In a sign the honeymoon may be nearing an end for Gov. Bill Walker, an Alaska tribal government is blasting him for promoting a ConocoPhillips project that would result in the first oil production from federal lands in the nation’s largest undeveloped reserve.
The criticism — coming from the North Slope village of Nuiqsut — may mark a turning point for a governor who rode into office with strong Alaska Native support and a popular running mate in Byron Mallott, a Tlingit from Southeast. Ironically, the complaints come as Walker takes early steps to strengthen the state’s bruised relations with more than 200-plus tribes.
Tribal leaders in the village of 450 are hammering Walker for trying to sway Interior Secretary Sally Jewell with “behind-the-door negotiations” after the public comment period on BLM’s environmental impact statement closed. Walker has called for rapid approval of ConocoPhillips’ development plan, which the seven-member tribal council believes will hurt subsistence fish and wildlife resources, tribal leaders said.
“This is blatantly unfair, and shows tremendous disregard for the voice of the tribal people of the region,” wrote Samuel Kunaknana, tribal president, in a Jan. 8 letter to David Conrad, the acting director of Indian Energy Policy. “To bulldoze through the permitting process and push aside mitigation measures that help protect subsistence resources and environmental quality, completely disregarding the impacts on the tribal people of the region, is unconscionable,” Kunaknana wrote.
Walker said the agency appears to be throwing up regulatory roadblocks in front of the oil giant in a possible effort to stop the project, and said he will continue to communicate with Jewell, including in their next scheduled telephone conversation.
“My request to you, Madame Secretary, is to implement an expedited permit approval strategy, thereby allowing the project to move forward both responsibly and successfully,” wrote Walker, who met with Jewell earlier this month when he traveled to Washington, D.C.
Isaac Nukapigak, president of the Kuukpik Corp. in Nuiqsut, which owns land that could be developed for the project, said he agrees with the Corps that Conoco’s plan is more environmentally friendly, in part because it would have the least impact on marshy areas and because the road would be shorter, requiring less gravel fill.
“I think they need to do their homework,” he said of the tribal leaders. He thought Walker was doing what he should be doing as governor, communicating a view that has seen wide support, including in the village of Nuiqsut, said Nukapigak.
Meanwhile, Paulette Schuerch, Walker’s rural adviser to help develop a rural policy for the administration, said she planned to reach out to the tribal council in Nuiqsut to hear their concerns. “We can share our thoughts, but the most important thing is opening a dialogue,” she said. “The conversation needs to start.”
Story Excerpted; See Full Story at ADN.com
image credit FairfieldCitizenOnline.com
