Posted on 27-12-2002

Alaska Drilling Threatens Native Existence
By John Gartner, Environmental News Service

SAN FRANCISCO, California, December 23, 2002 (ENS) - Opening the Arctic
National Wildlife Reserve to oil and gas exploration threatens to disrupt
the porcupine caribou herd that annually migrates across its pristine
landscape. For the aboriginal people whose survival depends on the caribou,
protecting the herd is a matter of life and death. The Bush administration
backs the plan to open up ANWR to drilling, and November's elections gave
his Republican Party a majority in both houses which could pave the way for
resurrecting legislation that was defeated earlier in the year.

William Greenland, a member of the Gwich'in tribe who lives in Inuvik, a
town in the Northwest Territories, recently toured the United States. As
part of the Caribou Commons project's Walk To Washington, D.C. for the
Arctic Refuge, Greenland came south to raise awareness of how opening up
ANWR endangers his people. The Gwich'in call themselves "caribou people"
since 75 percent of their diet is caribou meat, Greenland said. He's
worried that the barrage of oil wells, pipelines and machinery will divert
the migration path of the 130,000 caribou away from the 15 Gwich'in
villages, robbing them of their primary source of food. Greenland
participates in the caribou hunts that take place when the herd's migration
route takes them near his town every spring and fall. "We only take what we
need, we don't hunt until there are no more," he said. Greenland said that
in addition to the fresh caribou meat, enough is frozen or dried to last
until the next migration.

If there were no caribou, Greenland said he'd have to fish more or "go to
fast food restaurants or eat Campbell's soup." But since Inuvik is located
above the Arctic Circle, bringing in food by truck or airplane makes for
expensive alternatives, according to Greenland. He said it costs between
$30-$40 for a family to eat pizza or Chinese food, which could buy enough
caribou meat to last a month. "Without caribou meat we start to lose our
strength." The Gwich'in not only use caribou for food, they also use the
animals for clothing, tools, and to make arts and crafts. Greenland is
worried that traditions of Gwich'in culture - such as making mukluks out of
caribou hide, or using the hair to line doghouses - might soon be seen only
behind museum glass.

Greenland said he's noticed some changes to the habits of wildlife, which
he attributes to global warming. He recently saw a black bear that should
have been hibernating. "It's only minus 19 degrees (-2 Fahrenheit) now when
it should be minus 29 (-20 F). And if drilling starts in ANWR, Greenland
expects many species to be affected. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(USFWS) shares Greenland's concern about the environmental impact of
petroleum exploration in the proposed "1002 Area " of the Arctic Refuge. A
USFWS 2001 report states "The caribou's preferred food during calving
season is higher in nutrition, more digestible, and more available within
the 1002 Area than in surrounding areas. To successfully reproduce, female
caribou must be able to move freely throughout the 1002 Area to find
adequate food resources to build up their fat reserves and milk." The USFWS
adds that there would be a loss of "subsistence hunting activities" for
natives, and "decreased calf production and animal survival."

And it is not just caribou that are threatened by oil field development.
"The 1002 Area is critically important to the ecological integrity of the
whole Arctic Refuge, providing essential habitats for numerous
internationally important species such as the Porcupine Caribou herd and
polar bears," according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. Despite the
environmental warnings from the government agency, fossil fuel developers
are determined to acquire ANWR drilling rights from the U.S. government.
The actual amount of economically recoverable oil underneath the 19 million
acre ANWR area has been hotly debated. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
estimates the mostly like amount is between 1.9 and 5.3 billion barrels of
oil, or enough to fuel the United States for between three and nine months.
According to the USGS, "the oil is expected to occur in a number of
accumulations rather than a single large accumulation," which would require
an extensive network of roads, pipelines, airstrips and processing stations.

Alaska Senator Ted Stevens will likely join the charge with his fellow
Republicans for new ANWR drilling legislation. On December 16, Stevens told
the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce it would be his "top priority" when the
Senate reconvenes in January. The Bush administration, which during the
past few months has relaxed regulations protecting wildlife areas and has
eased rules on industrial air pollution, strongly supports exploring ANWR.

The pro-drilling side took a hit in late November, however, when oil
powerhouse British Petroleum decided to suspend its contributions to Arctic
Power, a lobbying group largely financed by oil producers. Legislatures
opposed to ANWR drilling say there's not enough oil to merit exploration.
Resistance is being led by Senator Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut
Democrat, a possible presidential candidate in 2004.

The United States has alternatives to violating ANWR, according to Joy
Bergey of the Pennsylvania Interfaith Global Climate Change Campaign, which
says protecting the environment is a moral responsibility. "There are so
many ways that we can more than compensate for the oil that we would get
from ANWR," Bergey said. Equipping cars with more fuel efficient tires, or
merely keeping existing tires properly inflated could save an equivalent
amount of oil, she said.