The
History
The 19 million acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) lies
in the northeast corner of Alaska. The Coastal Plain area, comprising 1.5
million acres on the northern edge of ANWR, is bordered on the north by
the Beaufort Sea, on the east by the U.S. Canadian border, and on the west
by the Canning River. The Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation and Arctic Slope
Regional Corporation (both Alaska Native corporations) own 94,000 acres
in the Coastal Plain surrounding the village of Kaktovik.
Map
of Alaska's North Slope
At its widest points, the Coastal Plain is about 100 miles across and about 30 miles deep and covers an area slightly larger than the state of Delaware. Along the coastal area, the plain is an almost featureless expanse, barren and dotted with thousands of unconnected small ponds.
Within this coastal area, environmentally sensitive oil exploration on just 2000 acres would produce a mean estimate of 10.4 billion barrels of oil. In 1995, former President Bill Clinton vetoed legislation opening ANWR to oil development. Since 2001, the House of Representatives has passed national energy plans that includes environmentally-sensitive oil exploration on ANWR’s coastal plain five times. Yet again, the House is poised to pass legislation opening just 2000 acres of ANWR’s coastal plain to oil and gas development.
>>> The Inupiat Eskimo
Inupiat Children
The Inupiat Eskimo people have inhabited Alaska’s northern slope for generations, long before Congress claimed it as a wildlife refuge. The Inupiats still own their land within ANWR, but the U.S.l government prohibits them from using their own land until Congress says they can.
The Inupiat Eskimos live in the harshest climate on Earth and want only the opportunity to improve their lives and the lives of their children, like all Americans.
Revenues from environmentally safe exploration on ANWR’s coastal plain would provide the Inupiat Eskimos with jobs, funds for water and sewer systems, health care and schools.
The Inupiat Eskimos overwhelmingly support ANWR exploration.
In fact, 75 percent of all Alaskans do too.
>>> The Community
Kaktovik, Alaska : Home to the Inupiat Eskimo
The Inupiat Eskimos have survived in one of the harshest environments on earth and even today live a subsistent lifestyle, relying on the land to supply their daily needs. They acknowledge their dependence on and respect for the land their ancestors inhabited for generations, and the Inupiat Eskimos support safe energy exploration on ANWR’s coastal plain. They welcome the economic opportunity that production would bring to provide better schools for their children, water and sewer systems for their families, jobs for their people and reliable energy for their homes.
Congress should open ANWR for the Inupiat Eskimo
and the American people!
>>> The Landscape
American energy
production technology, the cleanest in the world, would require only
2000 of ANWR’s
19.6 million acres to tap vast quantities of energy and to create
nearly 1 million Americans jobs.
Unfortunately, opponents of safe ANWR energy exploration
have been practicing false advertising,
like showing pictures of green mountains, about
what the area actually looks like.
Want to see what these 2000 acres really look like?