Gwich’in Tribes Condemn Trump Administration’s Approval of Oil and Gas Development in Arctic Refuge
From our tribal clients:
August 17, 2020 – Today, Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt signed the record of decision approving oil and gas development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s Coastal Plain. This approval represents the latest move by the Trump Administration to rapidly develop lands significant to the Neets’ąįį Gwich’in Tribes. The Native Village of Venetie Tribal Government, Arctic Village Council, and Venetie Village Council (collectively “the Tribes”) are unequivocally opposed to development in the Coastal Plain and will continue to fight to protect the Coastal Plain and their way of life.
In 2017, Congress enacted tax reform legislation that included a provision opening the Coastal Plain to oil and gas development. In less than a year, the Trump Administration slapped together an environmental impact statement based on preexisting data and research from other regions in Alaska. The environmental impact statement goes so far as removing specific references to Gwich’in cultural and subsistence resources in an effort to down play the negative effects development would cause. Like the environmental impact statement, the record of decision brushes aside the Tribes’ subsistence and cultural connection to the Coastal Plain in favor of oil industry interests.
Approval of the Coastal Plain oil and gas leasing program comes at a time when the Tribes are tirelessly working to protect the health and well-being of their communities from the increasing threats such as climate change and the spread of COVID-19. The decision to rush ahead with oil and gas development despite the COVID-19 pandemic forces the Tribes to choose between devoting limited time and resources to protecting their communities, or protecting their way of life from the catastrophic effects of development in the Coastal Plain.
In response to the approval of the record of decision, Native Village of Venetie Tribal Government First Chief Margorie Gemmill stated: “The Coastal Plain is one of the most important natural, cultural, and subsistence resources to the Neets’ąįį Gwich’in of Arctic Village and Venetie and to the Gwich’in people as a whole. The cultural identity of the Gwich’in people as caribou people is intertwined with the Porcupine Caribou Herd’s calving areas in the Coastal Plain. Any impacts to the Porcupine Caribou Herd from changes in migration patterns, lower fertility rates, and loss of habitat will have significant adverse social, cultural, spiritual, and subsistence impacts on our people. This process must be stopped. We call on all our allies to join the Gwich’in in opposing this attack on our way of life.”
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