Alaska’s U.S. House Rep. Nick Begich III says he believes the Trump administration could be able to expedite solutions to glacial outburst flooding in Juneau’s Mendenhall Valley.
At a Juneau Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Thursday, he called the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers’ current five to ten-year timeline to study and address the annual disaster unacceptable.
“I think that we do have an administration that has decided that they’re not going to adhere to too much red tape,” Begichsaid. “In this instance, it could be very helpful for moving things quickly.”
The Republican congressman answered questions and spoke with Juneau community members after addressing state lawmakers earlier in the morning. He talked about regional concerns like child care and proposed bolstering the logging industry in Southeast Alaska. He also spoke to the recent flurry of federal employee layoffs in Juneau.
Begich said he plans to meet with a flood mitigation working group in Juneau later this week and will bring what he learns from them back to D.C. to advocate for the region.
“It needs ideally to be fixed before we expect the next flooding period to occur in the summer months that are quickly approaching,” he said. “Whatever mitigation actions we take, whether they’re temporary or permanent, we need to try to get them rolled out as rapidly as possible.”
Earlier this month the Juneau Assembly voted to move forward with a controversial plan to install flood barriers along the Mendenhall River this summer. It’s a short-term solution and the cost of it will be spread between city taxpayers and property owners in flood-prone neighborhoods.
Begich said he didn’t have any immediate answers for federal workers in Juneau whose jobs were terminated, but he encouraged them to reach out to his office detailing their situation.
“I don’t exist in the Donald Trump administration — I exist as the representative of Alaska. Therefore, I’m not a party to every single decision and every single agency as it is being made,” he said. “But, I do have the ability to go back and advocate for Alaska on important positions and important programs.”
