Sen. Dan Sullivan calls into KNOM ahead of tight senate race

Ben Townsend
Senator Dan Sullivan, thank you for joining

Dan Sullivan
Hey Ben, great to be back on the show. Thanks for having me.

Ben Townsend
Thank you. You've been in Congress for 10 years now. If elected, you'd get another six years. What unfinished business do you hope to accomplish if you're reelected this fall?

Dan Sullivan
Especially for the Nome region, we're making really big progress on some big, big issues that we've been talking about for decades. And now we're not talking about it anymore, we're doing them, and I think that's the most important thing. Challenges, the high cost of energy, I think, is the biggest one throughout our state. But we also have big opportunities.

In the Nome region, certainly finishing the Deepwater Strategic Arctic Port of Nome. I have been working on that through legislation. Now we're finally starting to build it. As you know, this past summer, we're doing it, and this will help the region in terms of lowering costs, economic opportunity. I've bird dogged this and changed the law many, many times. I've been out to Nome and the region many times. I'm going to be out there again next week, by the way, but I think that is absolutely critical to keep that going, and build on the economy there.

The port will certainly have a critical component of the economy, but you know we have the Graphite One mine that we're able to get over 30 million dollars of investment into that critical national security mining opportunity. And then from my perspective, it's all about health, healthy communities. And I wrote the Rural [Health] Transformation Fund. That's the biggest investment in American history in Alaskan healthcare. But the innovation of that investment, Ben, was that it wasn't Washington D.C. saying, "Hey, here's what we think is good for you. We're going to tell you one size fits all works.” This is a giant fund. Alaska gets $1.4 billion over five years, but the federal government is doing the right thing, saying you innovate, you figure out what you need Nome, or Alaska, for your specific needs.

I'm proud to say that the Norton Sound Health Corporation and the hospital absolutely cleaned up with these awards. They recently received eight awards, totaling almost $8.5 million dollars, and Kawerak also got very big awards for innovative healthcare solutions for the Norton Sound region. And I think that we're just getting started, and that is really exciting.

And then finally, I always focus on making sure we highlight the culture of the Native people in the region. After a long time and took a lot of work, we got the ARTIST Act, my bill, to make sure no state in America can ban the sale of the beautiful Alaska Native artists who do ivory carving. So many people in the region helped on that, and that was signed into law several months ago. Took a lot of hard work, nine years to be honest.

Back to health, with the leaders of the community, Megan Onders, Melanie Bahnke, so many out there, Gail Schubert, in the region. We have gotten the biggest investment, this is a huge passion of mine on water and sewer. One of my first bills that I got into law was a new program for small disadvantaged communities in Alaska to get people water and sewer, flush toilets, running water.

And just a couple months ago, in the WRDA bill, Water Resources and Development Act bill, I got a quarter of a billion dollars for Alaska. This has been a passion of mine because my view is, in the richest country in the world, in some of the most patriotic communities in the world, with our Alaska Native veterans serving at such high rates in our military, everybody deserves flushing toilets and running water. They got it in the lower 48, they need it here.

We're going to get that done. We're going to get rid of the honey buckets in my second term. And I want to thank so many leaders in the Norton Sound, Nome area for being partners with me on these critical areas where we're making big progress.

Ben Townsend
The WRDA bill you mentioned, the Port of Nome was a benefactor of that. About a month ago, I asked the same question of your Republican colleague in the House, Nick Begich. Who is this port for, is it for the people of Nome, or is it for the military?

Dan Sullivan
Oh, it's first and foremost for the people of Nome. And Ben, I don't know if you know the history, but there's been several times where the [U.S. Army] Corps of Engineers said, I'll just give you an example, initially they said it was kind of for, believe it or not back in 2015 for the Arctic sea operations of Shell when they were doing oil and gas development in the Arctic Ocean, and they said we can't move forward because Shell's moved out.

I was like, that's not what it was for. It's for the people of the region, first and foremost, because this provides great opportunity. You want to talk about lowering costs, you have infrastructure in a big port. That's the first and foremost way to lower all kinds of costs. So once again, I went and changed the law.

And let me just talk about that. It's not easy to change law, my opponent Mary Peltola, two terms in the Congress I worked with her. She and I were friends, you know. But the one thing I saw, she was not effective. Two terms in the Congress and never got one bill signed into law. I got two terms in the Senate, over 63 bills signed into law. And what Alaskans need, what the people of the region need is a senator who works hard for them 24/7.

