Alaska Man Monday: Presidential Pardons and Daring Rescues

Signs of summer ending are already upon us. Alaska summers are short, true, but that first sign of the impending autumn sure does come early. That sign? In early to mid-July, our local Violet-Green Swallows have their broods of babies raised, and with them, they take off to spend the rest of the summer hoovering up bugs off the lake before heading south. They are the first of our summer birds to leave, to be followed before too long by the warblers and by the Swainson’s Thrushes, which have the most beautiful songs of our summer birds.

First up today: An Alaska diesel mechanic, who was adept at repairing and modifying diesel engines to keep them running in Alaska’s frigid winters, was fined by the Biden Environmental Protection Agency for modifying these engines without permission. He has now received a presidential pardon from President Trump.

U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), a member of the Senate Environment & Public Works (EPW) Committee, today welcomed an announcement that Mackenzie “Mac” Spurlock, a diesel mechanic and small business owner from Wasilla, has received a presidential pardonafter being convicted by overzealous federal prosecutors for modifying emissions systems on diesel engines for Alaska businesses to keep their vehicles operational in the state’s extreme cold climate conditions. Sen. Sullivan, who has led the fight in Congress against the misguided Obama-era Clean Air Act diesel regulations, sent a letter to President Donald Trump on March 12 requesting a full and unconditional pardon for Spurlock.
In June 2022, the Biden administration EPA raided Spurlock’s shop, Matanuska Diesel LLC, with dozens of armed agents and personnel from other federal agencies who were flown in from California, Washington, and Oregon. Spurlock is a veteran who served six years in the Alaska Air National Guard as an aerospace propulsion technician.

That’s great news. Too many people from Outside don’t understand conditions up here, especially our winters, although a lot of people living in the northern stretches of the states along the Canadian border likely have a pretty good idea. Mr. Spurlock was making things worse in extreme conditions to help people earn their daily bread, and what the Biden people did to him was unconscionable.

Alaska Man score: Five smooth-running diesel engines.

And, in other news, here’s an interesting tidbit from the Alaska State Troopers.

On July 4, 2026, at 6:18 pm, the Alaska State Troopers received an SOS from the iPhone Emergency Relay Center, reporting that a 17-year-old male had lost his shoes near Snowbird Hut in Willow. Someone in the party hiked to obtain cell service and informed Troopers that they were in a snowy area and unable to hike out. Alaska Mountain Rescue Group was contacted, accepted the mission, and responded to the area. AMRG located the hikers and assisted them back to the parking area. No injuries were reported.

Now, first, it’s great that all involved are safe. That’s the main thing. But notice where they were caught – in a snowy area. This isn’t up on the North Slope, mind you; it was in Willow, in south-central Alaska, right here in our own Susitna Valley. And hikers were caught in a snowy area. On the 4^th of July. Gotta love Alaska. Mind you, this was up near Hatcher Pass, which folks hereabout call being “up on the mountain,” so considerably higher elevation than our digs. You'll find snow in Colorado in the mountains year-round, but at around thrice the altitude of this.

Alaska Man score: 5 moose nuggets for the Mountain Rescue Group for getting these folks out OK.

Now, let’s have a look at a perfectly ridiculous thing that I found I just had to have.

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