Venezuela helps Alaska
National oil company will buy heating fuel for Native villages
Published: September 6, 2006
Last Modified: September 6, 2006 at 06:27 AM
The irony of it.
Alaska, an oil-rich state with more than $34 billion in its Permanent Fund, more than $2 billion in its budget reserve fund, a budget surplus the past two years -- and thousands of villagers fearing another winter of costly heating oil bills.
All that is ironic enough -- residents going cold in a land with so much oil and money. But it gets worse, or more embarrassing, depending on your perspective.
Several thousand Alaska villagers will benefit this winter from a new government-funded energy assistance program. Not the Alaska government, not the U.S. government, but the government of Venezuela.
Yes, that South American nation led by President Hugo Chavez, friend of Cuba's Fidel Castro and fierce critic of President Bush. Venezuela, which provides cheap oil to Haiti and other developing nations, is adding Alaska to its gift list.
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http://www.adn.com/opinion/view/story/8162994p-8055863c.html