Fuel

High energy costs are a fact of life in remote, rural Alaska with few easy answers. But siblings Vjosa and Drini Pellumbi — who recently won top honors for their boiler heat recovery system design — are committed to being part of the solution.

KYUK’s Evan Erickson spoke with Northern Journal reporter Nat Herz, who traveled to Hooper Bay as part of a broader look at what leaders describe as an unfolding crisis that threatens barge-dependent communities in Western Alaska.

Consumers across the country are contending with sharply higher fuel prices amid a supply crunch brought on by the closure of a key strait in the Middle East. But even residents of California, where $6-a-gallon gas prices are making headlines, would face sticker shock if they traveled to Hooper Bay, or any of the dozens of other villages and hub towns across Western Alaska.