Energy prices less important than other factors in rural-to-urban flight

By Alex DeMarban
alex@alaskanewspapers.com

November 24, 2008 at 11:29AM AKST

The energy crisis in rural Alaska partly explains why people are leaving villages for larger communities, but it's not among the top three reasons, according to the preliminary results of a new survey conducted by First Alaskans Institute.

People listed more job options, better educational opportunities, and being closer to families -- in that order -- as the main reasons they moved, said Janie Leask, FAI head.

The research institute conducted the informal and “totally unscientific” survey during the Alaska Federation Natives convention last month, Leask said. She said a formal analysis will be released in early December and cautioned that some information could change.

In the survey, people attending the state’s largest Native gathering were asked if they’d left one community for another and were given several choices to explain why.

Nearly 300 people from all over the state said they had moved, she said. The cost of energy did not make the top three reasons.

Rural Alaskans generally pay two to three times what Anchorage residents pay for electricity, even after accounting for a state subsidy that reduces rural residential rates. Also, stove oil and gas is running more than $7 a gallon in many villages this winter, more than doubling current gas prices in Anchorage.

Leask, who presented the information Saturday during a discussion about the trend at the University of Alaska Anchorage, said the results mirror the information from a 2007 survey done by the institute, said Leask.       

"People are moving where they can give their children an advantage and maybe to find work they couldn’t find (before)," she said.

In all, more than 1,000 people responded to the survey. Many said they planned to move.