The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Monday that Alaska would be getting up to $50,000 to help clean up tsunami debris that's arrived on our shores due to the Japanese earthquake and tsunami last year.
The federal government says it's pleased to give Alaska the grant money, but Sen. Mark Begich says the amount is far from enough.
The grant is for $250,000 spread among the five Pacific coast states, but others say the cleanup effort will likely take hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars.
"I think it's rediculous, I think the amount of money to do the work, not only to clean up what's starting to occur and end up on our shores, but also to start a program of prevention and planning, $50,000 is a joke," said Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska).
Others who have helped clean up the tsunami debris say even though $50,000 is only a start, Alaska shouldn't complain about the money the state is getting.
"I'm not going to criticize anybody for the level of funding, particvularly not NOAA because they don't control the purse strings, congress does," Chris Pallister said.
NOAA declined to comment to Channel 2 fromWashington, D.C., saying a previously released statement speaks for itself.
That statement said, "We continue to actively work with the states and other Federal agencies to address the challenges associated with tsunami debris," and "we are pleased to be able to contribute funds to support states' efforts to respond to and remove marine debris," and "we remain dedicated to continuing our work with the states and others to address contingency planning, monitoring and research."
But Alaska's leadership hopes that dedication will soon include more money to help clean all the debris up.
Begich says he thinks Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) will be able to help secure more funding for tsunami cleanup with her position on the senate appropriations committee.
Contact Jason Lamb
