Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 12, Number 10, 1 October 1995 — Development vs. conservation in Alaska refuge [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Development vs. conservation in Alaska refuge

Alaska native groups square off over oil, caribou

by Deborah L. Ward Near the top of the world lies the arctic plain of Alaska, a landscape teeming with wildlife, though in winter its riches are hidden beneath a snowy landscape. Alaska's native peoples, the Eskimo, Aleut and Athabascan. have for many thousands of years subsisted upon the plants and animals of the land and sea, and many continue to do so today. Caribou, whales, bears, and moose are some of the animals still hunted by Alaska natives.

The 1.5 million acres of the northem arctic coastal plain eomprise the lowlands of the North Slope region of Alaska between the Brooks Range and the Beaufort Sea to the north. It is the seasonal home and summer calving grounds of the Porcupine River caribou herd. South of the coastal plain is the federally protected Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, whieh was expanded in 1980 to 19 million acres. In a state whieh depends on oil for 85 percent of its revenues and a major source of employment, the arctic coastal plain is seen as having the greatest potential for a major onshore oil and gas discovery to equal nearby Pmdhoe Bay. Prudhoe Bay, together with fields at Kuparuk, Lisburn and Endicutt, account for 25 percent of U.S. domestic oil production. Projections of Prudhoe Bay's future productivity vary greatly, however. Some forecasts show an end to production as soon as 2008, while others extend healthy production for many years to eome.

Some estimates of the reserves available in the Arctic Naīional Wildlife Refuge show that it could exceed one third of all current reserves and have greater potential than any other onshore area. Not surprisingly, the oil industry and Alaska's top govemment officials strongly favor opening the coastal plain to oil development. Also in support are the Alaska Federation of Natives (whieh represents the 80,000-strong Alaska Native populauon) and the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, an Inupiat Eskimo native corporation, whieh believe that oil exploration and development in the refuge could provide jobs and eeonomie benefits to their people. Under legislation being proposed in the United States Congress as part of a federal bud-get-balancing amendment, and heard in the Senate last month, oil and gas exploration and leasing would be allowed in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. President Clinton has indicated he opposes opening of the refuge | but, lacking line item veto power,

may be unable to do so if it is attached to the federal budget bill. The Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, representing 7,000 Inupiat Eskimo, favors "carefully controlled" oil and gas development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Inupiat are a coastal, ocean-dependent people. They would like to open up their lands just north of the coastal plain for oil development, but federal law prohibits the development of Eskimo-owned private lands as long as oil and gas leasing is prohibited in the coastal plain. The Inupiat say this is unfair because they were given leftover land under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and have no other economy. They noted that federal law mandates that the environment must be protected during oil and gas

development on federal lands. In the North Slope, that would mean seasonal constraction restrictions to protect wildlife, including elevated and ramped pipelines to permit the passage of caribou and other wildlife. Meanwhile, the interiordwelling Gwich'in Athabaskan tribe has for years opposed oil development in the coastal plain of the ANWR, where the caribou they have long subsisted upon give birth and fatten their calves. In the fall the caribou migrate through the Gwich'in villages where they are hunted. The 7,000-strong Gwich'in have lobbied hard in Congress and gained the support of scientists, environmental protection organizations and other native peoples. They say, however, that they are not opposed to all oil development, only to develop-

ment on the coastal plain where calving caribou are most vulnerable to disturbance. Representatives from both the Inupiat Arctic Slope Regional Corporation and the Gwich'in Steering Committee have met with OHA Trustees. OHA's committee on Planning, Eeonomie Development and

Housing passed a resolution last month supporting the position of the Gwich'in people on prohibiting oil development, exploration and production in the Arctic Naīional Wildlife Refuge to protect the birthplace and nursery grounds of the Porcupine River caribou herd.

Caribou in Alaska: Oil development could disrupt migratory routes and with them Native American subsistence lifestyles.