September 25, 2015

What the President Didn't Talk About in Alaska - or Who He's Not Listening To

Earlier this month, President Obama traveled around Alaska, stressing the need to move away from the use and development of fossil fuels.  He also spent time announcing new federal programs for Alaskans “to assist communities in developing and implementing solutions to address the impacts of climate change”.

What the President wasn’t doing was listening to the majority of Alaskans - especially those in rural communities - who support onshore and offshore development of the vast oil and gas resources in the Arctic.

The Arctic Regional Slope Corporation (ARSC), the local government entity for the Alaska North Slope coastal villages, currently derives more than $300 million a year in taxes from on-shore oil operations.  For ARSC inhabitants, some 10,000 mostly Inupiat tribe members, oil means jobs and tax revenue.  Rex Rock Sr., President of ARSC said, "Shut down oil and gas, and you would be turning out the lights in our villages."  Rock continued, "without that revenue, we don't have flush toilets, sewers, housing, high schools, or roads”.

In an open letter to President Obama, Rock and Crawford Patkotak, ARSC Chairman said, "We are also no strangers to oil and gas development. The industry has operated safely in our backyard for over four decades producing more than 15 billion barrels of oil from the North Slope in that time. With those barrels come jobs, security and opportunity."

The letter went on to state, "History has shown us that the responsible energy development which is the lifeblood of our economy can exist in tandem with, and significantly enhance, our traditional way of life.  Unnecessary burdensome regulations make development of our natural resources very difficult in the best case, and downright impossible in the worst - threatening the very survival of our communities in the process.”

Rather than telling Alaskans his plan for helping them, it is obvious that the President’s trip would have been more meaningful and productive if he would listen to the Alaska natives’ plan for helping themselves.  More access to offshore and on-shore fossil energy resources in Alaska would be wise, and increased production can be done safely, to the benefit of all Alaska and the United States.