Hope for REAL energy solutions in rural Alaska?

I was visiting Southeast Alaska this summer, and had a few discussions about the impact of something like a small wind farm in some of the small communities I was in. Kodiak has a few now, and CIRI is developing some over on Fire Island - I've heard of other either in development, being researched, or already up.

This, of course, led to a discussion on other alternative energy solutions for rural Alaska, and why they almost never happen (prohibitive cost to start up that smal communities can't shoulder, intervention by large companies, too much beauracracy to navigate, etc.) I really believe rural Alaska could lead the way in developing energy solutions for the country, even the world - but there are blockades in the way.

I hope this is a small, maybe bigger, chip in the barrier. From the Juneau Empire, Murkowski "welcoming" (I don't really know what that means, as far as her involvement) two grants totalling over $3 million for hydro-electric projects.

Not huge in the grand scheme, maybe, but huge for those communities. I imagine Juneau residents can tell you what it's like having to curtail their power or face steep bills not so long ago after a power shortage, though I imagine most rural Alaska residents would probably welcome their "steep" bills in leiu of their own. I'm no scientist, or energy expert, so it is easy for me to say "other people" should develop innovative solutions in rural Alaska, but there are hundreds of communities out there prime to be energy alternative guinea pigs!

Bloggers on the Bus!

Progressive Alaska mentioned this awhile back, but I've been so busy lately I forgot all about it until I read Mudflats just a few minutes ago. Lots of Alaskan progressive bloggers (including Alaska Real!) are mentioned in the book, "Bloggers on the Bus: How the Internet changed Politics and the Press." I haven't seen it yet, but Mudflats has, and posted earlier:

I was at work the other day when the mailman came in and handed me the usual
stack of bills and junk mail, with the addition of a big brown padded envelope. “What’s this?” I thought, raising an eyebrow. It’s been my experience that brown padded envelopes are usually a good thing. And this time proved to be no exception.

Inside was my very own copy of Bloggers on the Bus with a nice little press release including a description of the book:

In Bloggers on the Bus, Boehlert examines how, at critical junctures during the election, the bloggers, and not the Beltway media, set the agenda. By communicating directly with their audience and involving their readers, bloggers helped democratize the political process by chipping away at the mainstream media’s control over campaign narratives. They infuriated the Republicans along the way by forcing a televised Fox News debate to be cancelled, vetting Sarah Palin better than the GOP had, and using technology to outmaneuver John McCain whose party, still in love with AM talk radio, seemed oblivious to the political revolution unfolding online. Boehlert also reveals the untold stories of the internet activists who have amassed so much power in such a short period of time with so little money or resources behind them.

In honor of the shoe guy

Just saw this story from AP that a statue in honor of the guy who threw two shoes at Bush has been erected in Baghdad.

Which gives me one more chance to show this video:

Begich and Comeau make sure Palin knows this is an emergency

I first saw this bit of news in the public newsletter I receive from the Mayor's office.) I don't know how familiar non-Alaskans are with our Anchorage Mayor, but Mark Begich is currently running against LONG time Sen. Ted Stevens for U.S. Senate.)

There has been a bit in the news - as well as my blog - about the migration and extremely high fuel costs of the Alaskans villages (Bush). Basically, think about the highest price you would ever pay, and then triple it. People have been leaving the villages in droves, because they just can't afford it. Teens moving in by themselves, now homeless, because they can't afford to live in the village. Most of this population is Alaska Native.

Even more recently, I was trying to report on a small village in Alaska, Adak, in which the residents were flat out being told to leave. They had run out of cash to pay for their fuel, and were going dark. Few, including our governor, seemed to be paying much (or any) attention to this story. I am still having something of a time trying to find out information, but from what I hear there has been a temporary agreement - including the corporation supplying the fuel requesting the mayor step down for the town to receive it - and they have electricity temporarily.

In any case, not a small problem. Begich and Comeau (Anchorage's school superintendent) have released a letter sent to Gov. Palin addressing the issues of out migration from the villages, and some of the problems this is creating. From the mayor's newsletter:

Anchorage Officials Call for Action to Help Rural Communities.

