Oil and Two Ways of Life in Alaska

Drilling debate divides native villagers

Washington — President Bush’s surprising call during his State of the Union speech Tuesday for America to end its addiction to oil has rekindled debate in Congress among advocates and opponents of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

But lost in the discussion once again are the people who would be affected most — two tiny Native American communities in Alaska whose futures depend on the decision.

In Kaktovik, a village at the northern edge of the oil-rich coastal plain of the refuge, 280 Inupiat have been waiting more than 25 years to find out if they can drill on land they hold inside the refuge.

And the Gwich’in, a caribou-hunting tribe whose 8,000 members are scattered across 15 villages in Canada and along the refuge’s southern border in Alaska, fear that drilling in the calving grounds of the Porcupine caribou herd could jeopardize their major food source and their culture.

San Francisco Chronicle