News-Miner Editorial
Land swap swamped
Published Sunday, September 14, 2008
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Stumble It!Delaying a decision on the proposed Yukon Flats land trade between the federal government and Doyon Ltd. is unfortunate because it adds an additional layer of uncertainty to a proposal that deserves approval.
Federal officials said last week that land appraisals need more time.
The proposed trade has drawn opposition from national environmental organizations for years. Those organizations have the ability to elevate issues such as this into the national arena. Indeed, they already have. That can be seen from a glance at the number of comments received by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge and has worked with Doyon on the swap. The service has logged more than 100,000 comments, 80 percent opposed.
Numbers like that get the attention of presidents. Given the expected one-year delay, this decision probably will end up on the desk in the White House’s Oval Office, where either Barack Obama or John McCain will sit by then.
If the desk is McCain’s, Vice President Sarah Palin would be consulted, no doubt. Palin could be expected to recommend the trade. She won’t make the call, though. McCain, or his Secretary of the Interior, will. That makes the outcome unpredictable. McCain deserves his Republican maverick image when it comes to environmental issues; whether he would cross 80,000 constituents on this issue can’t be predicted with certainty.
If Obama occupies the desk, the land trade’s prospects would be even poorer.
In neither case would the trade be doomed, though. That’s because it has true merit, even to conservation-minded individuals and organizations.
Yes, trading some refuge land to Doyon could increase the likelihood that the regional Native corporation will drill for oil and gas in the area. Doyon, though, has every right to do that on the vast tracts of land it already owns in the refuge. And, at $100-per-barrel oil, drilling has a much better prospect of paying off than it did six years ago, when the corporation started working on this trade. At these prices, it may not need the trade to make development worthwhile.
So the goal everyone should agree upon: Make that drilling as environmentally responsible as possible. The trade serves that goal admirably. Doyon has offered to give up tens of thousands of acres of prime wildlife habitat that it already owns outright or has selected under the terms of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. In exchange, it would receive federal lands in mostly upland parts of the refuge where wildlife values aren’t as high.
This is a win-win proposal. The current federal administration has seen that. It’s too bad the next one will need to be convinced as well.
Community Discussion
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Git-er-done.....there's natural gas out there. It may get here quicker than north slope gas.
The same people who are LIARS and who have been fighting to have the Polar Bears added to the Endangered Species List (although there are more Polar bears now than before and their population is growing) are the same people who are working hard to MAKE AMERICA A THIRD WORLD Foreign Nation Energy Dependent BACKWATER.... Those folks use whatever convenient false premise, like "Man Made Global Warming" (but they conveniently ALWAYS DO NOT EXPLICITLY STATE THE "MAN MADE" part of their false claim) are the people who are trying to make America a FOOTSTOOL to China and Russia.
The Land swap needs to be approved as soon as possible to prevent America from becoming a "SOMALIA" in the not too distant future.....
This editorial insinuates that the only opposition to Doyon land trade in Yukon Flats was the fabled "outside environmentalists." Nothing could be further from the truth. If the editorial writer had attended the Anchorage hearings last spring on this issue, he would have heard a number of Yukon area residents speak out in opposition to this trade. One of the big issues was the appraisals. It would appear to be prudent for the service to wait for these appraisals, as was suggested in the hearings.
The drilling for oil and gas in this state has entered another phase....recent license applications have sought to drill in the midst of communities where impacts are complex and will no doubt affect the evolution of these communities over the next century. Moving slow on these processes is truly in the best interests of all Alaska citizens.
Finally, it is important not to let panic over "dwindling supplies of gas" or "dependence on foreign sources of oil" dictate our actions. Careful consideration of all options is truly the only way to go.
Stall Stall Stall they say. How many more winters of $4 a gollon fuel oil do they think we can stand? Or is that the plan? Starve us out. I say Drill Baby Drill!
What about the people living on the Yukon Flats who oppose the trade? Or do you just chant the "drill baby drill" with no regard to who it affects because its not your home thats getting intruded.
If it was in my back yard I'd say go for it. Are they the same people who complain about the high cost of fuels in the village? I'm sure Doyon will make a pretty tidy sum. How is it that the progress of the who country needs to be held up by a few who want things to stay as they are?
It seems like a great idea! They have been studying this for years!
There is no reason on earth not to go forward, find the gas, put it into production as soon as possible!
The people who live in the Yukon Flats oppose the trade. They have a right to protect their way of life, just like the rest of us. This trade should be flushed down the toilet. If the feds had asked the locals in the first place, they could have saved a lot of time, effort, and money.
Instead of the original land swap deal Doyon should look into legally making the land into Indian country! Then deal with the oil later.
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