026 was first introduced by Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas). The bill creates a new category of electric utility: the consumer-regulated electric utility (CREU). CRUEs are off-grid electric systems that are “physically isolated from all regulated utilities, the bulk power system, and the Bulk Electric System.” The Act exempts these off-grid systems from federal regulations under the Federal Power Act, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Department of Energy, and the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 2005.

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By Natalie Spaulding

Today, April 21, the Alaska State Senate approved the Fiscal Year 2027 Capital Budget (Senate Bill 214), which allocates a total $2,428,273,719 for capital projects and improvements impacting Alaska’s transportation system, public facilities, education, commerce, environment, natural resources, military, public safety, and more.

Approximately $248 million is allocated from the Unrestricted General Funds (UGF), $69 million from Designated General Funds, $104 million in other funds, and the remaining nearly $2 billion comes from federal matching funds.

The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities will receive 72% of the budget with $1.74 billion ($1.5 billion from federal matching) allocated to DOT&PF.

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By Natalie Spaulding

This morning, April 24, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Lacey Sanders, presented budget amendments to the Senate Finance Committee.

The Governor requests a federal receipt authority and a corresponding supplemental to utilize a $50,000 grant from the federal government for the Office of Public Advocacy. The grant money will be used to support the Court Appointed Special Advocate and Guardian ad Litem Program. A court appointed special advocate (CASA) is a community volunteer trained and supervised by professional program staff to speak up for abused and neglected children in child welfare court cases. CASA volunteers support professional, paid guardian ad litem (GAL) advocates. Every child in state custody in Alaska has a GAL advocate.

The next request relates to the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development.

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By Nathaniel Herz, Northern Journal

Northern Journal’s survey of Alaska’s many gubernatorial hopefuls is back — this time, asking how much money candidates would budget for Permanent Fund dividends.

We also find out when each candidate last rode on Alaska’s state ferry system — a publicly funded network that’s been the subject of polarizing budget debates in recent years.

Starting in this edition, we’ve narrowed the surveyed candidates to those who reported raising at least $3,000 in the latest round of campaign finance reports — as well as those who announced their candidacies after the latest reporting deadline.

Republicans Bernadette Wilson, Adam Crum, Treg Taylor and Nancy Dahlstrom did not respond to our questions; we sent them multiple requests.

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By Bob Bird

Most of us lament that the interminably long list of candidates offered to the Alaskan voter, through RCV, is exhaustive. It makes it impossible to discern the best positions and the best candidates. But three have advocated the kind of leadership we need in the governor’s seat. These three have stuck their necks out and have openly declared some unselfish and courageous things.

The first was Bernadette Wilson. She stated early on, that in order to defeat RCV, the Republicans who do not finish highest should drop out of the general election. And she stated categorically that she would do exactly that.

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1) Very involved - We should spread democracy in all countries and work toward world peace: 22 votes

2) Somewhat involved - Intervention in other countries is sometimes justified, such as in cases of humanitarian crisis: 51 votes

3) Very little involved - We should only intervene in other countries when it impacts our national security: 73 votes

4) Not involved - We should not intervene in other countries' affairs: 12 votes

Total Votes: 158

Alaska Oil: $109.05 per barrel

Alaska Residential Gas Price: $12.92/kcf

Henry Hub Weekly Spot: $2.72/mmBTU

Alaska North Slope Production: ~459,000 barrels per day

Permanent Fund (Principal + Earnings Reserve): ~$86.4 billion

Research conducted by Grok AI, using the following sources: Alaska Oil & Gas Association, U.S. Energy Information Association, and the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation.