Inupiat fight to keep oil industry from disrupting offshore hunts
Published Saturday, May 10, 2008
Digg
delicious
Facebook
Mixx
Reddit
Stumble It!
ANCHORAGE -- As mayor of Alaska's wealthy North Slope Borough, Edward Itta is keenly attuned to the importance of oil. The government structure he oversees would virtually collapse without the annual infusion of royalties from the giant fields of crude in his region.
Like many Inupiat Eskimo in Arctic Alaska, Itta generally supports the development of more reserves in his region, site of America's largest oil field. The seasoned whaling captain even believes drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, at the borough's eastern extreme, would be "safe and sensible."
But Itta's enthusiasm for industry plummets when conversation shifts to offshore oil extraction. Rich in oil and gas reserves, the northern seas are also home to whales, seals and other marine species that to this day make up the bulk of the Inupiat diet.
"We understand the need for oil and gas, and we depend on the benefits they bring," Itta said at a recent meeting between oil companies, federal regulators and his fellow whaling captains. "But we've got a lot on the line. Our culture, the very deepest part of our being, rises or falls with the fate of the whales and seals and other species in Arctic waters."
Inupiat in the 10 whaling villages along the Arctic coast worry that noise from offshore drill pads and the seismic guns used to locate hydrocarbons beneath the seabed will scare migrating animals into deep water, making the jobs of their hunters difficult, if not impossible.
In 2007, the borough and several other parties brought two lawsuits against the federal government, saying officials did not conduct proper environmental reviews before holding a lease sale in the Beaufort Sea and approving exploration plans there by Shell Oil Co.
"Scientists don't fully understand the damage climate change has already caused and whether oil and gas will prove to be a different tipping point in terms of ecological harm," said Whit Sheard, Alaska program director for Pacific Environment. The group is also involved in lawsuits over oil industry activities in the Arctic, one of which overlaps with the borough. "The government is taking the opposite of a precautionary approach. In the absence of key data, they're still pushing forward."
With the brief summer window for drilling fast approaching, both sides are awaiting a decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that will determine whether Shell can proceed after the ice recedes.
So far, neither the legal wrangling, nor the high costs of Arctic operations have daunted Shell and other top oil companies, who are eager to capitalize on soaring prices and projections of unquenchable demand for oil and gas in the coming decades.
They have been making progress under the Bush administration, which is promoting exploration by moving aggressively in the last three years to open the Beaufort and Chukchi seas to oil and gas leasing.
"The only way to really find out how much oil and gas is present is to explore," said Robin Cacy, an Alaska-based spokeswoman for the federal Minerals Management Service. "Given the current situation with the high price of oil and increasing needs, it spurs us to at least offer the area to exploration to see what is out there."
The agency, which oversees the nation's offshore lease sales, estimates that the Chukchi and Beaufort combined contain roughly 24 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 104 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas.
As the largest new player offshore, Shell has spent nearly $3 billion on leases in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. Both Shell and ConocoPhillips are trying to amass federal permits that would free them to ramp up exploration this summer. Those permits would allow the "incidental harassment" of wildlife during routine industrial activities.
The paucity of scientific data on the region has North Slope residents and some scientists worry about the wisdom of distributing those permits.
Borough wildlife biologist Robert Suydam says "gigantic data gaps" make it difficult to make recommendations on industrial activities.
"Aside from bowhead whales, we really don't know the basic trends," Suydam said. "For example, we have no idea how many ringed seals there are, or how many bearded seals. And we really don't know what belugas eat."
Federal officials and oil companies admit that industrial activity will undoubtedly affect some marine mammals, but point out that the permits come with certain rules attached to minimize the impacts on wildlife.
Companies must watch for marine mammals by plane and ship during seismic tests and shut off the air guns if an animal is close by. They also must make sure the tests do not interfere with the spring and fall whale hunts.
"There's lots of things we do to take whaling season into account to make sure we're sensitive to it," said Shell spokesman Curtis Smith. "We're obviously very aware of it and hopefully we'll be good neighbors."
Drilling opponents counter that the rules are hard to enforce. They are also concerned about the devastation an oil spill could wreak on the environment and the local economy. With offshore exploration just beginning, the technology to clean up large oil spills in the area is rudimentary at best.
"We just don't have the infrastructure to support a response," said Leslie Pearson, the state's director of spill prevention and response for the Department of Environmental Conservation. "The communities are very small and there aren't any real ports, so whatever development takes place, the companies are going to have to bring that capability, or be willing to assist in building it."
Roughly a dozen communities along the Arctic coast rely on meat from the spring and fall whale hunts to supplement store-bought foods like Spam, crackers and Ramen noodles. Families save the blubber, called muktuk, for Christmas and other holiday celebrations throughout the year.
The 7,200 mostly Inupiat residents of the North Slope eat more than 430 pounds of wild foods on average each year, according to a 2003 study by economists at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Much of that is meat and oils from bowhead, beluga, walrus and seal.
"There are numerous activities centered around whaling, starting with soaking skins for boats, celebrating the whaling festival and distributing meat to all 300 households in our village," said Lily Tuzroyluke of the Native Village of Point Hope. The tribe joined with environmental groups in early May in yet another lawsuit — there are at least five — against the federal government's offshore decisions.
Although the Inupiat have survived off the northern seas for generations, their financial dependence on oil has grown since the late 1970s, when crude started flowing from their lands into the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.
In fiscal year 2008, the borough's operating budget was $287.5 million, 74 percent of which came from property taxes on tundra-based oil fields largely leased by BP PLC, ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil Corp. The money helps pay for schools, health care and other basic functions of a local government that covers an area about the size of Minnesota.
But offshore leases are different. The borough can't tax them directly because they belong to the federal government. Itta has spoken with Alaska's congressional delegation about legislation that could divert more offshore revenue to the borough. He insists that a favorable outcome would not shake his opposition to development.
"The ancient values that define us as a people are transmitted through participation in traditional whaling and hunting activities," Itta said. "If we lose the hunt, we lose our identity. It's that simple."
Community Discussion
Newsminer.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full user's agreement.
i guess they need to decide which they want. do they want to keep the culture as it has been for the past few thousand years, or do they want to go through some changes. offshore drilling probably would effect their old whale hunting life.
Saying you for oil then against it, well the chicken coop's door wide open. Losing your identity is the cost unfortunately. The cost of development comes at a high price. Now the dollars made there have driving the wolves to the scent. And the worst news is it'll only become worst. Some you'll lose you hunting because there's little games of pollutied. They want your home because it's Alaska's best interest for prosperity. And it won't end till all natives are pushed out. Everything costs and everyone pays.
I don't know any natives that live a pure subsistence lifestyle. The whales I see are killed with big powerboats, rifles and pulled onto the beach with a D9 Cat. They all want the royalties on the north slope and this is just their way of saying they want more money. Why not just come out and say it?
I agree they have lost the lifestyles already when they built the school unfortunately. I'm not against modernization of schools but it's going to come quickly now let's say at internet speeds in their children's minds.
Yes the cost of developement can come at a high price.it'll cost us our habitat and way of living but for you,you wouldnt care as long as you got your percious oil.Most people think about money and material stuff,well we live off the land and provide for our familys for generations and have done it like that even before the settlers have come here.Our cultures are already hard to preserve with the constant global changes and economic changes.Most elders look at it as a change they cannot fix for the better.Unline other people we are more about our culture and familys and traditional ways.Now for some one to say that its in our best intrest in prosperity is absolute repolsive,more like in theyre best intrests not ours.No one asks u sour opinion on how we think about whats going on with our world,our land,and when we do voice our opinions,they tend not to care and act like we dont exist.We have put up with racisim and all the other bad things just becase we are native.Show some respect and think vice versa about what would you do if that was you facing everything in our shoes.You dont know what its like to grow up in a small community and survive off the land and deal with high prices for almost everything we can get from the rual stores.So think twice and think about the hardships we have to go through juss soo you can get your precious materials.
I've seen some other Native Americans comments on you tube under (Alaska oil) theres a long documentary about 25 min. about some that live where the oil rigs are. After watching it I turned against the Doyon's Land Trade even as a Doyon Shareholder myself. After they find what they really lost they'll still need a place to live hopefully we might still somewhat livable enough to make that possible.
Humm the thing I said about prosperity will be Alaska State Gov. response might not be yours tho more lands might hoefully not opened but there aready taking more then they said they would by having drills that drill sideways into other places that they not even supposed to go >BP Alaska well show you that. Amazing that it was an Native Alaskan that.
If the native people really want to maintain their traditions and culture, then they should do it and are free to do so. I doubt any of them will throw out their relatively modern conveniences obtained over the past couple hundred years and get back to their truly native traditions. For a tribal culture though, the choice they have is not so untraditional. From the time when bones were first used as fish hooks until today, native people have been modernizing, using new techniques and equipment to do things easier and better than the previous generation, adapting to neighbors, while struggling to maintain a tribal governmnet and their cultural values.
