Emergency fuel haul helps Anaktuvuk Pass amid winter delivery crisis

A fuel crisis in Anaktuvuk Pass showed how quickly an isolated North Slope community can be pushed to the edge when air service fails and temperatures plunge below minus 45. With homes going cold and school doors closing, UIC Oil & Gas Support stepped in to move fuel over the winter trail network that the borough counts on when aircraft cannot deliver.

North Slope Borough Mayor Josiah A. Patkotak signed a Declaration of Emergency on Jan. 9, 2026, saying the village-wide shortage created “critical threats” to life, health and safety. The declaration said fuel deliveries had been stopped by prolonged extreme arctic winter weather and by the unavailability of air or overland transportation because of federal restrictions and protocols. It also said the borough sought to use the Community Winter Access Trail to get immediate relief to the village.

KNBA reported the shortage lasted about a week and left several homes without heat. Ice fog kept planes from landing for several days, and Everts Air Cargo’s fuel plane had a mechanical problem. The borough said 18,500 gallons of diesel and 20 drums of unleaded gasoline were delivered that week, with another 4,500 gallons expected on the ice road. Acting City Mayor Matt Regen said some air deliveries resumed late that week, but fuel remained tight.

UIC said the emergency haul became possible because the borough builds Community Winter Access Trails each year, opening a seasonal window for bulk freight when trail conditions allow. The route to Anaktuvuk Pass stretched 109 miles from Galbraith Lake Airport on the Dalton Highway, about 147 miles from the company’s Deadhorse facility. UIC said the work was punishing: crews hauled fuel to a staging area with no camp or infrastructure, then kept shuttling loads back and forth while bringing product north from Deadhorse.

The company said the trail includes more river crossings than any other North Slope village route. Crews used a Sherp vehicle to profile ice before sending PistenBullys through crossings about three feet deep. As conditions improved, round trips fell from seven to 10 days early in the haul to about a day and a half later in the season.

UIC said six employees were on the ground full time, with a rotating crew of about 10. Because there was no mobile camp, workers slept in vehicle cabs. The company also described one smaller but telling delivery: when a village elder ran out of fuel at home during the cold spell and the borough fuel truck was down for mechanical reasons, operators used a PistenBully to deliver fuel directly to the elder’s house.

The episode underscored the stakes for Anaktuvuk Pass, a Brooks Range village of 425 people roughly 250 miles northwest of Fairbanks and about the same distance southeast of Utqiagvik. North Slope Borough Fuel & Natural Gas handles fuel procurement and delivery for borough residents, and the borough is now planning a 250,000-gallon tank to expand storage capacity beyond the village’s existing 150,000-gallon system. The borough’s winter trail program, which the Bureau of Land Management says reduces cost and risk for isolated communities, remains the backstop when everything else breaks.