Whenever I read the Anchorage Daily News I always check the "Bush" section to see if there is anything of interest to me. The latest entry was an article about a summit that was held down the river from me in good old Bethel, AK. One of the contributing members of the summit was one of our state Senator's--Lisa Murkowski. Lisa urged villages not to move to urban areas because of the fuel crisis--she said that the state would have to be creative in solving the problem rather than village people sacrificing their culture and way of life. I was interested to read what sort of solutions came out of the summit--here are the ideas the article highlighted:
Naneng suggested that Alaska should create more refineries to produce heating fuel, gasoline, diesel and aviation fuels.
Calista President Matthew Nicolai suggested tax incentives and bond financing to meet immediate needs.
Middleton suggested technical help from the government.
Leask suggested strengthening the Power Cost Equalization Program by examining and refining its mission.
AVCP's Hoffman suggested developing central bulk fuel storage areas using ex-military areas like the Adak Naval Base.
BBNC's President Anderson suggested developing renewable energy sources, especially hydropower using Alaska's rivers
All these ideas seem to have some merit and might help the crisis, however I'm not sure that any of them are going to solve the problem of this upcoming winter for some rural Alaskans. I just don't see how families living on fixed-incomes are going to be able to pay hundreds-thousands each month to heat their homes. The solution for myself is to turn off the furnace and wear like 3 sweaters and four pants, sleep with 10 blankets, and light lots of candles for my pets to sleep by. Also, I need to stop being so lazy and walk the 1/2 mile to work and stop wasting gas. Cutting down energy use is a solution that everyone can utilize to some degree. Sure the pfd's/energy rebate should help but I know that people will be using that money for other needs besides fuel. I love the free money myself, but the state might of been better off buying everyone fuel--who knows??
The article briefly touches on CITGO and how the venezuelan guy gave us all that free 100 gallons of oil earlier this year--that is a whole other issue. Anyway, if you love fuel and Lisa Murkowski this article is definitely for you!
if you want to read it: http://www.adn.com/rural/story/526301.html
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