By Win Gruening
When Sen. Dan Sullivan flew to Juneau in August 2024 to tour the devastation from record glacial outburst flooding, it was a dark time. Hundreds of Mendenhall Valley homes were damaged, families were displaced, and Juneau’s economic outlook appeared bleak.
In this catastrophe’s aftermath, there were no easy answers. Short-term mitigation measures seemed problematic and government officials stated that a long-term solution might take a decade or more to research, design and implement. If true, the potential damages and cost to the city and its residents were incalculable.
Sen. Sullivan met with local, state, and federal officials and conveyed a very simple message. It was unacceptable that residents would remain under the specter of annual flooding year after year without relief. He promised to cut through bureaucracy to deliver a solution.
A little over one year later, circumstances have changed dramatically.
Within days, Sen. Sullivan called on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and soon thereafter, the agency donated HESCO barriers for the city to install to mitigate future flooding. Although only a partial temporary solution, those efforts provided necessary protection to Valley homes from this year’s flood waters.
It was clear that additional fortification was needed for homes and businesses downstream, as well as for View Drive residences upstream on the Mendenhall River. The cost and practicality of addressing that was a guess at best. A Phase 2 HESCO barrier solution on the lower half of the river was estimated at $17.5 million. The View Drive area didn’t lend itself to a similar solution and costs were unknown.
However, working with various government agencies and bringing senior USACE officials to Juneau after this year’s flood to see the impacts firsthand, Sen. Sullivan succeeded in conveying the necessary urgency of finding an expedited resolution.
As a result, USACE recently announced it would manage and fund the project design, engineering, and installation of Phase 2 – a huge savings for Juneau. Currently, negotiations are on-going to qualify View Drive homes for a federal buyout. The potential $25 million cost of that program would be 75% funded by the federal government. The city’s 25% share is eligible for a waiver, which city leaders requested last week.
The efforts of other elected officials, particularly Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Rep. Nick Begich, have helped Juneau, but it was Sen. Sullivan who took the lead and did the heavy lifting.
But even after all that, he wasn’t done.
Sen. Sullivan promised to cut through the red tape and he did.
In his role on the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, which oversees USACE, Sen. Sullivan was uniquely positioned to work with the agency in fast-tracking a long-term solution. Assistant Secretary of Civil Works Adam Telle, who leads USACE, pledged to Sen. Sullivan in his confirmation hearing that he would expedite an “enduring” solution for Juneau.
As a result, Federal officials now plan to select a preferred long-term Mendenhall Valley flood mitigation alternative by December, with an environmental review completed by May 2026. This accelerated timetable shortens the final project design and construction by years, saving Juneau millions of dollars in short-term mitigation measures while bringing certainty to Mendenhall Valley residents much sooner than initially believed.
In 2014, when Dan Sullivan was elected as Alaska’s eighth senator since statehood, he promised to represent all Alaskans, not just those who voted for him. He pledged to support projects and legislation that benefited all areas of Alaska.These are the type of promises that many politicians make but fewer keep. Over the last ten years, Sen. Sullivan established the key relationships necessary to fulfill his promises.
Sen. Sullivan has demonstrated he can deliver results. He did so when convincing the U. S. Coast Guard to homeport an icebreaker in Juneau, and again with USACE in addressing the impacts of Juneau’s annual glacial flooding.
Likewise, other Alaskans will benefit from his pledge to secure federal support for disaster recovery efforts in Western Alaska from Typhoon Halong and to champion responsible, balanced resource development in Northern Alaska.
This is what real leaders do. Juneau residents owe Sen. Sullivan a debt of gratitude for his unwavering commitment to help all Alaskans.
