US Rep. Peltola Discusses Alaska’s Future

By Colin A. Warren

On September 17, with over a month to go until her re-election vote, Alaska’s incumbent U.S. Representative Mary Peltola took a break from her job in D.C. to chat via phone with The Sun Star. We discussed explaining Alaska to outsiders and solutions to our state’s unique problems, such as outmigration and aviation needs, the Presidential election, hyperpolarization, and the younger generation. 

Peltola just passed the two-year mark as Alaska’s Representative, so she was asked how she explains our state’s needs, difficulties, and our much different way of life to people from the Lower 48.  She said describing the massive size of our state matters but that she’s veered from telling people that we’re the size of three Texases at low tide to telling them that if Alaska were its own country, it’d be the 18th largest country in the world. 

Photo by Colin A. Warren

ALL EARS – Peltola listens as a constituent exclaims during the Iditarod Restart in Willow last March

But it’s not just our size that needs explaining. According to Peltola, Alaska is “at least 100 or 200 years behind the Lower 48 in infrastructure development,” and 82% of our communities are inaccessible by road. Sometimes, Peltola relays these facts herself, and sometimes, she relies on expert Alaskans that she invites to D.C. to convey these facts, such as sharing that over half the Native Tribes in the United States reside in Alaska.

She proudly pointed to a special Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization that she pushed through in May with the help of Senators Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski. This achieved access to federal funds for enhanced aviation safety, airport improvements, and a waiver on banning lead in aviation fuels for six years, amongst other provisions. She explained that she tried for a 10-year exemption for aviation fuels but had to compromise to six.

The waiver for lead fuels is argued for by the need of expense and the fact older planes, which are many in Alaska, cannot always perform correctly with unleaded gas. Opposition to the exemption point out that lead is extremely toxic and particularly affects developing children. 

“And the vast majority of Alaskans are independent, nonpartisan, or undeclared. And that’s who I spend most of my time thinking about and really trying to speak to, are the people who are in the middle...”

Over her terms as our Representative, Peltola has become a leader of the “Blue Dog Coalition” in Congress, a group of moderate Democrats. This middle-of-the-road aim caused The Sun Star to inquire what guides her in her quest for moderation. It was noted that she both brags about the opening of Conoco’s Willow Project on the North Slope, whose oil is estimated to generate $8 billion in state revenues, and she also brought home the largest federal renewable energy grant. 

“I’m not good at talking about things in an extreme way. I’m just a very normal Alaskan and very moderate. And I think most Alaskans are moderate. You can see that by voter registrations. We have sixteen percent Democrats [and] twenty-something percent Republicans. And the vast majority of Alaskans are independent, nonpartisan, or undeclared. And that’s who I spend most of my time thinking about and really trying to speak to, are the people who are in the middle...”

When asked if she would ever consider running as a moderate Republican, she demurred, her soothing professorial voice fraying for the only time during our conversation, as she said that she doesn’t think one party is “necessarily better than another party in Alaska,” adding that the partisanship in the United States that has been creeping into Alaska is “pretty extreme.”

Peltola also didn’t care to weigh in on the presidential election, saying that we should acknowledge that we will probably never be a swing state in her lifetime, so it doesn’t make sense for her to “use up my gas” or spend her political capital, talking about a race she doesn’t have any influence on.

The only time Alaska has voted for a Democrat since statehood was for Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

When Alaska’s outmigration came up, Peltola mentioned the need to fix the Government Pension Offset or GPO and the Windfall Elimination Provision or WEP, both discouraging people from becoming educators and filling other state jobs. In late September, she signed a petition for a House vote on the Social Security Fairness Act, a bill that would eliminate both said provisions, GPO and WEP and hopefully revitalize the hiring of state workers.

Peltola also pointed to a summit she helped organize in September to address outmigration with UAA’s Institute of Social and Economic Research, the Alaska Federation of Natives, and the First Alaskans Institute in Anchorage. She said that she was“pleasantly surprised” that every seat at the event was taken and that people returned energized for the second day of the summit. They had focused breakout groups on topics like housing, oil and gas, education, and health care. She hopes there will be more meetings like it in the future.

With time running out, her chief of staff, Anton McParland, said we had time for one more question. 

We pivoted to soon-to-be graduates of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Even though the judicial branch currently locks up student loan forgiveness, Peltola said that she would be interested in supporting a version of it that courts allow. Also, she said that she was interested in anything that helps people enter the workforce, including helping with interest rates, school debt, and even climate change.

“I am for any kind of program that helps this young generation,” she said before she parted ways to climb the Hill in D.C. to continue voting and negotiating for the future of our state. 

She returned to the phone for one last second to remind people to register to vote.

The Nome Nugget file photo by Colin A. Warren

WITH HER PEOPLE – Peltola poses with a crowd of supporters in Nome in July