Dennis Zaki on KUDO Today!
For those of you who have been following the rural energy/food crisis in Alaska’s rural villages, tune in today to KUDO 1080-AM to hear CC talk to Dennis Zaki! Dennis is the one that Mudflatters and others helped to send to Emmonak to film the situation, and talk to the people who are living there.
Click HERE for a live feed.
He’ll be on at 4:00pm Alaska time (8pm Eastern – 5pm Pacific)
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Dennis is doing a great job talking about how the Natives in Emmonak have great plans for putting in a tank farm to be able to control their own fuel distribution and buy fuel when the prices are low, but all the state is offering is food stamps.
Also, pollack fishing destroys the salmon fishery because anything that isn’t pollack is considered “bycatch” and must be dumped overboard. This includes millions of pounds of king salmon that could be feeding people in Bristol Bay. The boats are from Seattle, and do what they do because of complicated agreements negotiated by Ted Stevens & clan.
Dennis also discussed how when the state officials showed up in Emmonak, they gave less than one hour notice that they wanted to meet. They were already in the air when they called. Also, they showed up late.
It is customary in villages to ask the chief, or elders if you have permission to enter the village. Palin Co. was incredibly disrespectful and got off on the wrong foot with everyone right from the beginning.
Residents of Emmonak and other villages are not looking for handouts, they are looking for long term solutions. The tank farm would cost about $27 million.
Instead, the state sent people “armed with job training, public assistance and food stamps.” Can we say, “out of touch?”
This is not just a Palin issue. This has been happening for a long time. The Native population has been lied to, the land has been exploited, and they have been getting the short end of the stick for many administrations.
State officials are saying “the salmon has nothing to do with this”. The median income in the town is $8,000 but the state has it listed as $25,000 so they say there is nothing they can do.
Why can’t this be a “shovel ready” project in the stimulus bill? Good question.
CNN is on the case. They have his video, and reporters have been calling out there, but he doesn’t know what will come of it. What are they waiting for?
He is only now getting over his own illness from drinking the water in Emmonak, and feels like he is weeks behind on editing and getting finished product available.
We collected $5000 in one night. (bloggers) Why can’t the state be doing anything?
He’s given up on Palin even thinking about this. She talks about having Native Alaskans in her family, but doesn’t do anything. Palin’s Rural Advisor Rhonda McBride quit her position because Sarah Palin NEVER contacted her while she was in the position. She left in October and has not been replaced yet.
What’s next?
Dennis has been pushing this issue. Lisa M. and Don Y. have no intention of doing anything. They talk a good game, but he doesn’t believe they will do anything. Mark Begich wants to do something. He’s spoken with him, and he’s got a lot on his plate, but Dennis thinks he’s the one hope we have in D.C.
After giving $1200 to every man woman and child for energy rebate, why can we not come up with $27 million to do something long term? They just want to be self-sufficient.
Sarah Palin has not said one word about this situation. In Emmonak, they do not like Palin. They don’t expect her to help. She’s got time to blast Obama about the stimulus plan, and all these other things, but no time for her own people.
CC is stunned that not more Alaskans are understanding this situation.
And that’s a wrap.
Great job, Dennis!
Drat, I can’t get the feed on this computer. I’ll have to go listen after the fact if they archive the feeds (do they?).
Dennis = Mudflatter Hero nominee!
Good job performed from your heart Dennis…
@Goalie in NM (15:38:53) :
I’ll second that, even if I can’t listen to him!
It’s good to see this issue is still upfront instead of being forgotten now that help is starting to arrive. I haven’t read of anything being done about the core problems.
I give up. Maybe it just wasn’t intended for folks in the Lower 48 to be able to listen.
I can get it either, hope someone will share…
keep the simulcast going! This is outrageous.
Whooo Hoooo! and next CC’s views on our governor!
Must be time to look into an Executive Order.
I couldn’t get the feed, either (rats). Why aren’t some of the Alaskan state legislators doing anything about this- or are they? Someone could propose/co-sponsor a bill for tank farm funding. Or why aren’t they pushing whatever department is in charge of salmon fishing licenses/regs to negotiate with the fishing fleet that is killing the fish?
It seems that the anonymous bloggers, interested individuals, and now the Seattle restaurants are doing more than anyone in Alaskan government. That’s sad- and what’s worse, Alaskan citizens- some who don’t care- should understand that it could be their ox that is gored next.
OT news from Reuters UK (not ADN)
Alaska lowers oil price forecast, expects deficit
http://uk.reuters.com/article/businessIndustry/idUKTRE51302H20090204
Thank you for the update. I almost felt like I was there listening to it.
I still find it amazing “some bloggers” raised $5000.00 in a night and What’s Her Name hasn’t done Jack.
now playing the Ashley Judd piece re the wolf killings! Goooooo CC!!
Immoral Minority has picked up the Seattle assistance story:
http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/
Go Dennis! I’m a big time cheerleader for this project and am doing everything I can to get the word out and help – but that’s just a drop in the bucket and we need the state government to focus on this issue and to help work up some real answers.
Palin doesn’t support or value subsistence as a way of life, or any type of independence that doesn’t come from money. She will do her best to pave over the wild places in Alaska just as she has done to the ugly town of Wasilla (I’m sorry Wasilla residents!). If AK Natives and other rural folk are in the way and no one’s looking, she’ll try to pave them over, too.
Martha Unalaska Yard Sign (18:05:48) :
I agree. She talked a good story in her State of the State speech (circling the musk ox, a grizzly with cubs, forging the river…) because it sounds more rugged and romantic than- onward cement mixers! Mow down the trees! The heck with the salmon! Drill, drill, drill…
Sarah Palin’s dictionary:
Wild = to be killed or paved over
Starving = not a real word since there is a Walmart somewhere close by
Cold = “ooooh dear, I can’t wear my ugly vinyl boots and short skirts today dammit”
Martha Unalaska Yard Sign (18:22:37) :
Sarah Palin’s dictionary:
Wild = to be killed or paved over
Starving = not a real word since there is a Walmart somewhere close by
Cold = “ooooh dear, I can’t wear my ugly vinyl boots and short skirts today dammit”
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Heh heh…very funny:-)
From Alaska Real / Sept 2008
http://alaskareal.blogspot.com/2008/09/exodus-from-alaskan-village.html
Re: Adak (on the Aleutian chain):
“They are finally undone by energy costs… And our governor dares to run on the platform of being an “energy expert?”"
SP is no expert on anything except how to save her own skin.
Martha Unalaska Yard Sign (18:39:27) :
This is horrible! What can we do?!
@ Martha Unalaska Yard Sign, I see that AK Real story was from Sept 08′, has there been an up-date on the villagers since then, any way we can find where the 180 people went, how they are doing now, if there is any plans to help them get back home next spring/summer?
I suppose Gov Paling around with elitist and the AK legis is to busy CTA (covering their a$$) and siting 10 yr old census data showing that villagers make to much money to be able to get any real help today.
@ CO almost native
You have done so much – as have so many Mudflatters and other Anonymous Bloggers ! Every box of food sent to Nunam Iqua brings smiles and hope.
We fight the racism and darkness with words and light. We continue to take the she-governor to task for ignoring the “Real Alaskans”. We keep blogging in our pajamas (hey mine are getting worn thin from all this blogging!) and sending information to the press, our families and our friends. And we keep pointing at SP chanting “Liar, Liar, boots on fire!”
The Adak story should be in ADN archives and some should show up in Bristol Bay Times (?)- I followed this when it was happening. Was all about the time the floozy was perfecting the drill-team chant…Outside, somewhere… wherever she was…
Pollock fishing is federally managed out in the Bering Sea — some (very little) occurs in State waters, the rest is in Federal waters. If you take out the pollock fishermen, there goes most of the fish and chips that you by in the frozen foods section of the stores nationwide. Also, pollock is the basis for much of the “imitation crab” that is eaten and surimi. According to Wikipedia, the Bering Sea pollock fishery is the “largest single-species food fishery in the world.”
Bycatch is a huge problem — so is their dragging their nets along the ocean floor causing major destruction of fish habitat and rearing and feeding grounds.
Pollock fishermen are a huge lobbying and high priced fishery. They also feed many in the U.S. and the world. The Seattle boats (and foreign boats that fish in Russian and international waters) are not going to easily give up this fishery and money. They have been under attack also for the damage they do to the stocks that sea lions feed on. The ships that are not “at-sea processors” deliver to Kodiak, Dutch Harbor, and St. Paul Island, which provides a number of jobs to Alaskans and outsiders alike.
The pollock fishermen are a symptom of the fight over localized fishing or fishing where optimal numbers can be taken. Unfortunately those who are in the minority (often subsistence fishermen throughout the state) lose to the money of the big boats.
