Posted on: Saturday, January 29, 2005
Alaskans campaign against oil drilling
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Science Writer
A group of Native Alaskans is wrapping up a tour of Hawai'i, calling for opposition to Bush administration proposals to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
In addition to concerns about environmental effects, critics of the plan say even if drilling is approved, no oil would flow from the refuge for a decade, and it would have little effect on oil imports or fuel prices.
Inupiaq Eskimo George Edwardson of Point Barrow, and Adeline Peter Raboff, a member of the Indian Gwich'in tribe, said they are part of a group that hopes to persuade Hawai'i residents to write Hawai'i Sens. Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka in opposition to drilling. Both lawmakers have indicated they support oil development in the region because of job creation.
The Alaskans are being hosted in the Islands by the Conservation Council for Hawai'i and the Sierra Club Hawai'i Chapter, and also represent the Alaskan Wilderness League and the Alaskan Coalition. During their visit, they announced the formation of the Hawai'i-Arctic Hulahula Alliance, named for an Alaskan river named in honor of Hawaiian sailors who visited Alaska in whale ships during the 1800s. The alliance is designed "to defend federal lands and waters now under threat from Big Oil and Big Government," the new group said in a press release.
"It's the steppingstone for going offshore, and that is where my food chain begins," he said. He said his people live on the whales, seals, sea birds, fish and other wildlife of the region, and believe their existence will be threatened by petroleum spills associated with oil development.
Raboff said her people fear the effects of industrial oil development on the caribou herd whose calving grounds are within the refuge.
"This small stretch of land has so much wildlife. It's a national treasure and an international treasure," she said.
"We have to start thinking about the global state of affairs. We have to think about diversifying energy technologies."
Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 245-3074.
The drilling issue is a divisive one in Alaska, where some native groups — and both of that state's U.S. senators — favor drilling. Supporters argue that oil from the refuge would lessen American dependence on foreign supplies and produce thousands of jobs.
Edwardson said the oil industry's initial proposal is to set oil wells on the land and to use directional drilling to reach oil reserves several miles from shore.
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