Telephone survey asks: How are you heating?
by dermotcole
 Dermot Cole
Feb 09, 2012 | 1873 views | 15 15 comments | 0 0 recommendations | email to a friend | print | permalink

 Don't be surprised if you get a phone call asking about your heating habits.

The state and the borough have hired the Alaska firm of Hays Research to make a random survey of how people are heating their homes in the Fairbanks area.

“The participation and feedback from residents is a vital part of finding solutions that will enable residents to heat their homes while keeping local air clean,” said Mayor Luke Hopkins in a press release. “I encourage residents to provide their information so local, state and national officials can develop solutions to the borough’s poor air quality issues.”

The survey is confidential and will take about eight minutes, the borough says. The calls began Thursday.

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johnrm321
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March 01, 2012
I had an outrageous electric bill. When I was told that the price was normal ($500) I called up my neighbors using one of those telephone-entry systems outside our apt. complex. Turns out my heater was broken and wasting energy
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Yota99714
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February 12, 2012
What sucks about these surveys is that they're conducted by out-of-staters.

A few years back some dude called me and recited an address I hadn't lived at in about 8 years. I laughed at him and told him to tell his supervisor that the list they were worked off of was obsolete, and hung up.
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Susitna-Flower
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February 12, 2012
I got my call as well.... answered the questions to the best of my ability, I am on steam heat though, so didn't quite fit the line of questions they had. I asked some questions as well, like why doesn't the Borough spend as much $$$ on getting the ALL ALASKAN GAS LINE coming through Fairbanks as it does on surveys and trying to eliminate wood stoves.... GAS is clean,cheap, and would solve both the air and pocket book woes. The survey guy told me to direct comments to GLEN MILLER at the borough, he gave me a phone #, and guess what, it is an out of state phone number!!!
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mtsutton
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February 11, 2012
I got my call today and asked the individual in a nice manner what this survey was for and he said he was not at liberty to say. That was a quick survey after I told him I was not at liberty to participate. Didn't take me 8 minutes at all. Heck it took longer to type this comment. Why do we need a survey to fix air quality? Natural Gas...Subsidize Heating Oil at $1.00 a gallon...or cheap propane. I think it's time to get out of the borough and quit funding this incompetency.
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88888
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February 11, 2012
They would get better participation if they identified themselves as coducting a survey for local government. They guy who called me just said he was conducting a brief survey with some questions about space heaters.
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tompat
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February 10, 2012
Hey Dermont, What is the rest of the story????? Who is getting paid for this survey? , and how much ? Who authorized this ? Was it the assembly ? The Mayor ? I am tired of my property taxes going to a bunch of BOROUGH HOGS at the trough! Give the Taxpayer more information .
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Boodrow
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February 10, 2012
childosol,

The air quality problem is minor and very localized. Most of the so called non-attainment area has no problem at all. Big government is the problem and if they call they will politely be told I will heat the way I choose and won't be answering any questions.
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1aframe
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February 10, 2012
why didnt they just make a Survey Monkey survey for free or cheap, and viral it across this webpage or facebook? I personally can save the borough several million! Oh and when they ban wood burning, we have to move. Plain and simple. We cannot afford any other option. Im a little nervous moving to the 48. I love Alaska (but not Anchorage). :(
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childofsol
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February 10, 2012
The air quality problem is real, and very serious. The borough is made up of ordinary people trying to find solutions. And it's not easy, with both hands tied behind your back. I wonder how many of you would be willing to call the borough employees crooks and liars in person.
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Fairbanksgas
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February 10, 2012
When you are trying to spend $10,000,000.00 on wood smoke you have to get creative. The faster they can spend it, the sooner they can ask for another $5,000,000.00.
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NRAforlife
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February 10, 2012
These guys called me last night. Seemed the whole point of the survey came down to the last two questions. They were:

1. Would you volunteer to stop burning wood during periods when air quality problems were forecast?

2. Would you volunteer to stop burning wood during these periods if the borough or state were to reimburse you for your costs for additional fuel oil that you used to replace your wood heat?

Looks like they are getting ready to start burn bans, and want us to do it voluntarily. And they are considering PAYING those of us who do volunteer to not burn? This is nutty.

Get ready, folks. Here come the burn bans.
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Larmex
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February 10, 2012
Here we go again, flushing money and raising taxes, the only thing the borough knows how to do.

How about a phone survey to see how many people have phones? Or could the phone company tell us? NAA we need the jobs.

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rogerx
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February 10, 2012
I heat naturally by eating lots of beans.
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just-saying
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February 10, 2012
8 minute survey? Sort of long, eh? How much is the Borough spending for this survey?

.
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akcajun
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February 09, 2012
so if its a survey.. for clean air...when right now we have to use all the reliable resourses we can use.with heating fuel above $4.00 and $100.00 additional to about everyone's electric bill..and wood from $250 up...and ambient temperatures in the negatives..so if we are worried about the good air..we should make the resourses we use cheaper so we can make our air heathier..the cleaner the equipment is..the better and cleaner it runs..therefore the cleaner the air is
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