ICYMI: Alaska Native Leaders Unleash on Biden Admin for Cancelling Indigenous Voices, Promoting “Eco-colonialist” Climate Agenda
WASHINGTON—Indigenous elected leaders of Alaska’s North Slope criticized Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Deb Haaland and the Biden administration for failing to consult with their communities in recent decisions to lock up millions of acres of land from economic development. In a story published this morning on FoxNews.com, Thomas Catenacci reported on how Alaska Native leaders traveled to Washington, D.C. in recent weeks to testify about the administration’s actions that are forcing the residents of their region to “become conservation refugees on [their] own land.”
On November 8, Alaska Native leaders also held a press conference on the same issues with U.S. Sens. Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). Sen. Sullivan released a video yesterday highlighting the leaders’ calls for Secretary Haaland to “hear our voices” after the DOI secretary has rejected seven meetings with the leaders over the past two years.
“Congress needs to fulfill its promises made to us over 40 years ago,” said Charles Lampe, president of the Kaktovik Iñupiat Corporation, in testimony before the House Natural Resources Committee. “We will not succumb to eco-colonialism and become conservation refugees on our own land. The Iñupiat people have every right to pursue economic, social and cultural self-determination. The laws of the U.S. should support indigenous populations, not interfere with these basic human and political rights.”
“We will not be snuffed out. We will not be silenced. It’s insulting,” said Josiah Patkotak, mayor of Alaska’s North Slope Borough, at the press conference in November. “We hoped with this opportunity, by having a Native American as a cabinet member for the Department of the Interior, our own Iñupiat people wouldn’t be given this runaround, but we still see that’s the case today.”
“The North Slope Iñupiat deserve to be more than an afterthought by the federal government,” said Nagruk Harcharek, president of the Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat, at the press conference in November. “It’s time for Secretary Haaland and the Biden administration to live up to their promises of engagement by meeting with our elected leadership and including us at the policy table starting now.”
Background
On September 6, 2023, the Biden DOI announced plans to cancel all seven remaining oil and gas leases issued under the Trump administration on up to 2,000 federal acres of the non-wilderness Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)—roughly one ten-thousandth of all of ANWR. Concurrently, the Biden DOI announced a rule locking up 13 million acres within the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska (NPR-A) from oil and gas production. Both actions were taken without notice to or meaningful consultation with the Alaska Native communities most impacted by these decisions.
Sens. Sullivan and Murkowski have introduced Alaska’s Right to Produce Act of 2023, legislation that would reverse the Biden DOI’s decisions on ANWR and the NPR-A. Representatives Pete Stauber (Minn.-08), Mary Peltola (Alaska-At Large), August Pfluger (Texas-11), and Kevin Hern (Okla.-01) introduced companion legislation in the House.
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Alaskan Native Americans unleash on Biden admin's climate agenda: 'Communities and culture are at risk'
'We will not succumb to eco-colonialism and become conservation refugees on our own land,' Native Alaska leader says
By Thomas Catenacci, Fox News
December 1, 2023
The Biden administration is facing heavy criticism from Native Alaskans over its crackdown on oil and gas drilling in Alaska, activity which generates tax revenue vital for key state and local programs.
Native Alaskan leaders have particularly taken issue with the Department of the Interior's (DOI) recent actions blocking future oil and gas development in the National Petroleum Reserve (NPR), an area in North Slope Borough, Alaska, specifically set aside by Congress for resource development, in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), and in federal offshore waters off the state's coast.
"My community unapologetically supports the leasing program," Charles Lampe, the president of the Kaktovik Iñupiat Corporation, told lawmakers in testimony this week. "Many people try to steer the debate to caribou. For Kaktovik, it's about our people and having an economy to survive."
"Congress needs to fulfill its promises made to us over 40 years ago," Lampe added. "We will not succumb to eco-colonialism and become conservation refugees on our own land. The people have every right to pursue economic, social and cultural self-determination. The laws of the U.S. should support indigenous populations, not interfere with these basic human and political rights."
In addition to Lampe, Nagruk Harcharek, the president of Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat; Josiah Patkotak, the Iñupiaq mayor of the North Slope Borough; Morrie Lemen, the executive director of the Iñupiat Community of the Arctic Slope; and Nathan Gordon Jr., the vice president of the Native Village of Kaktovik, among others have similarly condemned federal restrictions on resource development near their communities.
According to the leaders, who collectively represent the region most impacted by the Biden administration's recent slate of actions targeting oil and gas drilling in Alaska, Secretary Deb Haaland and other Biden administration officials have repeatedly rebuked their attempts to arrange meetings and voice their concerns.
Haaland — the first Native American cabinet member in U.S. history and who has pledged to prioritize Indigenous perspectives throughout her tenure, but who has also pursued an aggressive climate agenda — has yet to hold a single consultation with North Slope communities about either the NPR or ANWR actions. There have been zero public meetings held regarding ANWR and just two such meetings held about NPR.
"The North Slope Iñupiat deserve to be more than an afterthought by the federal government," Harcharek said earlier in November. "It’s time for Secretary Haaland and the Biden administration to live up to their promises of engagement by meeting with our elected leadership and including us at the policy table starting now."
"Roughly 95% of our region’s tax base comes from taxation on the development of land on the North Slope," added Patkotak. "Without these funds and a strong regional economy in the long term, our communities and culture are at risk. Going forward, it is vital that the administration include us at the policymaking table and share information when developing policies affecting our people and lands."
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[Click here to read the full story on FoxNews.com]
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