Unalaska, AK – *UPDATED 2/25/07*

After a week's worth of blizzards and poor visibility kept flights from landing in Nikolski, two ACE Air Services planes were able to reach the village late this afternoon with emergency fuel shipments, according to ACE Director of Operations Greg Hawthorne.

The 20 barrels delivered by the ACE pilots could be enough to keep lights on in the community until a barge delivery from Delta Western Fuels arrives. Delta Western Chief Operating Officer Kirk Payne said that the company is now hoping to make that delivery sometime within the next month, possibly as early as the first week of March.

Payne said that unusually bad weather had hampered Delta Western's deliveries throughout Southwest Alaska this winter, and that January's weather was so bad that barges were only able to work ten days out of the month.

"This has been an abnormally poor weather year," he said. "We've got plenty of inventory sitting in Dutch Harbor. It's, 'Can we get it to the Pribilofs? Can we get it to Perryville? Can we get it to Nikolski?'"

Nikolski's tribal government has declared an emergency on the island, and appealed to the state for support. Tribal Administrator Tanya Kyle said that they were mostly interested in logistical help in getting the fuel to the island. But Sharon Leighow, Gov. Sarah Palin's spokesperson, said that as far as the state was concerned, the situation wasn't dire enough yet to warrant stepping in.

"As things change, we can certainly step in and help out, but right now there are no threats to life or safety," Leighow said. "We're monitoring the situation very closely."

Kyle, who was in Unalaska today awaiting a flight back to Nikolski, said that for now the village is squeaking by, and residents are limiting their electricity use to conserve fuel. But the village school, community center and administrative offices have all been shuttered temporarily for lack of fuel, and the sizeable bill for emergency fuel shipments, which currently totals about $50,000, threatens to eat into the fund the tribal government uses to pay its employees.

"We've already prepared people for the fact that we can't afford to keep bringing fuel over like this," she said. "There may come a point when the village is going to go dark. I don't think anybody's prepared for that--you just hope it doesn't happen, but it might eventually come to that."