BearWoman(19:53:40) :
Thank you for the information; as a land-locked Lower 48er, I know some about commercial fishing, but not about the bycatch issue. Is anyone/group researching ways to avoid this? I think this might be similar to the tuna/porpoise problem some years back? There needs to be some sort of balance-
@Aussie Blue Sky (17:51:24) :
OT news from Reuters UK (not ADN)
Alaska lowers oil price forecast, expects deficit
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I was interested to read in the Reuters article that the budgeted spending for AK this fiscal year was around $6 Billion. That’s about $9K per capita.
Here in CA, our budget is, as usual, hung up by the no-tax Republican minority and our stupid Prop 13 two-thirds majority requirement, but eventually the spending budget will be around $100 Billion. That’s a bit over $3K per capita (and about 40% of that pays for K-12 education).
This leads to two questions: (1) what the heck does the AK government spend all that money on? and (2) How can they not be able to come up with a few tens of millions (perhaps one percent of the budget) to stabilize the emergency situation in the boonies?
I just read on the KTUU site that some legislators are going to go to Bethel, Nome, and Kotzebue to check on the crisis. My opinion, These places are more like hubs and have larger grocery stores and more opportunity for employment because they are more populated than the outlying villages. Why aren’t they going to the outlying villages where the crisis are worse.
strangelet, that’s a very good question. Do they post the AK budget on their webpage?
@ here_in_PA
http://housemajority.org/coms/index.php?c=100&p=press
Who: House Special Committee on Energy
What: Hearing on statewide energy plan in Kotzebue
When: Saturday, February 7, 2009 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Where: Northwest Arctic Borough Assembly Chambers, 163 Lagoon Street
Who: House Special Committee on Energy
What: Hearing on statewide energy plan in Nome
When: Sunday, February 8, 2009 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Where: Old Saint Joe’s Church, 407 Bering Street
That’s a good point – although there are not facilities for people to visit for any length of time in the villages. I just hope that the meetings aren’t too far away for the political and vocal residents to get there! We don’t know how many villages will be represented – so will keep an eye on this piece of good news (I hope!)
Here are the budget summaries:
http://omb.alaska.gov/Archive/Index.htm
Ooops, that was only the archives. The current FY:
http://www.gov.state.ak.us/omb/
Hey Sorry I missed it!
I know they did a story at ADN regarding people helping them from Seattle. , let us hope that some long term solutions will come about.
Well, let’s see. This sounds familiar. Hasn’t this been going on for about 300 or 400 YEARS now????? You would think that the Native Americans and the Federal and State governments would be getting along better by now, and there would be some respect for native peoples. Oh, hell no. And the salmon? Who cares? The Bush administration certainly didn’t care. So nothing is new here. Except the power of the BLOGGERS on the internet. Keep getting the word out, AKM. You are on the top of my list of most ADMIRABLE people.
Hmmm…I just noticed that the meetings were scheduled for only two hours each. How’s that going to work?
One part of the “complicated agreements negotiated by Ted Stevens and clan” was the creation of the Community Development Quota program, or CDQ. This program allocates portions of the allowable catch of Bering Sea pollock, cod, halibut and other species to 6 regional CDQ groups. Emmonak is included in the Yukon Delta Fisheries Development Association. Trawlers then pay these associations for the right to catch their designated quota. Emmonak and 64 other Bering Sea coastal communities directly benefit from the Bering Sea catch. Information on the CDQ program can be found here:
http://www.dced.state.ak.us/bsc/cdq/cdq.htm
Not defending trawlers in any way, just saying that fisheries issues are indeed complicated.
eddie said:
CDQ’s don’t “directly” benefit communities along the Yukon or Kuskokwim. They indirectly benefit the communities. Actual commercial and subsistence fishing is far more beneficial. The traditional activities of catching, putting up, storing and using the fish are part of what binds families and communities. The CDQ’s are cash, and look like dividends or payments, not living animals.
And the CDQ’s for offshore catch are white man paper contracts and checks, and don’t in any way assure health of the river ecosystems upon which these communities have relied for about three times a long as humans have had written language.
The polar ice caps will have completely melted before Palin and Pals give a rat’s backside about anything about what serves her best, and that definitely is the minute electoral vote we have come 2012. Thank Heavens the folks in the villages are willing to speak up and fight for self sufficiency.
@JunoMom (22:56:54) :
Speaking up is obviously a problem. This is appalling.
http://www.adn.com/rural/western/story/678220.html?mi_pluck_action=comment_submitted&qwxq=5926437#Comments_Container
Just offering information, not making comparisons to other issues. Directly or indirectly, the CDQ program provides money to Bering Sea Coastal communities.
