Alaska Public Works
Funds for 18 Alaska Public
Works projects were allocated
this week from the $9M> million
made available by Congress for
the 1955 fiscal year, according to
information given Delegate Bart
lett by the Interior Department.
It will be recalled that the
President’s budget had contained
$5 million for the program, an
amount approved by the House.
However, the Senate raised that
sum $4’2 million above the money
sought by the Interior Depart
ment in the budget, bringing the
total to $9j2 million, the figure
which prevailed. Ten school pro
jects are included in the alloca
tions. The remaining eight allo
cations are earmarked for the
following projects: Water, streets,
sewer at Petersburg, $506,700; an
addition to the Pioneer’s Home
at Sitka, $800,000; a hospital at
Valdez, $460,000; streets in Jun
eau, $397,450; utilities at the Uni
versity of Alaska, $567,500; two
sewer extension projects at An
chorage, one in the sum of $311,
100 and the other $482,100; and a
sewer extension at Fairbanks,
$500,000.
The original law authorizing a
$10 million public works program
for Alaska was enacted in 1949 to
extend until June 30, 1955. Thr
ough the 1955 fiscal year, the
Congress has appropriated $50,
708,200. Delegate Bartlett’s bill
to extend the program until June
30, 1959, was signed into law in
July.
Navigation and Flood Control
Projects
Eleven navigation and flood
control projects in the total
amount of $7,420,400 are author
ized for Alaska in the omnibus
authorization bill upon which the
Congress completed action this
week.
k
The authorization legislation,
which includes close to 200 pro
! ects for the whole country, ap
proves the construction of the fol
lowing Alaska projects recom
mended by the Department of the
Army: Seward Harbor of Refuge,
$81,200, to provide raising the
south breakwater and construct
ing a pile breakwater to close
partially the east side of the bas
in; Valdez, $116,600, for a rock
and gravel breakwater along the
southeast side and a pile break
water to close partially the south
west side of the basin; Sitka, $41,
500, for dredging of the United
States Forest Service basin;
Kodiak, $1,685,000, for dredging
of a 12-acre and two rock break
waters; Dry Pass, $1,419,800, for
'dredging of a channel; Neva
Strait, $224,400, for dredging a
channel through Whitestone Nar
rows; Petersburg Harbor, $40,000,
to provide, dredging of the outer
one-third of the small boat basin
ito a depth of 15 feet; Pelican
Harbor, $270,000, for a small boat
basin; Ketchikan Harbor, $2,947,
! 900, for a small boat basin at Bar
! Point protected by two rock
breakwaters; Rocky Pass in Keku
Strait, $214,000, for improvement
by removal of rock hazards; and
j flood control at Gold Creek, Jun
eau, in the authorized sum of
$380,000.
The approval for the Alaska
I projects was given in three stag
| es. At the time the House con
sidered the omnibus bill, the De
partment of the Army had sub
mited recommendations for only
Seward, Valdez and Gold Creek.
Following House passage the
Army sent recommendations for
Sitka, Kodiak, Dry Pass and Neva
Strait and the Senate Public
Works Committee added the four
projects in reporting the measure
to the Senate after Delegate Bart
lett recommended inclusion of the
(Projects. A day or two before the
' ! Senate acted on the measure, the
Department of the Army sent to
the Hill its recommendations on
projects for Petersburg, Pelican,
Ketchikan and Rocky Pass. Sena
tor Magnuson of Washington
State sought their inclusion in the
bill on the Senate floor and was
successful. The bill then came
back to the House and all Senate
recommendations were approved.
The measure is an authorization
bill only and does not include ap
propriations.
Alaska Mental Health
Legislation
With objection made to the leg
islation during what was prob
r ably the final call of the Senate
calendar prior to adjournment,
there was only slight possibility
of enactment of the Alaska men
tal health bill during this Con
gress.
The measure, sponsored by
Congressman Saylor of Pennsyl
vania, as it passed the House and
was reported to the Senate con
tained relatively similar provi
sions for modernizing and revis
I 1 n (T tVio nrunmitmont nrnnorlnroc
for Alaska’s mentally ill but dif
fered in their financial procedur
es. The measure as it passed the
House provided that the Terri
tory of Alaska would assume any
costs of the program above $798,
600, the sum appropriated to the
Interior Department during the
1954 fiscal year for the care of
! Alaska’s mentally ill. The Sen
| ate Interior and Insular Affairs
Committee amended the bill to
provide that after April 1, 1955,
the Territory would assume the
: financial support of the mental
health program, the federal gov
; ernment continuing only to care
for those already committed up
to that date. The Senate commit
tee recommended a grant of 200,
000 acres of land to the Terri
tory to assist in. meeting the fin
ancial burden imposed. In addi
tion, the Senate committee recom
mended that any contracts which
the Territory through the Gover
i nor might enter into would be
confined to Alaska and the con
D
tinental United States west of
j the main range of the Rocky
Mountains. Both the House and
Senate versions provided that the
contract which Interior has wdth
Morningside Sanitarium in Port
j land, Oregon, until June 30, 1958,
would not be disturbed.
Supplemental Appropriations
The Supplemental Appropria
tion Act for the 1955 fiscal year
as it cleared the Congress this
week following adoption of the
conference report contains money
for expenditure in Alaska by the
1 Commerce, Interior, Treasury,
1 Air Force, Navy and Army De
j partments.
l Operation by the Civil Aero
! nautics Administration and the
Weather Bureau at Cold Bay for
civil aviation activities was ap
proved with most of the funds
totalling $920,000 to come from
appropriations made available to
the Commerce Department in pre
vious appropriation bills. Alaska’s
share of the reestablished Feder
al aid airport program will be
$225,000.
The bill as it went to the Presi
dent for approval also contains
rjn ar*nrnr\ri£iti fiOfi for*
the Alaska Communication Sys
tem plus authority to use an ad
ditional $541,000 previously made
available. Construction money for
the Defense Department in Alas
ka includes $12,870,000 for the Air
Force, $719,000 for the Navy and
$6,059,000 for the Army. The Trea
sury Department was granted
$250,000 for replacement of a sec
tion of the Coast Guard wharf at
Ketchikan.
The conference report was sil
ent with regard to the use of the
$1,180,000 appropriated for the
care of Alaska Native Service
tubercular patients. Both the
House and Senate had agreed on
the amount of money, but the
House Appropriations Commit
tee stated in its report that the
funds were to be used for 400 ad
ditional hospital beds in Wash
ington State and all the money
was to be spent for contracts in
that state. The Senate commit
tee, however, stated, “If the Sec
retary determines it to be in the
best interest of the people of Al
aska he may authorize the use of
a portion of these fund^ for the
utilizing of existing facilities op
erated by the Bureau of Indian
Affairs in Alaska.” It is under
stood the decision in the use of
the money will be left to Depart
ment of Interior officials.
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