Venezuela free fuel for Alaska likely again

ALEX DeMARBAN

November 21, 2008 at 2:42PM AKST

A Venezuelan oil company has once again said it will provide 100 gallons of free heating fuel for thousands of Alaskans, according to an official with the Alaska Inter-Tribal Council.

But Steve Osborne, executive director for the tribal organization, cautioned that the gift wasn’t guaranteed.

Osborne got a call from Citgo executive Andres Rangel on Nov. 11, he said.

Rangel told Osborne the fuel help was coming. But the two sides haven’t signed a contract.  

“I don’t want to raise false expectations,” Osborne said.

Still, a deal could be struck soon, he said.

A Citgo spokesman would not comment.    

The assistance in Alaska began two years ago and is part of the oil company’s larger and controversial effort to provide subsidized heating fuel to poor communities in much of the country. Last year, the national program cost Citgo more than $147 million, according to news accounts.   

Critics have blasted the donations as a political ploy by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez — his government owns Citgo. They charge that he’s trying to embarrass the Bush administration for ignoring struggling Americans.  

Many recipients in rural Alaska, where heating fuel prices double and triple the national average, have said they aren’t concerned about the gift’s political implications. They’re just happy for the help.

Last year alone, Citgo provided the aid to more than 15,000 homes in 160 Alaska Native communities, saving each household hundreds of dollars.   

The assistance is needed more than ever this winter, Osborne said.

Though fuel prices have dropped sharply throughout the country and in Alaska’s urban areas, the state’s off-road villages haven’t benefited, he said. That’s because most villages bought their fuel this summer, when global prices soared. They won’t get a break until rivers melt and fuel barges begin arriving in late spring.

In the last year, some villages have seen fuel prices double, Osborne said.

Many rural Alaskans fork over more than $7 a gallon for heating fuel. Some have reported paying more than $9 a gallon.

Nationally, homeowners will pay an average of $2.75 a gallon for heating fuel this winter, a 17 percent drop from last winter, according to the Energy Information Administration.  

In rural Alaska, the situation can be desperate. Two years ago, an elder in the Kotzebue region died in her home of exposure to the cold — the space heater wasn’t warm enough, Osborne said.

“We hear the tragic stories almost daily,” he said.

On the positive side, Citgo’s assistance has been put to good use, Osborne said. A survey conducted by AITC, which represents more than 200 tribes in Alaska, found that the fuel help freed up money, allowing people to spend more on other essentials, especially subsistence hunting and fishing.

This year, there’s been talk that Citgo might end the program in Alaska, in part because the Venezuelan government has been busy helping other countries recover from hurricanes.  

Osborne said AITC is working hard to make sure the program continues in Alaska.

Shortly after he got the phone call, AITC asked the regional nonprofits that help administer the program to round up information that Citgo will need to provide the assistance, such as fuel prices in each village.  

If the help does arrive — it will come in the form of vouchers that villagers redeem at local fuel distributors — residents will see the benefits by the coldest winter months, Osborne said.

Alex DeMarban can be reached at 907-348-2444 or 800-770-9830, ext. 444.