To equate this argument to our own neighborhoods. If a neighbor planted a tree in their yard that provided shade for my yard, would it affect my culture and traditions, or would I adapt to the new environmnet? The native people in Alaska were allowed to pick the land they wanted, unlike other tribes that preceeded them in our short national history. Just like them I picked the land where I built my house, but I did not have a say in who became my neighbors, what they did with their land, or how they maintain their various family cultures and traditions.
There are limits to how much (or little) neighbors must conform to the neighborhood. Covenances and zoning regulations are good examples, and can range from the color of buildings to cultural background as in native and religious communities. The questions remain to the neighbors on the north slope, both native and industrial: Are you willing to work together and do you trust each other enough to remain in the neighborhood? Will you respect each other's rights and property?
What I did not see in the article were the benefits to Shell of having Native neighbors. I see potential in that the local natives can provide direct feedback on Shell's effort to minimize their impact on the environment. I see more potential for Shell to help study the wildlife and provide wildlife biologist more data while working to break up a monopoly on the offshore oil rights. The end result could be a big oil find or simply more data gathered on the wildlife. I am fully aware that both sides are in it for the profit but from the article it looks as though only one side is trying to be a good neighbor.
What gets me is that the Inupiat don't respect other Alaska Native groups' rights to maintain their culture by not allowing drilling in the calving grounds and nursery of the Porcupine Caribou Herd. Itta even says that he believes that drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would be "safe and sensible." What he really means to say is that his people don't traditionally rely on caribou for subsistence and that they will get rich off of the oil from the Arctic refuge, as they have off of Prudhoe Bay, so they don't care if the caribou are impacted. They obviously don't care much about the Gwich'n Athabascan's need to keep the caribou, a crucial part of their 20,000+ year lifestyle. The Gwich'n say "If we lose the hunt, we lose our identity. It's that simple." And Itta doesn't give a hoot. Why should we care about him and his identity?
Think I'll never happen where you live? Try this once Economic Hit Men on you tube. It's there now look across the street. It's everywhere you thought you had control. You losing it by neighbor or by friends. Gold is what 1000 dollars an ounce. Your oil made that happen. You'll be like the Michigan Indians no place to go and nothing to ever go back to unless you do something. Money's not the answer but control might be.....make your claims you own it all everything from the oil under to the gold found mining out the gas that's there that flows. Then tell the World Bank we'll never sell to you without 1,000,000 profit she'll get that your Gov. she can't wait to take that! Red headed step child....
by the way she can't wait to sell everything out..... that almost 1900 you got might soon be a thing of the past...I'm thinking scalps before you get them from now one.......
OK no one looked. I'll give you that but you think a female carrot top really has you in mind? she looks like of Bush incest off springs. And talks more gusic then ever unimaginable. But she represents all Alaskan Native Americans you can't tell she's a Texan, Give her a bronco to ride where she site you'll find the true who in your family has red hair? You see where she's from and who it represents. Big oil all the time!
Sounds a little Texan dun't it.
Really if I seen it you must be naive I surprised you never did anything yet. She's another Bush lowliest. That have been doing he's work under your lands. It's for oil gas then yet gold. It's all intertwinded like a web of deception sought no one sought to find out....well lose if you never look Alaska oil. Wow even the page here doesn't want me to say it look you tube. Read the make a decision.
I just find it a bit ironic that someone would be utilizing a computer....on the internet....and talking about how "repulsive" development is.
If i was big oil i'd love to say that to keep it going but unfortunately I'm you And you'll never Be me.....A Native American that will tell you where you might go and never be able to go
akjak points out the hypocricy. Always remember your culture & your people's values. Never trade who you are & where you come from for money & a short-term gain. There are things more important than oil or money.
(This comment was removed by the Newsminer.com staff. Please see our User Agreement for further information.)
The wishes of the local people should always be respected. With all the oil under the NPR-A and the 1002 area, it doesn't seem sensible to drill offshore anyway.
Of course, the environmental groups, along with their lackeyslators in Washington, have made what is "sensible" impossible.
Alaska natives do have a unique culture which is integral to their identity. I believe it is crucial to all of us, native and non-native, that their traditional cultures are supported and allowed to persist into perpetuity as much as possible. The fact that they use new tools is not pertinent with regard to whether they are remaining true to their culture. Humans have always improved their ability to utilize local resources by using various tools, and there is nothing wrong with that. What I would like to see is Alaska Native groups supporting each other's rights to retain their subsistence lifestyle and cultural identity instead of wanting to enrich themselves at the expense of other Alaska Native cultures.
Post a comment
Commenting requires registration.