| New reporting from the Wall Street Journal reveals that Nick Begich’s continued support for the price-hiking war in Iran and the energy crisis it created has “led to some of the highest fuel prices in the nation,” especially for rural Alaskans whose votes could be “decisive” in November.
With many Alaskan villages dependent on costly fuel deliveries, families are being forced to shoulder the burden of rising energy costs. Begich has been a vocal supporter of the Iran War from the very beginning, and has downplayed the costs Alaskans are facing, offering no meaningful plan to address the financial strain facing rural Alaskans, even as Alaska leaders warn of an “energy crisis of extraordinary and unprecedented scale” in rural Alaska — a life and death situation.
This also comes as the price of oil surged more than 4% yesterday and the president said the U.S. ceasefire deal with Iran was “over.”
DCCC Spokesperson Anna Elsasser:
“Rural Alaskans are paying the price for Nick Begich’s blind allegiance to policies making life more expensive while families across the state face skyrocketing fuel bills and rising costs. Alaskans deserve leaders who will fight to bring down those costs – not a silver spoon, D.C. politician ripping them off at every turn.”
Read more:
Wall Street Journal: The Iran War Has Oil-Rich Alaska Freaked Out About $9 Gas
- John Stelling had just cranked the digits of his fuel pump to $9.10 at his gas station in this remote Alaskan community when he realized he had a problem.
- Could he push the meter to $10 if he had to? “Not sure if it’ll handle those,” he said of double-digit fuel prices.
- In rural Alaska, the war with Iran has led to some of the highest fuel prices in the nation.
- Remote towns and villages aren’t connected to the road system, so they pay hefty premiums to procure gasoline, heating oil and diesel for cranking out electricity.
- Fuel typically arrives by barge in the summer, when ice clears from waterways. The last barge to unload sets the price until the next delivery – months away. Many communities had no choice this year but to place their orders in the spring, just as the Iran war sent prices soaring.
- That means that even if the U.S. and Iran reach a peace deal and the Strait of Hormuz reopens permanently, rural Alaskans will be stuck with exorbitant energy prices long after they have come down for the rest of the country.
- “In many ways, the oil-and-gas development hasn’t really got filtered down to the people who really need to be seeing the savings from it the most,” said Tom Atkinson, the recently retired chief executive of the electric utility in the rural city of Kotzebue.
- …Voters in rural communities are turning more sour on the war with Iran, creating a divide in the deep-red state that could have national implications.
- Remote villages pay for the fuel – then another $1 to $2 a gallon to have it transported by tanker, loaded on a barge, transferred to a tugboat that can navigate a narrow river and finally loaded into storage tanks…for much of the year, the community’s waterways are frozen, making the summer fuel shipments critical.
- In Dillingham, a coastal city in Western Alaska, barges have started coming in, and with them, higher fuel prices. The area is home to three gas stations, including Stelling’s, all of which sell gasoline at about $9 a gallon. Heating oil sells for about the same, and diesel for slightly more.
- Jack Savo Jr., the city manager, said the recent breakthrough in talks between the U.S. and Iran, and the prospect of Hormuz reopening, provides little comfort. Dillingham estimates it will need to spend an additional $166,015 in the 2027 fiscal year to heat buildings and fuel vehicles. It will reduce overtime and suspend some merit raises, among other cost-cutting measures.
- “Our prices do not react immediately to market changes and things happening in the world,” Savo said.
- Anuska Tilden, 67, was working on a jigsaw puzzle one recent morning at the local senior center. She said it cost her $1,000 a month to heat her three-story house last winter, which she paid from the $1,483 she receives each month from Social Security benefits. She is worried about next winter and thinking about getting a part-time job to pay her bills.
- Gust Wahl, 84, paid some $600 a month last winter to heat his home in the woods outside town. He expects to pay more as barges loaded with expensive heating oil arrive. This winter, he plans to use a wood stove he bought eight years ago and had stored away.
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