Murkowski: War-price fuel barges lock rural Alaska into costly winter

Rural Alaska villages are now receiving barge fuel purchased at peak Iran-war prices, and they cannot wait for those prices to fall. The spike compounds a structural problem that rural advocates and state analysts have documented for decades: Alaska's off-road communities routinely pay several times the national average for energy. Senator Lisa Murkowski took the Senate floor Sunday to say the communities will carry those new costs through winter.

Murkowski put specific numbers on the problem. Fuel in Dillingham was running $9 a gallon. In Nuiqsut, on the North Slope, it was $14 a gallon. Those were prices her staff verified last week, before the spring barges arrived. She warned that estimates point to increases of 50 percent or more once barge deliveries are counted. She also said the average American household has paid nearly $400 more for fuel since the start of the Iran conflict. Murkowski noted that prices had fallen slightly that day, calling news of a possible agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz promising, but said communities like Ambler, Galena, and Mountain Village were already living through the impact and would continue to face repercussions for months even if the strait fully reopened.

"If you think $4 a gallon in Denver is bad, try $9 a gallon in Dillingham," Murkowski said. "If $4 a gallon is bad in New Hampshire, up in Nuiqsut it's about $14 a gallon."

The reason those prices stick is geography and ice. About 200 communities in Alaska, roughly 20 percent of the state's population, are not connected to the road system. They receive fuel by barge during the open-water months, typically one or two deliveries a year, and it takes about three months from refinery order to delivery in upriver villages. Once sea ice returns, the only option is flying fuel in by barrel, which costs more. Communities cannot wait for global prices to fall because waiting risks running out before winter ends. Murkowski said some communities may already be delaying purchases because they cannot afford the higher fuel cost, risking exactly that outcome.

In Hooper Bay, where fuel was approaching $10 a gallon, Murkowski said residents filling their tanks face roughly $550 per fill, translating to more than $1,000 a month through winter. Communities farther upriver or inland can add another couple of dollars per gallon on top of hub prices. Fairbanks utilities announced a new fuel surcharge averaging $45.74 a month on top of existing bills, Murkowski said.

Murkowski read from a letter she received from a leader in the Association of Village Council Presidents region, which serves 56 federally recognized tribes in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. "It's not too often that I am scared, but today I am," the letter said. The AVCP leader cited higher fuel costs, concerns about salmon access, and the challenge of providing for families. Subsistence hunting and fishing depend on fuel for skiffs and four-wheelers, and those costs now compete directly with winter heating budgets.