Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg got a taste of the challenges of traveling in Southeast Alaska on Wednesday morning when his Alaska Seaplanes flight from Juneau to Haines got canceled because of weather conditions.
Buttigieg, who was visiting the state for the first time, ended up taking the Hubbard alongside Alaska U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, and arrived in Haines just before noon. It’s the first time in recent memory – and perhaps ever – that a U.S. cabinet secretary has visited Haines.
Buttigieg and Murkowski met with tribal leaders and people traveling between the state capitol and Haines during the five-hour ferry ride.
.“Many of the people that we were going to meet here were able to hop on the ferry with us, so I think the Secretary had a good chance to sit down and really visit with people while at the same time seeing the land and the area around him and really understand the value of how we’re moving here,” said Murkowski.
While on the ferry, Buttigieg and Murkowski announced a new Alaska Marine Highway route designation that will connect the Aleutian Islands and the Arctic Ocean.
When Buttigieg and Murkowski arrived in Haines, they were greeted by strong winds and an enthusiastic group of community members holding signs protesting the Lutak Dock and advocating for more funding for the ferry system.
Once they were ushered inside the terminal out of the rain, Buttigieg and Murkowski spoke with Alaska Marine Highway System workers, including Brian Edwards, Chairman of the Alaska region, and three other AMHS staff.
The Biden administration gave $285 million to AMHS last year to help modernize the ferry fleet and buy an electric ferry.
“We discussed the importance of the funding that we’ve gotten to increase reliability for the fleet. It’s kind of been getting a little older and breaking down a little more,” said Edwards.
Buttugieg said his experience traveling to Haines Wednesday “demonstrates the unique conditions that folks in rural Alaska live with everyday.”
As the conversation continued, protestors spilled into the terminal, trying to grab Buttigieg’s attention with their signs and snapping pictures of him and Murkowski. When the conversation was over, Buttigieg stopped and spoke with several of the protestors, including Stacie Evans, Board President of Lynn Canal Conservation (LCC).
“We hope to just provide a counterpoint to the information that Senator Murkowski and Secretary Buttigieg were getting from Borough staff, so I think we achieved that,” said Evans after the meeting. Evans also said that they handed Buttigieg a white paper put together by LCC documenting concerns over the Lutak Dock project, including what they see as environmental and financial risks. They also charge that the dock is being pushed by mining interests, which would use the dock to offload ore.
During his tour of the dock Olerud told Buttigieg and Murkowski that the latter criticism is untrue, since any mine would need large parcels to store the ore and would likely use a private dock.
When asked about local opposition to the project, Buttigieg pointed to his experience as Mayor of South Bend, Ind. “I have a lot of respect for those local processes, and the fact that there are strongly held views about every project,” but he said the DOT is concerned with transportation and infrastructure needs, and he would leave decisions on whether or not to build a mine up to local governments.
After the tour of Lutak Dock, Murkowski and Buttigieg stopped by Chilkoot Street to snag a photo with the newly erected Tlingit street signs, then stopped by Olerud’s to get some souvenirs. Murkowski bought two Haines shirts for Buttigieg’s twins, and Buttigieg bought a copy of the CVN.
After touring Lutak Dock, Buttigieg went to the ANB Hall to meet with leaders from Tlingit & Haida, the Chilkoot Indian Association, and the Chilkat Indian Village. That meeting was closed to the public, but before leaving Haines, Buttigieg called the meeting “terrific.”
“We heard a lot about everything, from the importance of ferries and aviation, to some technical issues about eligibilities and formulas. My senior colleagues and I are going to spend time in touch with the senator’s office and the community seeing how we can work to get all the resources we can to where they need to be,” Buttigieg said.
He said tribal leaders gave him some “reading material” that he hadn’t had a chance to review yet. Buttigieg boarded Alaska Seaplanes Cessna Caravan and sat in the co-pilot seat before taking off in skies that started to clear.
Additional reporting in this story by Lex Treinen.
