This is Palin's idea of wasteful spending to cut

[Waiting For Everyman]

AlaskaReal blogger
Monday, September 15, 2008
This is happening in Sarah Palin's backyard

The town will have no power. Residents are being asked to leave. One man has already suffered medical problems because he could not get power to his respiratory equipment. Teachers are trying to have classes in their homes with small generators.

This is not some third world country. This is not even Texas or Louisiana, where thousands are facing the aftereffects of a hurricane.

This is a small village in Alaska.

Adak cannot pay its gas bill. They've been struggling with this problem for some time, but they were finally cut off. A combination of problems - as the Anchorage Daily News reports, were the cause, but the obvious - rising fuel prices - is one of the main culprits.

The other is the fishing industry. This tiny village of less than 150 people has been hit hard by the prices. It's a village that has been hit before with so much, historically - first the Russian invasion and "relocation", World War II invasion and forced relocation, and more recently the shut down of the military base.

A quote in the Anchorage Daily News, from an Adak medic:

"It is beyond my comprehension that such a situation like this can occur in an American city," Adams said.

Ironically, the ADN reported on a Senate hearing in August about Rural energy in the paper on the same say. Sen. Murkowski was urging Rural residents to stay in the villages, and a panel of Native leaders and energy experts talked over solutions to the energy crisis in the villages.

I applaud all those at this hearing for working towards solutions. I was not much of a fan of Murkowski, but in things like this, and others, she's on the right track. But mere weeks after she urges villagers to stay in the village for the sake of culture and the connection to the land, residents are asked to leave Adak.

But where is our governor?

I asked this last night, and today I see she's campaigning in Colorado.

Even the Republican delegates took a half day to look after the Hurricane crisis. Why can't she come take a look at this? I don't know that she would do anything - check my earlier post for her veto on another small Rural community that went over on their energy costs last year. They were looking for state funding to help in their costs. Palin line-item vetoed it. Is this what she means by "reform?"

She only just left - this would have been a good issue to address while she was here in Alaska to take care of ... well, giving interviews about how little she knows about foreign policy I suppose. And rallies. Several rallies.

Palin recently pushed through giving every eligible Alaska resident a $1200 check as an energy rebate - which began distribution this weekend. You can imagine the popularity of that for the public (for any doubters, you need only have gone by Best Buy this weekend and counted the game systems going out the door.)

The ADN reported on lawmakers that were opposed to this plan (you can imagine the cahones it took to oppose giving out free money!) before it was passed, and just WHY they were opposed:
"They said the House plan to simply pay Alaskans a $1,200 rebate and to suspend the state's 8-cent tax on each gallon of gasoline isn't broad enough to cover needs statewide, especially in the costly Bush (Rural Alaska) where $1,200 just won't go as far."

Looks like it only took until the very weekend the checks were being distributed to be proven right.

I have been increasingly frustrated with the coverage - or lack of coverage - on this situation. I posted on this last night (Saturday.) A few hours ago the Anchorage Daily News finally reported on it. There was nothing in the local television news, much less national reports.

WHY IS THIS NOT NEWS?

An entire community of people is without power and being asked to leave their homes because they cannot afford the fuel! The State of Alaska has a MULTI BILLION DOLLAR SURPLUS!

THIS IS PREVENTABLE!

http://alaskareal.blogspot.com/2008/09/this-is-happening-in-sarah-palins.html

[frogcycle]

1. k

[RC]

2. How many in that village are White and Christian?

[dmr]

3. Line-item vetoes? A governor can do that? Who does she think she is? Bush*?

Seriously, never heard of a governor doing that.

An entire village without power, and the governor is out of town? Something is terribly wrong. It's nice about the 1200 dollar rebate check, but at what expense? I'm all for giving back to the people, but what strings are attached to this check? Is it so the citizens look the other way when their 'benefactor' mis-uses or abuses her office? Could that money be better spent building/maintaining the state's infrastructure and be less dependent upon Federal tax dollars?

If Alaska has a multi-billion dollar surplus, then why allow villages to go without power? That is dangerous. And if Alaska really has that much money in the bank, then how about returning some federal dollars, or refuse future dollars - make it a little easier on the remaining 49. I know my state could use a break.

The only reform I'm seeing for Palin is maybe Adult Reform School. (Do they still have Reform Schools? Or am I showing my age?)

Seriously, though, this is very sad. Trying to understand the high expense of power, it is terribly drastic to ask a village to up and leave. Once this type of thing starts, it signals an end. We partly identify ourselves by our community. It is who we are. How we are. What we are. We laugh, cry, share, learn, worship together. It is about culture. You end a village, you end another piece of our culture. I'm very tired, so am not sure I've explained myself well. We just don't lock up and leave in this country. Communities come to the aid of other communities. I don't like Palin, but if I did like her, I'd blast her for being so coldly neglectful of her state.

[Hestia]

4. Line-item veto is more common that you think - Ark has it and Bill

Clinton used it, which is why he asked for when first elected President. I can see the pro's and con's of it.

This power is held by most state governors in the United States of America. All but seven US states have some form of line-item veto. Those states without the line-item veto are Indiana, Maryland, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and Vermont.<1>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_item_veto

[WCGreen]

10. I think almost every state in the Union has a line item veto....

[Born_A_Truman]

5. Palin's vetos on budget

http://www.gov.state.ak.us/omb/09_omb/budget/bills/SB221_with_vetoes.pdf

Interesting document. Items X'd out are totally cut. Items with line drawn through the amounts are still in the budget, but funds are cut.

Have fun!

[Disturbed]

6. Gov. Palin needs to be Impeached, now!!!

:grr:

[progressoid]

7. the city owes more than $500,000 in energy costs to fuel distributor Aleut Enterprise

$3500.00 per person.

http://www.adn.com/aleutians/story/526305.html

Tangled web leads to Adak power shutdown

EMERGENCY: Fuel is there, but city can't afford it; citizens advised to leave.

Published: September 15th, 2008 12:53 AM
Last Modified: September 15th, 2008 10:42 AM

Despite tanker-loads of fuel sitting nearby, the tiny, far-flung community of Adak on Sunday was on the brink of running out of diesel to power its town generator, a situation that has prompted officials to black out power and ask citizens to leave the Aleutian community.

Locals say the problem is that the city owes more than $500,000 in energy costs to fuel distributor Aleut Enterprise, and, in response, the subsidiary of Aleut Corp. has refused to sell more fuel to the city.

"There's a million gallons of fuel here in town, but the city is going to be out of fuel," said Dave Fraser, who handles government relations for Adak Fisheries, which is also tangled in the affair. "There's numerous things going on here. It's not a simple situation."

Part of the reason the city can't afford to pay is the skyrocketing cost of diesel. Another part is that Adak Fisheries has been unable to pay the city hundreds of thousands of dollars -- the exact amount is in dispute -- it owes for electricity costs, Fraser said.

The reason for nonpayment is that quotas on king crab and an influx in floating fish processors in the area in recent years have meant hard times for the company, he said.

[louis-t]

11. Why not forfeit the $1,200 they've each been given

and pay part of the gas bill to get service on?

[TooRaLoo]

8. That is absolutely bewildering!

WTF? They're just supposed to leave their homes behind???

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

9. Mooselini is a huge, steaming turd.

No brains, no sense, no nothing except boundless ambition and a fierce desire to light the fuse on nuclear holocaust. In a sensible society it would be confined in a smartly fitted jacket with arms that were tied behind the back in a nice, quiet rubber room.