Daniel Lum: Native subsistence threatened by offshore drilling

Tuesday, September 6, 2011  

"Inupiat Eskimos on the North Slope of Alaska are at a pivotal moment in history -- our whole way of life could irreversibly change with proposed offshore oil development in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. International oil corporations have everything to gain and nothing to lose, yet our intricate tribal hunting and whaling culture on the ocean is just one VLOS -- Very Large Oil Spill -- away from collapse.

The concept of containing an oil spill underneath large ice sheets or through moving ice packs is absurd, even laughable. Boom response would be completely futile in drift ice, an impossible attempt to contain anything in a strong current of giant ice blocks. If ever a spill occurred, the response would be completely ineffective -- a mass of people and equipment dutifully, and ineffectively, pretending to contain the uncontainable.

After reviewing the revised environmental impact statement regarding proposed leases in the Chukchi Sea , I understand the effects of a Very Large Oil Spill on our tribal food sources would be devastating. The details begin on Page 252. Results include "(1) displacement (2) undesirability for use from contamination or perceived tainting (3) reduced numbers due to species deflection ... (4) increased risk or cost of the subsistence effort due to having to travel further distances to harvest species. Direct contact of oil with barrier islands and coastal shorelines would create toxic environments for resources and traditional subsistence harvests in these areas.""

Get the Story:
Daniel Lum: Offshore drilling would destroy way of life (The Anchorage Daily News 9/4)