KTVF: Senate Bill brings funds to interior

Senator Lisa Murkowski held a press conference for Alaska Media this morning to discuss the 'Interior appropriations funding bill' that passed the senate, yesterday.

In the press event, Murkowski said yesterday's 92–6 vote was significant since appropriations bills in the past have struggled to get strong bipartisan support.

It has also been almost a decade since an Interior bill was considered on the senate floor.

Murkowski says the bill is for the land, water, and the people of Alaska...

But when asked about the air, the senior senator explained how the Fairbanks North Star Borough will soon receive help in the form of increased EPA grants.

"We increased the funding to fifty million dollars for the EPA targeted air shed grants. These are the grants that will allow communities like Fairbanks to become eligible to support those programs like we have seen this past year were they have put in place Wood stove change outs in order to help reduce the amount of air pollution. We were able to get four million dollars directed to Fairbanks, this year through the Omnibus Bill, so with the plus up in this account, for overall targeted air shed grants to fifty million dollars. This is a significant boost," said Murkowski.

Murkowski ended the press conference by mentioning how proud she is of the impact the bill will have on Alaska, and of the process that produced a bipartisan product in the Senate.