I think you know, Ben, the leaders of the Norton Sound region know that they can call me any time, day or night, and they have called me any time, day or night, when there's an emergency. Coast Guard, and Russians going up [near] St. Lawrence Island, and we work 24/7.

So we changed the law more than once to make it clear to the Corps: you got to do this project. Here's the money. But this project is first and foremost, for Alaskans, and particularly the people of the Norton Sound region,

Ben Townsend
I want to jump in here because I have a few other questions I want to get to, and I know we don't have a lot of time together. You mentioned St. Lawrence Island. This fall our region tragically lost two men from Savoonga in a boating accident. One young man survived. The question lingering on people's minds is why first responders, such as the U.S. Coast Guard, wasn't able to respond faster. What do you say to those people?

Dan Sullivan
I share those concerns. You and I did a radio interview just two months ago, and I think this is again an indication of the differences between my record and Mary Peltola’s. I got a call from a very prominent leader very early in the morning, telling me about this and her concerns that the Coast Guard wasn't reacting quick enough, and you know what I did? I put the phone down, and I immediately called the admiral in charge of the entire Coast Guard in Alaska.

I love the Coast Guard, and I love the men and women of the Coast Guard. But I said, “Admiral, what the hell? Get people out there. These great Alaskans could still be alive. What are we doing? You need to surge your forces right now,” and they did. And it was tragic because we lost two people, but we did save one young life, a young man clinging to an overturned boat in the middle of the ocean. Thanks to the Coast Guard for saving him, but I have asked them to look into that. What happened here? Was there some kind of delay?

But here's the broader issue that I think is important for everybody to hear. Now we're going to have a port. I chair the Coast Guard subcommittee in the Senate. Last year I wrote a bill that has the biggest buildup of the Coast Guard in American history, a $25 billion recapitalization of th eCoast Guard. 22 new cutters, 16 new icebreakers, 40 new helicopters. Huge amounts, $5 billion for more shoreside infrastructure.

What I've told the Coast Guard is a lot of those assets need to be coming to Alaska. A lot of those assets are coming to Alaska. We're going to get four icebreakers. More cutters, a lot more helicopters. Is there an opportunity to homeport or have much more on station in places like Nome and places like Kotzebue? The answer is yes. And now we're going to have the assets. And as your senator, as the chairman of the committee, and when I win this election, I am going to continue to focus on that.

But again, this goes to 24/7. When my opponent was in [Congress], she has a long record of not working hard like Alaskans do. She missed 20% of her votes in the House. She missed 20% of her votes when she was in the State House in Alaska. She missed almost 40% of her meetings when she was a city council member in Bethel. Alaskans are the hardest working people in the country, and they expect their senator to be hardworking. I am hardworking, and the people of the region know that they can call me any time, day or night, if they got a problem, and I'm honored that they feel that way.

It doesn't matter, Democrat, Republican, I serve all of Alaska. But we are going to build that port. We're building it. We're going to build up our Coast Guard, and can we get more assets, helicopters, and other things stationed in Western Alaska, so these kind of things don't happen? The answer is absolutely we can, and we already have the assets because of the hard work I and others have done, and we'll work with the community to make that happen.

Ben Townsend
Earlier this summer, unleaded gas in Nome jumped from $6.29 to $7.29 per gallon. There was optimism that an end to the war with Iran would help drive down prices in time for our final fuel delivery of the season. That did not happen, and just this week, unleaded jumped up another 11 cents per gallon. So my question is, what do you say to people in Western Alaska that are hurting financially from these increases?

Dan Sullivan
It's the number one issue that I'm focused on, and I know they're hurting. We are working on it every single day. And what we are focused on is bringing down the cost immediately. I talked to the president just the other day, about making sure the Straits of Hormuz were open, they are keeping that open. That is one area where we've had challenges that have driven up the cost.

We have launched a White House task force that’s focused 100% on Alaska. The Secretary of Interior was up here in May in Fairbanks saying we are focused on the unique challenges of high cost of energy in Alaska. We have doubled the amount of what's called LIHEAP funding for homes that rely on diesel. We've gotten waivers from the EPA to produce more diesel in Alaska. We have the ability to do that.