With numerous indications of a migration from rural to urban Alaska underway, Mayor Mark Begich and Anchorage School Superintendent Carol Comeau are urging the governor to form an emergency task force. In a letter to Gov. Sarah Palin today, the two say deteriorating economic conditions in many rural villages are forcing families to move to Alaska’s cities. “A prosperous, culturally diverse Alaska depends on both flourishing villages and thriving cities, so we cannot stand by and tolerate the deterioration of rural Alaska,” they write. Comeau says Anchorage school district enrollment from rural communities is increasing as village families are hard-hit with $2,000 monthly home heating bills. Begich and Comeau say they want to work on an emergency task force with other local, state and federal officials.

I agree so heartily with the stress that THIS IS AN EMERGENCY. The $1,200 has not done much for rural families (as was argued about before Palin pushed for this stop gap) and this is something that cannot take a theoretical or casual approach. People, families, lives are in need right now.

Anchorage Daily News article about the letter, and some of the migration issues.

ADN provided the pdf copy of the letter.

Letter to Gov. Palin from Mayor Begich and School Superintendent Comeau

A bit from the letter -

Dear Governor Palin:

We write to express our deep concern over what appears to be an unfortunate realignment underway in our state where challenging conditions in many rural communities are forcing a migration to urban cities. A prosperous, culturally diverse Alaska depends on both flourishing villages and thriving cities, so we cannot stand by and tolerate the deterioration of rural Alaska.

As you know, Alaska’s rural communities are facing school closings, record high energy prices, lack of economic opportunities and public health and safety concerns, which are resulting in an unprecedented out-migration to urban centers. We urge your administration to form an emergency task force with local, state and federal officials to take immediate steps to stem this trend taking place in our state. We would like to participate on this task force.

Certainly, the recent distribution of Resource Rebate and Permanent Fund Dividends checks may help in the short term. But we fear we are seeing only the first wave of families leaving rural Alaska because they cannot cover the record energy and food costs they face this winter. ...rural communities pay about 40 percent of their annual income on home energy use, compared to just 4 percent in Anchorage... Today, fuel oil prices in some remote villages have reached $11 a gallon, forcing some families to pay more than $2,000 a month to heat their homes. High fuel prices also make travel to subsistence hunting and fishing grounds prohibitive while also raising commercial food prices...

(the highlighting is mine)

There was also an interesting opinion piece in the ADN following the news piece. It talks about what needs to be done in Anchorage right now to address the influx, and that the real emergency is here in Anchorage with the people coming in.

My vote? Both. And I think that's some of the point. I do know there have been efforts to address the people moving in, including literature as resources, a "guide" to Anchorage specifically for rural migrators, the new charter school is geared around introducing a lot of rural students to a big city school, and so many of the Native-based non-profits have been hitting this pretty big in the last few years. I also know there have been efforts to address some of the migration, but I think before it's not been in quite such an urgent voice, probably because it hasn't happened quite this rapidly - the migration I mean.

Opinion in ADN about the Begich/Comeau letter

Why would anyone except the people this directly affects care about what is happening in some remote villages in Alaska? Because this is happening in your country, in a modern world. Because although now it is only people you can't imagine having their lives upturned, literally moving from places some families have lived for millenia - all because of the state of our economy - it is an indication of things to come for everyone else.

Palin-ed Out (And when did every man, woman and child getting over $3,000 not become the biggest news?)

At work, at home, in the store, on the news, in my e-mail - I need a break from Ms. Palin.

It's not likely to happen though. More and more the e-mails I am getting are from people down south who still feel as if they don't know who she is. It is hard, actually, to step in their shoes. We have been hearing about Palin and feeling the effects of her decisions for years - first as mayor, then as governor. I can only imagine the people of the Mat-Su Valley are more Sarah-ed out.

I thought this article from the Washington Post came out at a pretty ironic time. Despite McCain's "I'm so non-partisan" speech, it seems he could not have made a more partisan pick.

Of course, every Alaskan is talking about the VP pick - and not a single one of them saw it coming. There's a great cartoon in the Juneau Empire that shows the shock of the pick.

In fact, this was the first time I've seen the PFD announcement completely overshadowed, and with a record-breaker amount and early payout, too!

