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From the publisher: Cuts to bypass mail could spell disaster for smaller communities

December 3rd 6:38 pm | Jason Evans Print this article   Email this article   Create a Shortlink for this article

As long as our economy continues to lag there will continue to be many threats to rural Alaska. Rural Alaska has yet to achieve the standard of living found in urban areas of Alaska or the rest of the United States. So when legislation is proposed to cut costs the consequences of this cost cutting is felt more deeply by communities still working to receive basic services commonplace to those on the road system.

The latest attack is focused on bypass mail. The US Postal Service Inspector General has proposed reductions to the bypass mail system to help reduce the overall postal service losses.

If the proposed changes take effect, this would have a tremendous impact on rural air taxis and airlines that provide service to towns and villages throughout rural Alaska. This will also drive prices up for the goods that are transported by these carriers under the Alaska Bypass mail system. The changes to the Alaska Bypass mail could make it no longer economically feasible for the few airlines left in our regions able to continue to operate.

US Postal Service Inspector General is saying the Alaska Bypass mail system benefits commercial interest more than rural residents. A recent report says the Alaska Bypass mail program lost $73 million dollars in FY2010.

The last time there were major changes to the bypass mail program several air taxi providers went out of business. Kotzebue and the 11 surrounding villages have only three scheduled service providers, two that provide passenger service and one cargo only, down from 14 prior to the first major changes to the Alaska Bypass mail system. Barrow and the 8 surrounding villages have only one scheduled air service provider.

These changes could affect the service levels that these regions receive and instead of having a few daily flights to a community, it may be common to only receive a few flights per week.

Everyone wants the US government to balance the budget but no one wants to have one of their services cut. We must recognize that our participation to make suggestions to streamline the system is needed. If no changes are made at all, some of the program budgets will implode.

But the cuts to basic services could be detrimental to the lives of rural Alaskans and it must be done very carefully. Additionally, cutting isn't the only method for solving budget problems, instead we must seek ways to boost revenue as that might be a better solution to the budget shortfalls.

 

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Copyright 2012 The Arctic Sounder is a publication of Alaska Media, LLC. This article is © 2012 and limited reproduction rights for personal use are granted for this printing only. This article, in any form, may not be further reproduced without written permission of the publisher and owner, including duplication for not-for-profit purposes. Portions of this article may belong to other agencies; those sections are reproduced here with permission and Alaska Media, LLC makes no provisions for further distribution.