Conflict in Alaska’s Arctic: Better conservation, less oil and gas production
Two huge areas in Alaska’s North Slope Borough, the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, will see oil and gas production drastically restricted following a decision by US President Joe Biden. The measures do not go far enough for environmentalists, while Republicans and Iñupiat are outraged.
The US has not seen such an extensive expansion of protected areas in 20 years: In early September, the US Department of the Interior announced that it had cancelled the remaining seven oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and that it would protect 5.26 million hectares of the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska (NPRA) – an extremely important step in the face of climate change and also for the protection of Arctic wildlife in Alaska’s North Slope Borough. In addition, 1.13 million hectares of the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska will be protected, closing the entire United States Arctic Ocean to new oil and gas leases.
“With climate change warming the Arctic more than twice as fast as the rest of the planet, we must do everything within our control to meet the highest standards of care to protect this fragile ecosystem,” said Deb Haaland, U.S. Secretary of the Interior, in the September 6 press release.
Both areas, ANWR in the east and the NPRA further west, are extremely important habitats for polar bears, grizzly bears, hundreds of thousands of migratory birds and caribou. In particular, the newly protected area “1002” of about 150,000 hectares in the ANWR on the coast of the Beaufort Sea is essential for the Porcupine caribou as it is their calving ground.
As expected, the decision triggered very conflicting reactions. On the one hand, representatives of the indigenous Gwich’in tribe, who live in several communities in the eastern North Slope, were very pleased with the bans: “It’s a step in the right direction for this administration to make,” Bernadette Dementieff, executive director of the Gwich’in Steering Committee of Alaska, told Canada’s CBC News. “We still have a lot of work to do to permanently protect [the refuge], but I’m really enjoying the news.”
Among the supporters are also environmental organisations, which probably contributed to the decision through their pressure on the government. For many, however, the measures do not go far enough – the highly controversial Willow project in the NPRA remains unaffected.
Still, “Today is a good day for climate, Indigenous communities, and our Arctic ecosystem. At a time when the reality of the climate crisis is daily news, the Biden administration is taking necessary action in the Arctic to move us toward a more sustainable future. Leases should have never been granted in the Arctic Refuge under President Trump’s illegal Coastal Plain leasing program, especially to AIDEA (Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, editor’s note) – a state-owned development corporation with a track record of failures and no oil and gas experience,” said Kristen Miller, executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League in a press release.
The oil and gas leases in ANWR had already been suspended by President Biden in January 2021, after they had been sold by the previous Trump administration only a short time before. The cancellation that has now taken place was made possible because of “seriously flawed” legal provisions that have since been proven. For example, sufficient environmental impact assessments were lacking.
Among the opponents of the cancellation is AIDEA, which bought seven of the original nine leases after major oil companies gave up. As expected, it reacted indignantly and announced in a press release that it would take the Biden administration’s decision to court.
Dan Sullivan, Republican US Senator for Alaska, even condemned President Biden’s decision as the latest blow in a “war on Alaska”. But Alaska Democrats are also not happy with the termination of the leases because oil and gas production is an important economic factor for indigenous communities.
Representatives of the Iñupiat agree and also criticise the decision. They see a violation of their rights, especially after President Biden explicitly promised cooperation with local indigenous communities. In a statement by the Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat – an organisation representing the Iñupiat in the North Slope region – its president Nagruk Harcharek announces that they “will continue to support the opening of the 1002 Area of ANWR to exploration and development projects.”
Iñupiat live in eight communities or towns in the North Slope Borough and are affected by both the cancellation of oil and gas leases in ANWR and the expansion of the protected area in the NPRA.
It is to be feared that the tug-of-war over the protection of Arctic nature and wildlife on the one hand and oil and gas production as an economic factor on the other has not yet come to an end with this far-reaching decision by the current government. Both sides will continue to fight for their interests and it is to be hoped that nature will not lose this battle.
Julia Hager, PolarJournal
More about this topic