Today at AFN, the Deputy Secretary of Energy is going to announce the biggest award ever from the tribal office of the Department of Energy, it'll be a $50 million award for Alaskan tribes to bring down the cost of energy. That's the biggest award ever from that office per tribe anywhere in America. So we're doing it.

But I know people are hurting. But here's where I think the opportunity lies, the best way to bring down long-term costs or cost for energy for Alaskans is to produce more Alaskan energy by and for Alaskans, and we're doing that because of policies that I have championed. We're producing more oil. Finally, we're turning around the decline in the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. We are going to get back to a million barrels a day, and that will enable us to have more refining capacity throughout our state for things like diesel.

And we are going to build a gas line. People are saying, "Oh, sure, Dan. We've been talking about that for 50 years.” We have a very different approach now. The federal government, the White House, is now leading on that. We have foreign partners. I just met with senior levels of Taiwanese officials in Anchorage yesterday. The Koreans are investing. When we get low-cost gas for Alaskans for 100 years, which is what the gas line will provide us. That's going to provide all kinds of opportunities, even for the Norton Sound region.

But here's another difference between me and my opponent. Remember, she was in Congress just two years ago. She did nothing to lower the cost. As a matter of fact, during her tenure, the Biden administration and the Democrats in D.C. who were in charge, attacked Alaskan energy production every single day, and she didn't do anything. As a matter of fact, if she empowers those same people, they'll do what they always do. They'll come after Alaska's LNG. They'll come after Alaska mining opportunities like in Nome. They'll come after and try to shut down oil and gas production. If Mary Peltola gets elected, the cost of energy will stay very high. The war in Iran is going to end soon, but the D.C. Democrats' war against Alaskan energy is really the forever war, and we don't want that for our state.

Ben Townsend
My final question is about Ms. Peltola. We're recording this on the first day of AFN. There's a candidate forum on Friday, tomorrow. Are you looking forward to squaring off with Ms. Peltola once again?

Dan Sullivan
I've been looking forward to squaring off with Ms. Peltola eight different times. We had announced what we were going to do, and she hasn't shown up to hardly any of them. So we had this Debate for the State, which was on live TV. I would encourage all Alaskans to take a look at that.

And there was a Fairbanks Chamber [of Commerce] debate just a couple days ago. She didn't show up for that. She didn't show up for the [Alaska Chamber] debate. She didn't show up for the Soldotna Kenai Chamber debate. So the Debate for the State was the last forum. We've offered many different opportunities. I'm going to give my AFN update today, and I look forward to that.

Ben Townsend
It's been over four years since your last visit to Nome. I was encouraged to hear that you'll be here next week because that was actually going to be my final question. But good to hear you'll be in town next week. Is there any reason you can share as to why you wanted to come out to Western Alaska?

Dan Sullivan
I've been out to Western Alaska a lot. One of the things I do is I work hard. Even when we're in the Congress and the Senate, even when we're in session, I pretty much get home every weekend. I'll fly home on a Friday morning and be home for you know just 24 hours. I think it's really important.

I also have a reputation of anyone who wants to meet with me here or in D.C. and the Nome leadership, Norton Sound leadership. I've had the great opportunity to be up there a lot and meet with them on a very very regular basis, Kawerak. So I'm really really excited about being back in Nome. And like I said, I've been out there a lot and look forward to not just being there, but in other places, and again to highlight some of the things that we have all worked together on. Things that people said we could never get done, but through hard work and the hardest working people in America are Alaskans.

Hard work on the Port of Nome, on water and sewer, on the ARTIST Act, on the Rural Transformation Fund that's bringing millions and millions to North Sound healthcare opportunities, on other infrastructure, we're going to focus on those issues and continue to press on them, water and sewer. All of these things we've been talking about for years, even decades. And the good news, Ben, the exciting thing, Ben, is to make it clear that we're not talking about these anymore, we're doing them. And that's through hard work, and I think my goal as your senator is to make sure we have a brighter future for the people of the North Sound region.

We got challenges, no doubt, but these are all things that we've been talking about for a long, long time, and we're not talking anymore, we're doing. I think that my opponent, Mary Peltola, and me, I have a long record of actually getting things done and doing the hard work. Alaskans deserve a senator who works as hard as they do, and that's a very big difference between me and Mary Peltola.

Ben Townsend
Senator Dan Sullivan, thank you so much for joining

Dan Sullivan
I’ll see you in a couple days.