‘You’d be crying at the pump’: This Alaska village’s gas was $8.44 — before the Iran war

By: Nathaniel Herz, Northern Journal

Outlets: Alaska Beacon

Published: June 3, 2026

Words: 2,733

Last Updated: 2 days, 17 hours ago

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This story is co-published by Northern Journal and Bethel-based public media outlet KYUK.

HOOPER BAY, ALASKA — Every few weeks this winter, 75-year-old Harvey Joe, an Yup’ik elder in this Western Alaska village, climbed onto his snowmachine.

Dragging a sled with a fuel drum on top, he’d bump 20 miles across the tundra to the neighboring village of Chevak.

In Hooper Bay, on the shore of the Bering Sea far from Alaska’s road system, …

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