Living on the edge of a vast wilderness, easily over half of Alaskan residents are involved with hunting, fishing and gathering for food; possibly as much as 20% of Alaskans depend upon this activity for some level of subsistence. Interestingly, probably as many non-Natives as Native Alaskans pursue these subsistence activities. This reliance on subsistence is not the only comparison that links Alaska to characteristics of a third world nation-state. Physically isolated from the "lower 48" and independent minded, Alaskans feel torn between the need for economic development and exploitation (i.e. the sale of resources to the Northern Pacific Rim countries) and protection of their beloved wilderness.
With the abundance of bald eagles concentrated near fishing harbors and spawning grounds, these majestic beings carry the wind of wilderness to most urban areas. Sitka in the Southeast Alaska Panhandle and located on Baranof Island fortunately is surrounded by wilderness with a heavy concentration of eagles. Last year my family and I were privileged to be able to volunteer our time at a raptor rehabilitation center. We were able to work with sick and injured eagles to help them regain their health and strength for release. Direct physical contact and communication with eagles does transform human understanding of wildlife. Bald eagles certainly command respect for their independence and national symbolism. Eye-to-eye they appear to transmit an emotion of Alaska, its wilderness and wildlife.
The previous MEC newsletter had a well-meaning, but I believe misguided article by Wolf Action Group (WAG) of Montana. They advocate a tourist boycott of Alaska. I am sure we could find good reasons not to visit most any state or region of almost any area in this world. And some past geographic boycotts have been justified, like the ban on business, travel and sports with South Africa. However, when someone asks us to boycott an area within our own country, that is totally new to me. If I had heeded the boycott of Alaska, I never would have found the teaching job last year in my travels through Alaska. More importantly, because of that experience, it seems a far more effective way to change the Alaska State policy of wolf hunting is to join and support Alaska environmental groups. Maybe even consider living up there, but definitely visit them, if you can. It is useful to understand the Alaskan personality and how to effectively work with Alaskans for a solution to the incredible onslaught of forces raping the resources of Alaska. Of course, I feel that WAG or any of us can play a valuable role to pressure Alaskan authorities and tourist businesses to stop the slaughter of wolves; and more importantly to regain control over the sale of Alaska resources and to stop the destruction of wilderness.
Ominously, the recent November election in Alaska resulted in Republican Walter J. Hickel being selected as Governor. Hickel was Secretary of the Interior for Nixon and was deeply involved in the development of oil and gas on the North Slope and the Alaskan Pipeline to Valdez in the late '60's and early '70's. As recently as March of 1990, Hickel, as Chairman of Yukon Pacific Corporation, was promoting the sale of 14 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. The North Slope has 26 trillion cubic feet of natural gas which is being re-injected and stored underground. Yukon Pacific and now Governor Hickel plan to build another 800-mile pipeline to Valdez where natural gas would be liquefied and LNG tankers would be loaded for Asia. This massive project has all the environmental approvals and stands to earn over $80 billion in revenues. It was certainly no coincidence that Hickel as Chairman of Yukon Pacific was elected Governor of Alaska.
The Alaskan State government has long been subservient to the oil and gas industry and to Japanese corporations. Over 80% of all state revenues come from oil and gas production! The Japanese treat Alaska as a third world colony for a source of raw materials. They set up coal and mineral mines, and paper and rayon pulp mills that create local jobs and local economic dependence with horrendous health, safety and environmental damage. Local officials are under tremendous pressure by the business community not to upset the polluters and exploiters. In fact, there are not so subtle junkets, payoffs and kickbacks to these local greedheads and flunkies that is so typical of some of our self-righteous free enterprisers who are usually leveraging some type of government legislative advantage for their subsidized business.
The environmental awareness of the people of Alaska was dramatically altered by the 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. However, the fear of declining oil revenues and recession have apparently put on hold these concerns. The State is leasing the remaining state-owned offshore oil and gas tracts at a much faster pace than federal lease sale plans. Virtually the entire coastline of Alaska from the Arctic through the Bering Sea to the Gulf of Alaska has either been leased or is up for grabs by State and Federal agencies. It is a race to the platforms. No statewide politician (2 U.S. Senators, 1 Congressman, Governor, Lt. Governor, etc.) is against development of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), nor to my knowledge ever has been. Caution and sound delay is advocated at the State level on oil exploration and development in Bristol Bay, only because of the highly lucrative salmon fishery. This localized token delay by the State government has absolutely nothing to do with the intrinsic value of the fish species or its' habitat.
The oil industry has a substantial influence over the media, as well as government officials. Veco International, owned by a consortium of oil companies (with Exxon a major shareholder), was the prime contractor for the March 1989 oil spill "cleanup". In December 1989 Veco purchased the Anchorage Times, the second largest circulation daily newspaper in Alaska. The total state legislative lobbying expenditures reported in 1989 were $6.9 million. Of that, $1.3 million (about 19%) was from the oil lobby. The breakdown of Prudhoe Bay oil reserve ownership is British Petroleum (50.7%), ARCO (21.8%) and Exxon (21.8%) the dominant three companies. Lisburne is a separate reservoir of oil located below the Prudhoe Bay reserve within the North Slope complex, with 2 billion barrels of oil in place compared to 22 billion barrels of oil in place for the Prudhoe Bay reserve. Lisburne is owned by ARCO (40%), Exxon (40%) and British Petroleum (20%). These two oil reserves, one above the other, are the largest in North America. Corruption of the North Slope Borough government was rampant during the '70's when the pipeline was under construction. Two of these Borough administrators and politicians were convicted last year of embezzlement and fraud of millions of dollars in oil revenues and local government funds. Big oil tends to corrupt local, state and national governments.
There are two important minority population groups that strongly influence the politics of Alaska: military personnel, civilian base workers, and their families; and Native Alaskans. Each comprises about 15% or more of the population. Unfortunately, the residents that are dependent upon the military are a politically far more conservative and potent voting block than the Native Alaskan population. Alaska tends to have a very conservative military frontier bias. The political and economic normalization with the U.S.S.R is expected to demilitarize the state. This could be expected to dovetail in with the loss of big oil's production and influence. With this increase in the relative size of the more liberal political voting block is the rise of the Alaska Native tribal independence movement. These Alaskans combined should be a growing influential voice in stronger subsistence and wilderness protection.
In the 1990's Alaska is confronted with a major last chance to plunder her natural resources for just one more decade by Big Oil, Japan and Big Timber. And with Governor (or is it Chairman?) Hickel in the driver's seat there is big trouble for environmentalists and the vast but shrinking wilderness. Alaska needs you now more than ever before.
The February 1991 Sierra magazine features Alaska and has a summary of resources and contacts on page 137. The Sierra Club is probably one of the most active and effective national environmental groups with offices and programs throughout Alaska.
Clearly the most effective grassroots organization protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) from the big political push this year behind the smoke screen of an oil war of our Commander-in-Chief and his Big Oil clients, is the Northern Alaska Environmental Center (NAEC). Very much like the MEC, or the NEC in Arcata, this Fairbanks based center truly reflects the growing and strong environmental concerns of a broad spectrum of the community of the Interior and Far North of Alaska which includes the ANWR area and its Native Alaskan people. You can join their organization (I have given the MEC their literature) and subscribe to their informative quarterly newsletter by writing to NAEC, 218 Driveway, Fairbanks, AK 99701. They are very effective and well organized, but underfunded. If you wanted a dollar to go a long way to save ANWR, a donation to NAEC's ANWR Campaign is your best investment in wilderness and wildlife preservation.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 2004
Permission granted to excerpt or use this article if source is cited