Alaska House Speaker Bryce Edgmon says the state's coastal and rural communities are facing mounting financial challenges.
During a visit to Unalaska last week Edgmon, I-Dillingham, pointed to strained infrastructure and rising costs that he says are burdening local economies in communities like Unalaska and the Pribilofs.
Edgmon's district covers many coastal and fishing communities, including Dillingham, Sand Point, the Pribilof Islands and Unalaska. He visited the latter as part of a legislative delegation attending the community's first annual Aleutian Regional Community Conference. The four-day conference focused on rural resiliency and the unique challenges of living in the Bering Sea archipelago.
Edgmon said in an interview that one major win for rural communities came earlier this month when lawmakers overrode Gov. Mike Dunleavy's veto of an education funding increase — restoring $50 million statewide.
"Every school district in Alaska is being short-funded, every single one of them. Many of them plowing through their reserves, this, that and the other," he said. "That $50 million that we overrode the governor on is very significant."
Despite that relief, he acknowledged the many hurdles facing fishing communities after three years of market turmoil, including plant closures and depressed prices. He noted that those disruptions ripple across the state, too, as seafood is Alaska's second largest export.
"It's not just for coastal communities. It's the transportation sector of the entire state," he said. "A good chunk of what happens at the Anchorage International Airport, for example, is tied to seafood."
Reliable air service has become one of the biggest obstacles for the Aleutians and Pribilofs. Exorbitant ticket prices have led many families in Unalaska to relocate. And the island community of St. Paul recently lost its main air service to Anchorage. Edgmon calls it a warning sign for the rest of the state.
"A community like St. Paul, a real canary in the coal mine, if something happens with not being able to get regular air service," he said.
The Legislature has limited power for many of these challenges, which fall to federal policy and private industry. Still, Edgmon says the state can play a role, from boosting school budgets to pushing for stronger seafood marketing and supporting rural transportation networks.
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