Venezuela likely to offer free fuel to Alaskans again

[Judi Lynn]

Venezuela likely to offer free fuel to Alaskans again
Alex DeMarban/The Arctic Sounder
Published Friday, November 28, 2008

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.

~snip~
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.

More:
http://newsminer.com/news/2008/nov/28/venezuela-likely-offer-free-fuel-alaskans-again/

[Judi Lynn]

1. Venezuela's Chavez offers heat to villages

Venezuela's Chavez offers heat to villages
VENEZUELAN OIL: Controversial but free program in 3rd year.

By KYLE HOPKINS
[e-mail]

Published: November 28th, 2008 04:48 AM
Last Modified: November 28th, 2008 02:38 PM

With heating oil prices approaching $10 a gallon in rural Alaska and reports of neighbors stealing fuel from neighbors to warm their homes, a Venezuela-owned oil company plans to supply free fuel to villages again this winter.

That's what a Citgo executive who oversees the company's free heating oil program told the Alaska Inter-Tribal Council earlier this month, said council director Steve Osborne.

Citgo has provided roughly 15,000 Alaska village households 100 gallons of heating oil each for the past two winters. If the company donates the same amount this year, some families will save as much as $1,000 on their fuel bills. It's part of a program providing assistance to low-income communities in 23 states.

In the Inupiat village of Noatak, north of Kotzebue, heating oil sells for $9.79 a gallon. Villagers are crossing their fingers for the Citgo assistance while locking their fuel tanks under plywood and padlocks to protect them from thieves, said Eugene Monroe Sr., a local councilman.

"You got to be watching your tank all the time," he said.

~snip~
Villagers are turning to hauling driftwood that washes ashore about 10 or 15 miles out of town and burning it for heat, he said.

~snip~
So is there a chance Citgo wouldn't provide the aid?

"Boy, I don't think there is a way. They're good at their word," Osborne said.

The gift is available to anyone who lives in an Alaska community that is more than 70 percent Alaska Native, said Osborne, who hopes to see the program expand to other rural towns and even cities such as Anchorage and Fairbanks in the future.

Citgo doesn't actually send oil to Alaska.

Last year, the company gave oil to a nonprofit, Citizens Energy Corp. -- founded by former U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy -- which in turn sold the oil and delivered the money to the Alaska Inter-Tribal Council, which manages the program in Alaska.

~snip~
President-elect Barack Obama's transition team has invited the Alaska Inter-Tribal Council and other tribal leaders from around the country to meet in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 8, Osborne said.

Obama's team wants to hear two or three priorities that the tribes think the new president should focus on, he said.

"One of them will be, I think, that energy crisis.

http://www.adn.com/rural/story/604423.html