A controversial land swap between an Alaska Native regional corporation and the federal government has been delayed.

Doyon Ltd., wants to give at least 150,000 acres of its land to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In exchange, the corporation would receive 110,000 acres and another 97,000 acres of subsurface rights.

All of the land is located within the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge. The Bush administration supports the deal but the final environmental impact statement has been delayed.

Doyon plans to use the land to drill for oil and gas. Tribes in the area oppose the project, saying it will harm their subsistence way of life.

"Yukon Flats oil, I don't think it's going to last very long. And what then?" Trimble Gilbert, the 73-year-old traditional chief of Arctic Village, told The Anchorage Daily News.

Get the Story:
Yukon Flats villages opposed to drilling (The Anchorage Daily News 7/21)
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