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In The Hoop
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 2002

Welcome to In The Hoop, Indianz.Com's occasional column about assorted Indian issues.

The Great ANWR Cover Up
Democrats have only themselves to blame for the whole Arctic National Wildlife Refuge debate.

That's the latest coming out of Senate Republicans who favor drilling in the 1002 area of the refuge and from Secretary of Interior Gale Norton's primary mouthpiece. "The far North Slope was set aside in 1980 by Jimmy Carter and a Democratically controlled Congress for potential oil and gas development," press secretary Mark Pfeifle told John McCaslin of The Washington Times.

Pfeifle, however, must have forgotten to tell McCaslin what he thought of a deal brokered by a certain Republican administration. Former Secretary Jim Watt, Norton's one-time mentor, transferred 92,000 acres of land in the 1002 area to Arctic Slope Regional Corp., knowing full well the Inupiat Eskimos were subject to that same "Democratically controlled" hold on development.

So what did Pfeifle say about this setup? "That's a travesty," Pfeifle told Indianz.Com when asked about the issue. "If you talk to any family in the Kaktovik area, they'll repeat that same message verbatim."

"It shows what special interest groups have spent millions to cover up," Pfeifle said in The Times.

We couldn't agree more.

The Great ANWR Cover Up, Part II
Speaking of The Times, the paper makes the case for ANWR drilling in an editorial today, saying the majority of Americans support development (according to an AP poll, they don't), only 2,000 acres will be touched (that's footprint, meaning more land can be affected) and ANWR's estimated 10.4 billion barrels of oil will save Americans from OPEC (Norton says it will reduce dependency on Iraq, which supplied just 9 percent of OPEC's supply to the U.S., the Times admits).

But the best part was this line about our friends the Inupiat Eskimos. "They are begging for oil development because it will mean community development and employment above a bare subsistence existence," the paper says.

The Times forgot to mention Arctic Slope's revenues in 2001 exceeded $1 billion. And the fact that ASRC owns a wide range of energy-related subsidiaries, all of which, of course, are most definitely begging for oil development.

We'd love to live that kind of subsistence lifestyle.

The Great ANWR Cover Up, Part III
"For those under the misunderstanding that this area of ANWR is untouched, let me show a few pictures of the actual footprint."

"There is the village of Kaktovik. There are roughly 3,000 people in that village. They are American citizens, Alaskans. They have dreams for a better lifestyle, job opportunities, running water, things we take for granted. That is their community. It is in ANWR. They feel very strongly about supporting this because it improves their lives and improves opportunities for their children, including educational opportunities."

"This is a picture of the village meeting house in Kaktovik. Those are real people, real kids. We have pictures of real kids going to school. Nobody shovels the snow off the sidewalks in that community. Those are happy Eskimo kids who dream about a better life. They dream about having running water and sewer lines."

"Let me show you a honey bucket. Many Members dismiss this, suggesting this is a Third World situation, not something that occurs in the United States. It does occur. It occurs in my State of Alaska. I will share it. It is not the most pleasant sight in the world, but it represents a reality, the reality of a people who want a better lifestyle and jobs and opportunities associated with oil development. That is a honey bucket. We don't have to look at it too long. It is not too pleasant."

"This area is permafrost. That means the ground is frozen year-round. Water and sewer lines can only be obtained at great costs. We have that in Barrow, AK."

"It is important to see the contrasts in the Arctic. Contrast the development of the responsible residents of the Arctic Eskimos and primarily those in Barrow, Wainwright, and other villages. You cannot go further north than Barrow, without falling off the top. The significance is that community has a tax base, revenues. They have jobs. They have running water and sewer lines, things we take for granted."

"In this debate, few Members are going to get down into the earthy issues of what the people of my State want. That is a little beneath the echelon around here, but it should not be. These are American citizens. Their dreams are like yours and mine."

Words from Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) on the Senate floor yesterday. Shiny, happy Eskimos not included.

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