(Cross-posted on The Alaska Standard.)
Friday night, I attended a meeting of concerned citizens who wanted to be brought up to speed on the crisis in Alaska villages. We met with folks who either spend their time interviewing/meeting with/talking to village residents on a daily basis as well as those who flew out and spent the week with people in Bethel, Emmonak and St. Marys gathering information and making contacts.
The news was good and bad.
Good: Food and supplies are making their way to the Alaska villagers who need them. Alaska Newspapers, Inc has been flying donations at the same time they've been delivering their papers. They have a list of items on their website that folks can drop off at the Calista Building.
Good: Five representatives from the State went to Emmonak and Kotlik this week.
Bad: Five representatives from the State spent a very few hours in Emmonak and Kotlik this week...the wrong five representatives.
There was Tara Jollie from Community and Regional Affairs as well as representatives from the Department of Labor, the state divisions of Public Assistance and Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
1) No one came from ANY agency dealing with the Alaska fisheries.
This crisis is the direct result of the failure of the king salmon fishery this past summer, so folks have been living on approximately 1/20th their normal yearly income. The villages have protested for years about the decimation of their subsistance fishery by huge trawlers from Washington State (all with cute Alaskan names) who either overfish the kings or waste them as bycatch when fishing for other species. Yet, no one from Dept. of Fish and Game, the Dept. of Environmental Conservation or the Board of Fisheries showed up...no one. This sent a message that no one has been listening...that in the years since 2001, when the fishery crashed the last time and none of the promises made by the Knowles administration were ever realized, no one has been paying attention at all.
Tara Jollie actually proved that she does not grasp neither the problem nor the solutions
This is her bio on the state website: "As Director of Community & Regional Affairs, Tara Jollie will lead the division's efforts to provide services that will help Alaska's rural lifestyle thrive."
Her solution to "thriving," per an interview with Kyle Hopkins:
"We went out there armed with job training information, public assistance and food stamps..."
Dennis Zaki photo of Nik Tucker
2) No one came from the Alaska Energy Authority, the Dept of Transportation or the Dept. of Revenue, and
3) The Governor didn't show up.
The villages have been telling us what they need for a very long time. Former legislature Martin Moore of Emmonak was interviewed this week on KUDO 1080 with Cary Carrigan. He talked about how the barge with their precious stove oil (what they use for heat) became blocked from the villages by a frozen river with its cargo. He talked about the expense of bringing in the heavy oil via airplane and paying for that transport per pound. He then discussed the plan the community had put together for a tank farm to increase fuel storage for Emmonak and nearby villages. He discussed their fully-researched proposal for a new harbor so that they didn't have to depend on river barges and larger boats could provide transport by sea. He talked about the fact that the swampy villages were sitting on a treasure trove of methane...that it was so plentiful that it was constantly leeching out of the ground. Extracting that methane could provide cheap heat to the villages for many years to come. He also mentioned that he met with the Governor's people, fully prepared with cost breakdowns and timelines, and proposed adding these projects to Alaska's list of infrastructure projects for President Obama's stimulus package. As we all know, the Governor rejected all projects that were not gas line or rocket research related.
Let's explore that a little further. Many who read this website scream if infrastructure is not permitted to be put in place in order to further develop resources.
As a matter of fact, the deep-pocket oil companies will frequently build this infrastructure for us because it benefits their business.
It's not that way in the rest of the country. Federal, state and local resources build infrastructure so that the population can thrive and diverse business ventures can be developed. Yet, in Alaska, it's some badge of courage to reject money meant to stimulate our economy through jobs and infrastructure projects, even if this could mean the difference between revitalizing rural Alaska or forcing them to relive this nightmare any year the fishery does not perform.
I think the Administration has picked the very wrong time to "just say no."
Over the last week, I have received many emails from people in rural Alaska and other folks who work in areas that give them direct knowledge of the issues. Many have been clear that Governor Palin is not responsible alone. The lies and neglect can be traced back before statehood and are spread over many agencies and individuals, federal and state as well as both political parties. As one reader said, "This isn't Governor Palin's Katrina...yet."
However, she has ignored the alarm raised by members of her Administration, legislators and private citizens since this past summer. This has fallen into her lap now...no one else's. If she doesn't address this crisis quickly and work towards both short-term and long-term solutions, Emmonak could very easily become her New Orleans.
********************UPDATE************************
--The State of Alaska had a press conference where they discussed the trip of the wrong folks to Rural Alaska. According to Kyle Hopkins, the State has promised to do...basically nothing.
State department heads said that they can't justify declaring an economic disaster in the cash-poor Yukon River village.
They're looking to put the focus on existing aid programs - like public assistance, or federal subsidies for heating bills - before they propose any new form of help.
Even worse, the State claims that there wasn't a real "crash" of the King Salmon fishery (even though it DIDN'T HAPPEN AT ALL ON THE YUKON), ignoring what everyone who lives in Rural Alaska is saying about what spawned their present personal, and very real, financial crisis.
Notti - who attributes the current fuel and food woes more to heating fuel costs than the fishing season -- has said that fishermen in the region made only a few thousand less per permit than in the previous year. In other words, the state says that while fishermen made very little money last year, it wasn't enough to dip the region below the federal poverty level.
1) What's "a few thousand" less? $2,000? $10,000?
The most important point was made by Kyle:
The thing is, that federal poverty level the state uses is $26,500 per household and isn't adjusted for the cost of living in Emmonak, or Kotlik, or other villages where milk approaches $10 a gallon.
--Mudflats has a great story on "Shopping Day in Nunam Iqua, Alaska" which will give "outsiders" (and some Alaskans) a better idea what kind of challenges Rural Alaska faces and why poverty cut-offs for Anchorage do not apply. (i.e. We pay between $4.00 and $5.00 for a gallon of milk, not $10.00.)
**NOTE** Most of the footage that EVERYONE is using on Emmonak and several other villages originates from Dennis Zaki of Alaska Report, who spent a week out there doing interviews and gathering information |
