Anchorage Daily News

A state director reviewing reports of high fuel costs and food shortages in lower Yukon River villages said she'd support free fuel vouchers as a way to bring immediate relief to villagers.

But only under the right conditions.

"That would be something I would advocate for if it's legally possible and there's money for it, because it would be quick," said Community and Regional Affairs Director Tara Jollie, who toured Western Alaska last week.

Jollie visited the neighboring Yup'ik villages of Emmonak and Kotlik after an Emmonak man wrote a letter about the plight of the villagers, spurring an Internet outcry and donations of money and food.

Regional leaders criticized Gov. Sarah Palin this month for failing to act faster, while the state, citing inconsistent reports about what was happening in Emmonak, sent Jollie and four other officials in the Palin administration to visit the region for a first-hand look.

Fuel costs soared in many villages, while Emmonak and Kotlik leaders have called on the state to declare a fishing disaster. A poor salmon season left some commercial fishermen saying they actually lost money trying to fish last year. Commerce Commissioner Emil Notti said this month that while fishermen made less money, incomes didn't drop low enough to legally qualify as a disaster.

Jollie said Friday that the state is still investigating whether a disaster declaration is possible.

Along with fuel vouchers, Jollie said she heard suggestions to create a longer-term subsidy to help people pay their fuel bills. That idea would be similar to a power-cost-equalization program the state uses to subsidize rural electricity bills.

Jollie said she wouldn't personally support doing the same thing for heating fuel costs because it would permanently balloon the state budget. "That goes on the book forever," she said.

The division director, who described both proposals as "brainstorming ideas," reports to the commerce commissioner and, ultimately, the governor.

If Palin doesn't favor the fuel-voucher idea, state Sen. Donny Olson, D-Nome, says he might propose something similar in the Legislature.

"If we're going to do something, we need to do something fairly quickly," said Olson, who represents the region.

Both Jollie and Olson envision a voucher program that provides fuel based on need -- for seniors living on a fixed income, for example -- rather than giving free fuel to everyone in a community.

There's a program, paid for by the Venezuelan oil company Citgo, that does that already. The company has given 100 gallons of free fuel to rural Alaskans in each of the past two years and plans to pay for fuel again this year. Critics dismiss the program as a political maneuver by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a frequent critic of the United States, while supporters see it as much-needed aid for families struggling to heat their homes during dangerous winters.

Citgo hasn't settled on a date for the program to begin in Alaska, said Steven Osborne, executive director for the Alaska Inter-Tribal Council which administers the program for the state.

"It's getting close -- and my feeling would be in the next month or so -- but again, I'm waiting for official word," he said.

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

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