Alaska villages reject heating oil gift from Bush critic Chavez

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – An offer of free heating oil from a critic of President Bush will be rejected by four remote Alaska villages.

Leaders of the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association said Thursday that they will not accept oil for residents of Nelson Lagoon, Atka, St. Paul and St. George offered by Venezuela President Hugo Chavez out of loyalty to Bush and the country.

Chavez last week called President Bush "a devil" and made other inflammatory comments about the United States.

"Despite the critical need for fuel in our region, the Unangan (Aleut) people are Americans first, and we cannot support the political agenda attached to this donation," leaders of the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association said in a prepared statement Thursday.

Under a program from Texas-based refiner Citgo, which is owned by the Venezuelan government, more than 12,000 rural Alaska homes in about 150 villages are to receive 100 free gallons of heating oil this winter.

The gift is valued at about $5 million and has been welcomed by many in remote, cash-poor villages. Heating oil in rural Alaska can cost up to $7 per gallon in part because of high shipping costs.

Critics say Chavez through the gift is trying to make President Bush and the U.S. government look as if they do not care for their own people. Chavez also supports Iran's nuclear ambitions.

The four villages face heating fuel costs between $5 and $6 a gallon, according to the association. They were the only villages in the region scheduled to receive fuel.

Atka Mayor George Dirks disagrees with the decision.

"How stupid that is," he said. "We can use the fuel."

Heating fuel costs more than $5 a gallon in his village of 90 about 1,200 miles southwest of Anchorage.

"Some people are just getting by," he said.

Tribal leaders and board members of the association, a Native regional nonprofit agency, decided that supporting President Bush and the U.S. government was more important than free fuel, said Dimitri Philemenof, APIA president.

Philemenof called the decision strong and unified.

"When you look at the desperation in our region, especially with the fishing seasons poor and high unemployment, I take my hat off" to representatives of the four villages who made the decision, he said by phone from Tucson, Ariz., where he is on leave.

Officials with the Alaska Inter-Tribal Council, a nonprofit group representing Alaska's tribal governments, are organizing the gift distribution in Alaska. Under the program, Citgo will provide cash to Native regional nonprofit groups. The groups will purchase fuel for each qualifying village.

Steve Sumida, acting director of Alaska Inter-Tribal Council, said Thursday that he had received no notification of the rejection by the association. He has not heard of any other organization or village backing out, he said. The program is scheduled to begin Nov. 1.

Philemenof said he had refused to attend a Citgo press conference in Harlem, N.Y., last week announcing plans for the company's fuel offer.

After providing about 40 million gallons of discounted fuel to needy households along the East Coast, Citgo wants to distribute 100 millions gallons of cheap and free heating fuel to 1.2 million needy people in 17 states this winter.

Philemenof said he cringed when he heard media reports that Chavez, speaking before the United Nations on Sept. 20, called Bush a racist dictator.

Philemenof said he was personally offended and decided to seek the opinions of other leaders in the region.

About 290 households in the four villages were to receive the fuel, according to the association. The rejection will be posted in each community.

Philemenof said he's confident the right decision was made.

"People will say whatever they might want to say, but I feel from my heart and (others feel) also that this was the right choice because there's a lot of loyalty to the U.S. here," he said.