OT. I just noticed in an ADN report that a J High burned down, because the fire house was not in use, since it was unfinished. It appears this is the second time a school burnt down in that area. Now, I ask Gov Palin, isn’t that a good project worthy of Fed Funding? I don’t get, why is she only asking for funding to help her oil buddies?
The fire house is still under construction. I think a friend of mine is the contractor.
They couldn’t put a sprinkler system in the school because of the lack of a village water system.
This is the “pork” everyone screams about. Ted Stevens was bringing home money for basic infrastructure like water & sewer systems, schools, fire halls & equipment, airport facilities…
strangelet(21:21:33) :
On state spending per capita: You have economies of scale in Calif. that we don’t have. Our population is 660,000 or so. Yours is millions.
SillyWhabbit Seattle, WANo Gravatar (17:52:15) :
Thank you for the update. I almost felt like I was there listening to it.
I still find it amazing “some bloggers” raised $5000.00 in a night and What’s Her Name hasn’t done Jack.
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But Jack ain’t complainin’
We collected $5000 in one night. (bloggers) Why can’t the state be doing anything?
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The state could, at the very least, match the funds raised by bloggers.
“They couldn’t put a sprinkler system in the school because of the lack of a village water system.”
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Sounds like someone didn’t think through these issues during the planning, permitting and construction processes. If there’s no village water system, why did they even fund it, let alone commence construction?
Oh, and thanks for providing a transcript of sorts, AKM.
AKMudflats, I really hate to correct you on anything – but I have let this slide once already. It is curious that Nick’s letter was published in the Bristol Bay Times when they are located in the Yukon Kuskokwim region, so The Tundra Drums would have been the more obvious choice for printing. Then again, they are so high on the Yukon they could have gone for the Nome Nugget, where their Senator is located in Nome.
Bristol Bay is the region south of the YK, but it is Todd Palin’s region, so it is an ironic fall-out. I wrote on AmericaBlog that what made Sarah Palin dangerous to Natives was that she claims her connection when convenient (like how blue-eyed Todd and their children ‘live’ with discrimination in Alaska?) But since Alaska Newspapers owns them all, it is a moot point.
As for the CDQ groups, they are partial owners of the pollock (not pollack) fisheries and they have the unenviable challenge of merging economic force and infrastructure with traditional Subsistence practices. To their credit, many of them have annually barged in firewood for their villages to use, but other than that, I think many federal rules prevent them from doing anything beyond fishery related investments. They do provide boat / ATV shops and mechanics at a subsidized rate to keep fishermen’s boats and motors patched and running.
I do not keep up with their newsletters, so I don’t know what other forms of relief or investment projects they administer to directly support the communities.
I think it is horrible how the officials kicked Dennis out. It was a public meeting, but when you are in the hinterlands, the first amendment and such gets lost (who are we kidding, their boss the journalist, doesn’t even know what the First Amendment means.) As is the tradition among Native groups, we usually initiate Native only talking sessions, but it should have been their call to keep or ask Dennis to leave, not the State.
Emmonak has always been proactive in planning compared to many other rural communities. It is a shame that it has been a futile effort for so long.
I am so heartened by the bloggers and readers who have done something, actually done something to help.
Quyana, thank you. And may your generosity for strangers at the edge of the world come back to you twofold.
@ I can see the Village from my House
I love your comments, your perspective and how you get right to the heart of things!
@I can see the Village from my House (08:30:58-
From what little I have been able to gather Emmonak has been more proactive in planning than many communities all over this state.
I am impressed.
I am also depressed at the lack of action from the state, over the years, to address the plans small communities have for themselves.
I hope, somehow, we can establish parity between urban and rural Alaska . Somehow we have to bring all Alaskans to the table with the equal footing they are entitled to.
Best wishes, neighbor.
Would this “tank farm” be for just a village of 800 people or does it benefit others too? Assuming a family size of 4, that is $135,000 per family. That is enough to build a pretty nice house. Why would a tank cost so much?
No matter how skilled these villagers are at timing the purchase of oil, people with a median (per capita?) income of $8,000 really can’t afford to stock up. I’m not sure this big outlay really solves the problem.
$135,000 per family is a lot of money. Maybe that is part of the normal give aways in Alaska, but from Oregon it sure sounds like a lot.
“CNN is on the case. They have his video, and reporters have been calling out there, but he doesn’t know what will come of it. What are they waiting for?”
I was under the impression that CNN was ready to go with the story if we could fly Dennis out there to get the footage and story.
I have only seen the single clip from Dennis in the elementary school. Is there other footage or maybe it’s in CNN’s vault.
It’s amazing how short our attention spans can be.