Tale of Tulu

Sad, so sad, that after 35-plus-years of oil development wherein the State of Alaska has reaped close to a “$trillion$ bucks in royalty and taxation and federal assistance to fill the state treasury and re-assure the legislature theft is condoned, we still have a number of village communities wherein living conditions come close to 3^rd world or less status. Imagine waking up to “No Lights” and a cold house, in a place where “Polar Bears” roam and with winter knocking at your back door – power outage! Sure it happens even in Anchorage, but during the “Big Blow” of 2011, the local utility had everybody back on the grid within 3-days. And since natural gas was not disrupted, I ran an extension cord from my neighbor's deck and powered my house heater, so I had heat and read by moonlight. So it was not that bad an experience and merely an inconvenience. It was actually romantic not having a blaring TV to contend with and for some reason all the pizzerias never suffered from the outage – so it meant pizza by moonlight also. And in the bigger cities, even the utility won't shut off gas or electricity if behind in payments and the temperature outside is chilling, sort of a “Good Samaritan” gesture, at least that was how it was long ago! So at maximum inconvenience, those that live in the city may have a few days without power, in the event of a major blow or dump. Now take that same scenario and multiply it by 10, being without the necessities for an entire month and then you now know how the village people of Tuluksak are feeling. For the past month, the power has been on and off and finally the village power plant went into failure mode and could not be re-started. It's broke, for good! Now the state did come to the rescue, after a week? See, there came no excuse from the bureaucrats this long delay, in getting “Emergency” power delivered to this village. In fact it is criminal but goes to show that those in Juneau give not a rat's ass about what goes on in remote Alaska. “Damn natives can fend for themselves” is the true message behind this mess, leave it to the BIA. See, prejudice has found new meaning ever since Obama showed up and such fallout even from our inept Congress, well it trickles down like an acid wash. It is by far the worst of the worst diseases affecting America from sea to shining sea, including Alaska, the acid etching away what this nation once stood for. Now even though the villagers were lucky for warmer then normal November weather, their damn freezers were starting to thaw, and this is where they keep their rations for the entire winter, from subsistence hunter lifestyles. So moose meat and beaver meat and caribou meat and fish, all starting to rot. Shameful, and my sentiment somebody down in Juneau should be held accountable for “Wanton Waste” violations. Look, in these remote areas you just can't go to a Safeway, Fred Myers or a “Super-Sam-Walton” refrigerator and stock up. Have any idea the cost for a roll of TP? And this delay in restoring electricity is bothersome, as there is no excuse, especially here in Alaska - a state rolling in dough. Look Mr. Huggins and Mrs. Chenault, if you have too dig into that $50-Billion “Reserve” in efforts to help out our fellow man and woman left abandoned, then have at it! Yes, no excuses this long delay in supplying “Emergency” power to the Tuluksak Village and its 400-residents. In fact, the legislature should have already scheduled a hearing on this lame response. See, I worked for an outfit that maintained the pumping generators on the Trans-Alaska-Pipeline, as part of Alyeska's “Strategic Reconfiguration” project – yes “Strategic”. And that meant mobilizing my crew within 8-hours of a generator failure along the 800-mile pipeline, and having a back-up delivered within the same time frame. Yes, sitting there in Nordale Yard is a spare “Gen-Set” that can be airlifted along with a control room and fuel bladders. Look, we did the same in Iraq, during the wars – airlifted power generators to the “VILLAGERS”, at the wink of an eye. So it appears we have not back-up plans for those that should be able to rely on some semblance of a “trust-us” attitude. In fact Vladimir provides better back-up to the remote villages of Russia then does our very own governor. Maybe we will see a change with Parnell now un-employed. But there exists a more serious problem. The cost of electricity in Alaska is every-bodies problem. Yes, as those that live in South Central continue to subsidize the price of electricity in Fairbanks...yes we do, we pay for the outrageous salaries that the GVEA “Coop” pays its executive branch. It is outrageous as when I am paying for another's electricity, every penny counts. And to make matters worse off, the state has a recovery mechanism that tries to share the costs of electricity, through a “Power Cost Equalization” adjustment, wherein higher priced electricity due higher fuel costs is supposedly ironed out across the board. Yes, it works in theory only! See, the vultures are also on to this “Adjustment” and see it as a “giveaway” so have decided they become the benefactor of $millions$ in state provided appropriations, as we see an ever increasing cost to fly the fuel to wherein it is needed. On one account wherein the Tuluksak council ordered much needed fuel, $5000 dollars worth also cost that same amount for transport? Look, it doesn't cost that much to charter a plane from Fairbanks. So the transporters are making out like bandits because they now they can get away with it. This “subsidy” is being soaked up by greedy bastards and providing no reasonable return on its intent. Look, Fairbanks has become a haven for crooks, taking advantage of everybody along with the innocence of a culture trying to meet half-way, with a subsistence lifestyle along with that the strangulation of a “White Man” interference. You see it in the outrageous cost of the “Fly By” mail delivery, the outrageous costs for medivac services for bringing sick natives to facilities where they can get treatment – just pure highway robbery. And that comes about by a mindset that is embedded with “screw” them all. See, the Alaska Railroad is the bellwether for transport costs, as it is the biggest “Transporter” of commodity, supplies and carrying the “fringe” from of the grid so they can wine and dine on our dime when they get sick and tired of freeloading. But when Bill Sheffield gives away $millions$ in transport credits, somewhere along the line somebody pays for that, as there ain't nothing free in Alaska except political corruption. So the “ARR” sets the stage for what it costs to do business here in Alaska, an entity that was bankrupt since its inception – when Alaska thought it could do better with the rail then Uncle Sam. So when one digs deep into what is really going on today in Alaska, we see wherein the “Corrupt Bastard Club” mentality reigns. And too bad we didn't have a functional “National Guard”, but it also goes to show why Parnell is now un-employed. Here is my take on it. In North Pole, the KOCH Brother's refinery is idled. That refinery for years received “crude oil” from the Trans-Alaska-Pipeline, refined that oil and sold it as heating and power generation fuel. From that refinery there is a refined products pipeline to Eielson Air Force Base, now under the auspices of the Air National Guard. So we re-open the Koch refinery, create jobs and process state owned crude oil and send the refined commodity to Eielson's tank farm, for storage. Then we have the Air Guard use their “play” time to fly “fuel bladders” out to the villages. They get to practice realistic worthwhile air missions, not rescuing some rich bastard off a mountain, but use the time and taxpayers' money for humanitarian reasons. Then with the “Power Cost Equalization” providing a gain to the villagers, through reduced electricity costs the cost of TP is less – we win an award in the humanitarian category. Sure this would work, as you have a “Modern Day” refinery moth-balled, you have a pipeline, you have state owned oil, you have the Air Guard – yet you do not have a willingness from the legislature to perform anything constructive that may disenfranchise the constituency. See, if you spend a penny on a village project, it means you must divvy up 1800 penny's for the rest of the welfare constituency, as a curse has been cast over Juneau, wherein the handling of “resource revenues” must some how or another be “equal” - so we get “Stonewalled”. Money does indeed corrupt, and no other state shows it off as good as Alaska. So sad it is, as we are beginning to see a trend, of letting down our native brothers and sisters – as the oil is running out!