Federal officials have denied Alaska’s request to cover all initial expenses associated with a costly and complicated disaster response effort following a catastrophic Western Alaska storm last fall.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy is appealing the decision, revising his request to ask that the Federal Emergency Management Agency instead pay 90% of the cost.

In early October, the remnants of Typhoon Halong inundated numerous Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta communities and destroyed swaths of the Yup’ik villages of Kipnuk and Kwigillingok. The storm left one person dead and two missing when their home was swept away by floodwaters.

After the storm, Dunleavy asked FEMA to cover 100% of costs incurred during an initial 90-day period after the storm. In a Jan. 16 letter to the agency appealing the denial, Dunleavy said it was one of Alaska’s most “rapid, complex, and aviation-intensive emergency operations in its history.”

An Oct. 22 federal disaster declaration for the region from President Donald Trump approved $25 million to cover the cost of recovery efforts in Western Alaska.

FEMA denied Dunleavy’s request to fully fund the initial response in a Dec. 20 letter, saying only that “it has been determined that the increased level of funding you have requested” to help cover disaster response expenses “is not warranted.”

FEMA officials didn’t immediately provide further details when asked about the denial on Friday.

In his appeal letter, Dunleavy said state wasn’t asking for extra accommodations beyond the 90-day window and still expected to be primarily responsible for “the broader recovery mission” of rebuilding and mitigating future risk.

“This limited, focused adjustment will allow Alaska and its partners to maintain essential public services, manage an extraordinarily complex and winter-constrained housing and lifeline mission, and continue investing State, local, and tribal resources into mitigation and stabilization,” Duleavy wrote. “It represents not an expansion of government, but a targeted use of Federal authority to back a State that has acted decisively.”

An unsuccessful appeal, Dunleavy warned in the letter, would threaten state or local services.

When asked how the state would pay for the expenses if the appeal failed, Dunleavy spokesperson Jeff Turner said that “the administration will await the federal government’s decision.”

State officials didn’t know when to expect that decision, Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management spokesperson Jeremy Zidek said.

Alaska U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and U.S. Rep. Nick Begich had also urged the Trump administration to authorize the 100% cost share in an Oct. 17 letter.

Spokespeople for all three members of the delegation said Friday that they believed Alaska should receive a higher cost share and supported the state’s appeal. All said they were engaging with the Trump administration about the issue.

Typically, the federal government pays for 75% of costs during that initial 90-day response window, Zidek said.

The state successfully petitioned FEMA for a deviation from that ratio last in 2018, Zidek said, when it agreed to cover 90% of 90-day recovery costs following the November 2018 Southcentral Alaska earthquake.

For the most recent disaster, response work in the first weeks “was very costly” and included flying crews out to complete work such as village airport runway repairs or road and bridge assessments, he said.

Dunleavy in his letter said this disaster response work has been more expensive than many other emergency recovery efforts due to “Alaska’s uniquely limited tax base and the extraordinary cost of operating in remote, roadless western Alaska.”

Officials said they expect repair and mitigation work to take years.

In the first weeks after the storm, the state incurred $20 million in expenses for work like debris removal and the largest mass airlift evacuation in Alaska history, Dunleavy said.

As of Thursday, 475 evacuees remained in non-congregate shelters at Anchorage hotels, while 216 had been moved to longer-term apartment-style housing, according to a Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management daily report. Most evacuees are from the hardest-hit villages of Kwigillingok and Kipnuk, where Dunleavy said 90% of its structures were severely damaged or destroyed.

Officials expect the first three months of shelter and evacuee support expenses to total $12.5 million, according to the state’s appeal letter.

It’s too early, however, to estimate what the total response costs will amount to for that 90-day period because many agencies and organizations have yet to tally their costs and submit them to officials for reimbursement, Zidek said.

Estimated costs also don’t include “emergency expenditures” racked up by local and tribal governments, regional tribal nonprofits, Alaska Native corporations and other non-state groups, Dunleavy said.

“Many of these are small, fiscally limited entities that have already borne significant non-reimbursable disaster costs,” Dunleavy wrote. “Without a 90/10 cost share for the first 90 days, these disaster response partners will be forced to cut essential local services and limit additional disaster recovery actions.”

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate may have found a way to avoid a prolonged federal shutdown over the harsh immigration enforcement tactics deployed in Minneapolis and other cities.