For those of you oustide of Alaska that don't know about the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend, (and who haven't seen the Simpson's movie!) each and every qualified Alaskan (pretty much if you applied, have lived here at least one full calendar year, and aren't in prison) will be getting just over $2,000 next week. This is an annual thing, and this is the most we've ever gotten.

On top of that, Ms. Palin is giving us an extra $1,200 as an energy subsidy, so just under $3,300 each. Some lawmakers tried to oppose it for about two second for a shameless act of pandering, but you can imagine how well that went over with... well, just about every man, woman and child in Alaska.

I don't pretend to be above the fray on this one. Despite the fact that the State will get most of it anyways for The Eternal Student Loan Debt, it will be nice to be able to pay for gas and not pass out from the bill. Well, I might pass out still, but I'll have a bit of a cushion. The stimulus check I received ironically went to help fund my way to the Democratic National Convention (which I view as the absolute best way to help stimulate the economy! No more Bush!)

I'll take the $1,200 no problem, especially since my 3% raise this year meant I was paying about 12% more in taxes (Announcement: I am officially out of the "poverty" bracket now) and will actually be spending it on energy costs. I've heard of big screen TV plans, but the only way that's going to happen is if the big screen TV will also gas up my car.

I've gotten a few emails about my "betrayal" of the money - like I must agree with and support Palin to receive the check. Uh... no, then the pandering is not pandering so much as buying my vote and support. I don't even agree with her on the way the payout went down!

I do think there were better ways to go about this. First of all, Palin once again did not address the great disparity between Rural Alaska and urban Alaska. Even after visiting Barrow, it didn't change her view. It is hard to describe the differences in Rural and urban costs in a way that can really be understood by people who have not traveled to Rural Alaska. You cannot just truck a bunch of gas to most of these remote places - for much of the year they receive no shipments at all. I can only say the costs are much, MUCH higher. Seriously, I'm talking $14 gallons of milk and $8 gallons of gas.

$1,2oo WILL help the families here in Anchorage quite a bit, and other more urban areas. Especially families that are receiving 4, 5, 6 checks. But another ADN article: "ISER estimates that the median annual cost of power and heating costs for an Anchorage family is about $2,400, compared to about $4,100 for midsize towns and cities and $6,600 for remote rural villages."

This does not include the increased cost of food and goods, only the direct power and heating costs. In the same article, they discuss not wanting to pit Rural against urban again, because ""I think the argument's going to come up that people live in rural Alaska by choice," he said. "

Right, let's all move to the city. Because that's been proven to work out so well. I moved to the city with my parents as a child, and would love to go back, but see no feasible options of opportunity or cost. Moving back to Southeast is my next go-see. As it is, there is already a mass exodus from the villages. Nearly half of Native people in Alaska do not live in the villages, for many the place of their ancestors. I expect that very, very soon we will see that the majority of Native people will live in cities.

There was a meeting about a month ago in which leaders of the Native corporations addressed this issue. They were upset with lawmakers for slashing the $1,200 from Palin's proposal to $500 - but the truth is that the fund is so flush the State could afford to go up to $13,000 per person. But I think instead of a direct payout of over $10,000, they need to go and see just who is hurting the most and help them. It's going to be 40 below in many of these communities in a matter of months, and $1,200 won't get them through the whole winter. Some families are paying over $3,000 PER MONTH.

Rural Alaskans aren't the only ones feeling it, though. In Denver last week, Celtic Diva and I experienced actual pain at going through the grocery store. There were so many items - especially fresh items, that were literally double the price in Alaska as Denver. And nobody could sanely explain to me why the gas is so much lower (we're talking by a dollar) at the Conoco station in Denver, than next to the Conoco headquarters here in Alaska. You know, where the oil comes from. I know all about the refinery deal, I know lawmakers are talking about (launched?) an investigation into the disparity, but I have little hope of it really making a difference. Living in Alaska just plain costs a whole lot more money.

I was actually surveyed on this payout, and answered that I would happily accept $600 instead of $1,200, if the other half of the $1,200 was going to long-term solutions, and a good chunk of what they aren't paying out goes to looking at real immediate and permanent solutions for Rural Alaska. Next winter doesn't look to be any cheaper.