U.S. to announce $150 million for power lines in Alaska as Vance campaigns for Senator Sullivan

The U.S. Department of Energy will announce on Monday an investment of $150 million to build new electricity transmission lines in Alaska, on the very day Vice President JD Vance arrives in the state to campaign for Republican Senator Dan Sullivan, as Reuters reports.

Under the plan, the federal government will finance the construction of 223 miles (359 kilometres) of new lines linking the Beluga power station on Alaska’s southern coast with the city of Healy in the state’s interior. The corridor includes the main ports and almost three quarters of the state’s roughly 735,000 residents, while the total cost of the project reaches $400 million, an administration official told Reuters.

Vance’s visit comes at a critical moment for Republicans, who are fighting to hold a key Senate seat in the November 3 midterm elections. Sullivan faces a tight race against Democrat Mary Peltola, a former member of the House of Representatives, and winning this seat is a key part of the Democrats’ strategy to take control of the Senate. The latest polls show Peltola ahead: a New York Times poll completed on October 1 put her 7 points in front, while other polls show the race tied — Alaska, with its scattered, rural population, is often difficult for pollsters to measure.

The energy announcement is the latest in a series of economic and investment announcements that President Donald Trump and his administration have emphasised ahead of the midterm elections, amid voter concerns over the war with Iran and high fuel prices.

Both candidates have put affordability — and energy — at the centre of their campaigns. Sullivan supports drilling for oil and gas in Alaska’s protected wilderness areas and has called on Trump to halt oil (diesel) exports, amid the economic fallout from the conflict with Iran and Russia’s war in Ukraine. Peltola has called for more oil and natural gas to be processed in Alaska, but does not support drilling in ecologically fragile areas; she has also backed federal tax credits for solar, wind and hydropower projects.

Last week, Trump announced plans for South Korean investments of about $200 billion in U.S. projects, including a liquefied natural gas (LNG) pipeline in Alaska — but Seoul quickly replied that the project would proceed only if certain trade and legal conditions are met.