The people of Aniak spent Thursday without power after a break in a power line caused an outage. This is just the latest in a series of power outages at the village. Laura Simeon, tribal administrator, worries about what this inconsistent power could mean for the community.
“Now people have all their moose meat, and their catch, white fish and stuff that they get during fall this past month, and our power is out. I worry about everyone in Aniak with all their moose," said Simeon.
Simeon expressed similar concerns earlier this year when a four-day outage spoiled summer subsistence foods in many freezers.
Aniak Light and Power doesn’t have a lineman on staff in the village.
“They got to get their crew trained because every time something like this happens they got to send for it out of town," said Simeon. And that takes time.
This is at least the third outage this year; some planned, some not. Simeon worries that winter conditions could make the problem dangerous.
"People need to heat their homes," she says.
Aniak Light and Power says that it's taking steps to replace the damaged area, rather than just mend it as it has done in the past.