Rural residents call for help on energy prices

ALEX DeMARBAN

May 15, 2008 at 10:26AM AKST

Rural leaders want legislators to pass a bill providing energy cost relief for the Bush — and they want Gov. Sarah Palin to declare an energy disaster.

“We believe you should consider assembling your state disaster cabinet to see if there is sufficient evidence to declare all our villages ‘energy disaster areas’ and come up with appropriate relief,” wrote Robert Clark, president and chief executive of the Bristol Bay Area Health Corp., in a letter to Palin sent late last month.

Soaring energy costs are forcing residents in Dillingham and other villages to move to Anchorage, where living is cheaper, Clark wrote.

On Monday, Palin said she will hold a special session this year to address energy relief for all Alaskans.

Sharon Leighow, Palin’s spokeswoman, said the governor plans to announce a short-term energy relief plan on Thursday that will affect all Alaskans. “I can’t share details at this point,” Leighow said.

Energy prices have risen sharply in Alaska in recent years, and the state’s villages have been hardest hit. Rural fuel prices should spike even higher in coming weeks as barges make their way up recently melted coastlines and rivers delivering heating fuel and gasoline.

In Western Alaska, the region with the state’s most expensive fuel, the average price of gasoline reached $5.13 a gallon in November, according to a state survey of 100 communities across Alaska.

Heating fuel, which powers village generators and heats homes, averaged $4.71 a gallon in the region.

High fuel costs can cripple villages because it boosts the cost of everything from building materials to jugs of milk. The high prices limit economic development and even subsistence hunting and fishing – an important alternative to store shopping – because  fueling snowmachines and boats is expensive.

In Goodnews Bay, a Southwest Alaska village of 250, gasoline costs $5.10 a gallon and diesel fuel sells for $4 a gallon, said Evan S. Evan, the village store manager.

After the fuel barge arrives this spring, residents will pay about $6.60 a gallon for heating fuel, Evan said. He doesn’t know how much they’ll pay for gas, but it will be costlier because national prices have risen.

“It’s going to be scary, hurting our local people,” Evan said.
Most Goodnews residents don’t have much money — salmon fishing is often the only income — and paying bills won’t be easy, he said.

“Even with the high cost of fuel and products now, their paycheck runs dry right away,” he said.

About 100 miles east of Goodnews Bay in Dillingham, gas is so expensive some fishermen may not be able to fish for herring this season, said Nels Anderson Jr., a Dillingham resident and the state’s former energy policy adviser.

“It’s killing us out here, and we can’t keep up with the cost,” he said. “It is a disastrous situation.”

In an e-mail sent to several legislators and Palin, Anderson said the Legislature should adopt a plan that reimburses cities if they give ratepayers tax breaks on fuel purchases and electricity. He also proposed that the state’s 12.5 percent share of North Slope oil be refined and sold in-state at $3 a gallon.

The state needs to declare an energy disaster in rural Alaska, he wrote.

“Our disaster has been ongoing for at least five years and will continue without drastic intervention from our state.”

Legislators will meet June 3 during a special session on the natural gas pipeline. Following that, they’ll stay in Juneau for the special session on energy cost relief.

Alex DeMarban can be reached at (907) 348-2444 or (800) 770-9830, ext. 444.