State rethinks disaster call for Emmonak

"I'm just now today getting information in from surrounding villages," said Tara Jollie, director of the state Division of Community and Regional Affairs.

A letter written by Nicholas Tucker of Emmonak describing parents battling to feed their families in his hometown -- plus concerns from others in the region -- prompted state department heads to plan a teleconference this morning. The topic: a crippling combination of high fuel prices, poor commercial fishing prospects and an unusual cold snap in the Yup'ik village and others like it.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski evoked Emmonak's struggles Thursday at a Senate committee hearing on the proposed federal economic stimulus plan. Back in the Yukon River village itself, Tucker looked for assurance the state is taking the local reports seriously.

"I wish I could take Gov. (Sarah) Palin and walk her around in the houses here," he said.

Palin spokeswoman Sharon Leighow said the governor is monitoring the scene in Emmonak but, for now, has no plans to travel to the area.

"I know the governor's very concerned ... and there's not anybody who doesn't care," Jollie said

Tucker has questioned whether other villages are in similar straits, and Jollie said state employees in Bethel are calling nearby towns for information.

In Kotlik, which sits about 35 miles east of Emmonak, City Clerk Flora Tonuchuk said local commercial fisherman like her husband spent so much on gas and supplies that they actually lost money fishing last year.

Assistance like last year's $1,200 energy rebate from the state helps, Tonuchuk said, but local heating oil costs can top $1,000 a month.

In Tuluksak, 35 miles outside of Bethel, the school recently called the Association of Village Council Presidents, worried about a local family.

"They hadn't had heat for a month," said social services director Pat Samson. "When I was talking to the mother, I asked what else don't you guys have."

The AVCP bought the family $200 worth of groceries Thursday.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game reported a poor king salmon run -- commercial king salmon fishing is key to village economies in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta -- on the Yukon River last year.

In October the AVCP asked the state and federal governments to declare a fisheries disaster in the region, which could pave the way for emergency relief money.

The state considered the request -- which is being echoed this month by local leaders in Kotlik and Emmonak -- last year, Jollie said.

"I think we did do a review of it," she said. "I didn't do it myself, so I don't know that the numbers supported the claim."

Now with Tucker's letter highlighting economic struggles in the region, the state is taking another look at that request and others, Jollie said.

What changed?

"One of the things that I learned yesterday that I didn't know was that a fish processing company (in Emmonak) had rolled up their sidewalks and closed their doors and left town," she said.

Jollie said that she doesn't want to raise false expectations and that it's too early to say what disaster relief options, if any, might apply to the region.

As for whether the feds can help, Murkowski posed that question to a Bureau of Indian Affairs official at a Senate hearing Thursday, said Murkowski spokesman Michael Brumas.

"His response was they would look at providing emergency general assistance," Brumas said.

That's not a promise, but Brumas said it could mean cash for the village.

An Emmonak reference popped up in a letter from U.S. Rep. Don Young as well Thursday. Young, writing to the Environmental Protection Agency, described the village heating oil costs as well over $7 a gallon. He told the EPA it ought to waive fuel production limits at a North Pole refinery to ward off a future fuel crunch and resulting "humanitarian crisis."

It's been a busy week for the village, which fell into the spotlight this week as Tucker's letter appeared on Alaska Newspapers Inc. Web sites and statewide public radio aired an interview. The issue gained national steam online as mostly left-leaning bloggers raised money for the village and accused Palin of inaction.

Tucker said he's not trying to hurt anyone's reputation: "I'm just crying out for help."

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Find Kyle Hopkins online at adn.com/contact/khopkins or call him at 257-4334.