Opinion: Tribal governments in Alaska deal with pressing issues

Wednesday, January 19, 2011  

"During the week of Thanksgiving I had the opportunity to interview five different tribal councils in the Yukon River drainage, inquiring about the most pressing issues they are dealing with at their meetings. I spoke with tribal councils in Alukanuk, Pilot Station, Shageluk, Galena, and Fort Yukon. All five of these councils had a lot of work to keep them busy and numerous issues that need to be resolved.

Most of these issues relate to improving environmental and economic conditions in the villages. For instance, some of the councils noted difficulties with the removal of hazardous waste. Others were working on getting funding to fix up existing homes to make them energy efficient. Energy efficiency and the high price of heating fuel seem to be an issue that most rural villages are struggling with.

Alukanuk's main issue from their recent tribal meeting was the accumulation of backhaul items in their dump. Some of these items included refrigerators, snowmachines, four-wheelers, and freezers. Those items have been building up because the tribe doesn't have any employees with hazardous waste operations and emergency response (HAZWOPER) certification to prepare the items for removal. Freon must be removed from the freezers, and hazardous fluids must be drained from snowmachines and four-wheelers prior to transport from the village. Alukanuk ran out of funding for its landfill project in September 2009. Alukanuk lacks a grant writing employee in its tribal office, and they need somebody who can write grants for various issues that their village needs to mitigate, such as the landfill project and subsistence related issues. The tribal council is working toward getting some of their community members trained so they can begin to address some of their pressing issues.

Pilot Station had multiple issues on their recent tribal meeting's agenda, ranging from housing issues to increasing their energy efficiency. Their community is lacking funding to address the energy efficiency of their existing homes. They are currently working with the Association of Village Council Presidents and the Rural Alaska Community Action Program to weatherize existing homes in the community. Most of the heating systems in these homes are out of date and need to be upgraded so that they can optimize their heating fuel usage, which is a pressing issue considering that heating fuel in Pilot Station is running around $6.50 per gallon. Also, the tribal council is working on a plan to address the lack of school attendance and decreasing grades of the students in their community. Further, they are working with other local governments to increase economical development in the region. "

Get the Story:
Teddy Willoya: Tribal councils face pressing issues (The Tundra Drums 1/18)