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The proposed Yukon Flats land exchange is a bad deal.

It’s been established that the deal would cost Doyon Ltd. far more land than it will receive — and much more than it has been admitting in its DVD. The nature of the deal makes it impossible to profit. The land exchanged must equal the value of the oil. It’s a land sale, not an exchange.

The original appraisal was done when oil was at $35 per barrel, so with $109-per-barrel oil it’s likely Doyon will have to cough up three times more land than it has been telling shareholders.

It’s been established that the proposed exchange would fracture the Yukon Flats Wildlife Refuge into two units. That would kind of make the whole ecosystem management deal difficult, wouldn’t it folks?

It’s been established that this deal would jeopardize the Beaver Creek National Wild and Scenic River.

What hasn’t been established is what the public thinks of this deal. Or for that matter, why Doyon or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would go through with it in the first place.

The Draft Environmental Impact Statement was released last month from the USFWS. The 4-inch-thick document hardly has had time for the ink to set before the public comment process period is declared finished March 25.

Out here in the villages, we were given one or two days to review the 1,000-page document before our public comment session.

The USFWS states that there will likely be spills of oil up to 50,000 gallons in the draft EIS. Oil field production, and the spills that come with it, will certainly impact Yukon River salmon and, according to the document, “will have lethal and sub-lethal effects on fish.”

Can you imagine an oil spill streaking down the Yukon River?

Authors of the EIS can, and they estimate that a spill could hit the main stem of the Yukon in 49 hours. What would that do to the tourist industry? Or to the subsistence fishery, or to the Koyukon and Yupik people downriver, or to the river itself?

The draft EIS also states the exchange will likely cause increased rates of suicide, child abuse and drug abuse in the villages. Is it worth it? The state has a $2.5 billion surplus, and we are really considering this?

Indeed, Fairbanks and all of the Interior have many good reasons to pay attention. I remember a few years back when the fires were burning in the Yukon Flats. It wasn’t too smoky in the Flats. There were sunny, 90 degree days in Fort Yukon. It was smoky and dark in Fairbanks. Remember when everyone was going to the West Valley High School gym to breathe? The prevailing wind in the summer will send all of the pollution from that proposed development right into the Fairbanks bowl.

In the winter, it will stay in the Flats, and probably, according to the EIS, increase cancer rates in the villages. Don’t take my word for it, look in the draft EIS before you run out of time.

Doyon shareholders have twice passed resolutions for our board of directors opposing this development. Sixty-five out of 66 villages in the Yukon River watershed voted for a resolution opposing the land exchange.

Most people in the Flats are against it, as are most of the tribes. People stayed all day for our one chance to comment on the exchange when the USFWS came to Fort Yukon. I would say that 99 percent of the people testified against the exchange.

We know that we are wealthy; we still live in this beautiful country. I am sure there are a lot more people up here who want to comment on the proposed exchange, but they aren’t going to get the chance.

I think the USFWS is morally obligated to extend the comment period 60-90 days and give American citizens, and our extremely high percentage of military veterans, a chance to comment on what our government intends to do.

We live here, and I don’t think 90 days is too much to ask for. Is it?

The USFWS should extend the comment period 90 days to answer some of these questions. I am sure you have a few.

Edward Alexander is a resident of Fort Yukon and running for a seat on the Doyon Board of Directors.