Fuel shortage threatens remote Aleutian village

NIKOLSKI, Alaska -- For nearly five months, dangerously stormy weather in the Aleutians has held bulk-fuel barges at bay from Nikolski, where officials have been forced to fly in small, pricey batches for heat and power.

The tiny, isolated village of about 30 people, unable to continue paying $3,600 a pop to fly in a week's worth of fuel, is hoping for a final air delivery of 550 gallons to come later this week, though it too has been delayed because of weather. Once in Nikolski, fuel sells for nearly $11 a gallon, more than double the normal cost there.

"We just can't afford to keep going at that rate anymore," said Tanya Kyle, administrator for the Nikolski Tribal Council. "We started bringing in smaller shipments because we were told the barge would be coming, and we've been doing that ever since."

This week, as the state assesses a request by the village council to declare an emergency, residents are hunkering down and rationing to stretch what fuel they have, Kyle said.

School is being taught at the teacher's house. The post office and village store are open only a few days a week; people who need groceries on off-days need to call the store owner at home, said Arnold Dushkin, president of the village council, which is not using its office to save on fuel. Snow-removal equipment is parked.

Villagers are trying to cut back on fuel consumption by using a smaller generator rather than the village powerhouse, Dushkin said. As a result, people can't use the amount of electricity they normally do for fear of overloading the generator. Laundry is run on a schedule, and officials have asked people to avoid nonessential appliances.

"They've been doing pretty good about it, but it's pretty bad at this time of year trying to keep homes warmed up," Dushkin said.

Families are being asked to not use space heaters and to turn the thermostat down, Kyle said. Some are using wood-burning stoves or small, private generators, and, where possible, villagers are being asked to "double up" with one another to avoid heating more homes than necessary, she said.

Nikolski, about 900 miles southwest of Anchorage, placed its order for a year's supply of fuel in July, but by September, when the shipment should have arrived, the powerful gales and high seas that punctuate fall weather were already in place, according to previous statements by Delta Western, the area's supplier. The company did not return calls seeking comment Wednesday.

The village has shouldered most of the cost of the emergency fuel flights, though the expense of some recent shipments has been shared by the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association as well as the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Community Development Association, said Dimitri Philemonof, president of APIA. Delta Western has also donated some fuel for emergency shipments, he said.

The state's emergency-services team is assessing the situation and will present the results in a report to Gov. Sarah Palin this week, when she will make a decision whether to declare a state of emergency, Palin spokeswoman Sharon Leighow said.

But because the problem continues to be the area's weather, rather than availability of fuel, immediate action might not be possible, Leighow said.

In fact, Nikolski has 20,000 gallons of fuel sitting unused in Dutch Harbor, Kyle said. The fuel, which was being shipped by Magone Marine Service, made it to Nikolski last month, but after transferring about 1,000 gallons, the vessel was forced by severe weather conditions to return to Dutch Harbor, she said.

That attempt was against federal regulations, according to the U.S. Coast Guard, which issued a warning to Magone for trying to deliver the fuel in an unapproved vessel.

"The regulations are there to protect the environment and commerce," said Petty Officer Sara Francis. "Obviously, we don't want to prevent the city of Nikolski from getting heating oil."

As of Wednesday, fuel enough for several days was all that was left in the village.

"I just hope it's over soon," Kyle said. "It's been one nightmare of a winter."

(E-mail James Halpin at jhalpin(at)adn.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)