Senate Democrats held up funding for a large swath of the government this week, demanding reforms in the way federal agencies pursue enforcement. Their insistence follows widespread outrage over the death of a second American citizen in Minneapolis Saturday.

They reached an agreement with the White House and Republican leaders Thursday that could keep the government funded while the final bill is ironed out.

As news of the agreement broke, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she didn’t know the specifics, but she agreed with many of the reforms Democrats have asked for, such as de-escalation training for enforcement officers and requiring them to get warrants to enter homes.

“This can’t just be kind of a fishing expedition, where you’re hoping you find somebody in the home but you haven’t been able to identify them,” she said.

(She didn’t specify whether they have to be judicial orders, as Democrats want, or whether administrative warrants will suffice.)

Likewise, she also wants to end roving patrols.

“We don’t just wander the street, hoping that you can find somebody that you think perhaps looks suspicious, and you grab and you ask questions later,” she said. “That is not what we do in this country.”

Sen. Dan Sullivan said that he, too, supports changes in enforcement operations. He mentioned body cameras and de-escalation training, which are in the funding bill the House has already passed.

“I think ICE needs to revise its tactics and techniques,” he said. “We don’t want, you know — my view is any civilians having the tragic deaths that we saw.”

He took a question about immigration enforcement during a press call on an unrelated subject. Sullivan didn’t say how he felt about ending roving patrols but said he’d look at the provisions in the negotiated bill.

“I’m always up for reforms that can make it safer for Americans and our law enforcement,” he said.

The Senate was expected to pass the funding bills Thursday night, but several Republican senators objected, so a vote is now expected Friday, at the earliest.

One of the bills, for the Department of Homeland Security, is a stop-gap, to keep the department going while the final bill with the enforcement reforms is prepared. The House has to pass the bills, too. The current funding expires on Saturday, so at least a short lapse in funding is likely.

This story has been updated to reflect that the expected Senate vote did not occur Thursday.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – The U.S. Coast Guard is considering homeporting up to four additional icebreakers in Alaska as part of a major expansion of its Arctic presence, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday told lawmakers during a U.S. Senate hearing Thursday.

Lunday made the comments while testifying before the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Coast Guard, Maritime, and Fisheries, chaired by Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, who has pushed for increased federal investment in Arctic security and maritime infrastructure.

“One of the first ones that I want them to present, among a range of options for consideration [and] decision, [to] me in consultation with Secretary Noem is for homeporting up to four icebreakers in Alaska,” Lunday said, adding that the Coast Guard is developing options for consideration as part of its long-term planning.

The potential expansion would draw from a fleet of 11 Arctic Security Cutters announced under the U.S.-Finland Icebreaker Agreement and the ICE Pact, and international framework aimed at strengthening icebreaking capacity among allied nations.

Funding for at least three Arctic Security Cutters, along with the infrastructure to support them, was approved through the Working Families Tax Cut Act, a sweeping budget reconciliation measure that includes roughly $25 billion for Coast Guard modernization, the largest investment in the service’s history.

The funding package also includes money for the new cutters, aircraft and helicopters, as well as billions of dollars to repair and replace aging shore facilities nationwide.

Sullivan said the investments are critical as the Coast Guard faces growing demands across multiple regions while operating an aging fleet.

“The Coast Guard is being asked to do more across every theater,” Sullivan said, pointing to counter-drug operations enforcement against sanctioned vessels, Indo-Pacific missions, search-and-rescue operations, and efforts to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

The Coast Guard currently operates a limited number of icebreakers, one of which has experienced prolonged mechanical issues. Sullivan cited a growing capability gap with other Arctic nations, including Russia, which operates dozens of ice-capable vessels.

In addition to potential new icebreakers, Alaska is set to receive a range of Coast Guard assets and infrastructure upgrades, including funding for cutters, helicopters, aircraft, housing and shore facilities. A new Coast Guard pier in Juneau is already under development to support expanded Arctic and Pacific operations, and the polar icebreaker Storis is expected to homeport there.

Lunday voiced support for expanding Alaska’s shipbuilding and maintenance capabilities, particularly in Southeast and Southcentral Alaska, saying partnerships with private industry could improve efficiency and readiness.

The Coast Guard’s expanded presence is intended to strengthen maritime safety, national security, maritime safety and environmental response capabilities across Alaska’s vast coastline, according to Sullivan.

No final decision has been made of the homeporting of additional icebreakers, but Lunday said Alaska is under active consideration as the Coast Guard evaluated its future Arctic posture and presence.

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