The Bureau of Land Management announced last week it will hold an auction in June for drilling rights in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeast Alaska. The lease sale is mandated in federal law but also reflects the Trump administration’s commitment to promoting energy development in the state.
The Arctic refuge’s coastal plain — a swath along the Beaufort Sea that potentially has oil and gas reserves — has been the subject of passionate dispute for decades, and the response to the lease sale from Indigenous people living in or near the refuge has been mixed.
The only community inside the refuge is Kaktovik, a coastal Iñupiaq village of about 300 people, east of Prudhoe Bay. Kaktovik Mayor Nathan Gordon Jr. said resource development in the refuge would bring economic opportunity because the regional government, the North Slope Borough, taxes oil and gas companies.
“The taxes that come from the development pay for our schools, our water system, our sewer system,” he said. “It pays for everything that has meaning in our lifestyle — and protection and safety and health.”
The Arctic Refuge is the nation’s largest wildlife refuge. It provides habitat for migratory birds and polar bears, and the coastal plain specifically is the calving grounds for the Porcupine Caribou Herd. That herd was considered healthy until new data this year pointed to its decline.
Gordon said he believes development within the refuge won’t interfere with wildlife. He said he has seen resource development companies pause or adjust their activities if polar bears den in an area or when caribou are migrating through.
“They cannot interrupt the polar bear activity,” Gordon said. “With restrictions in place, it's already set in stone for us to have safe development with our animals.”
However, opponents of the project are concerned that gravel roads, drilling and seismic exploration could harm caribou, especially during their vulnerable calving period. While previous studies pointed to only minor effects on caribou from low-traffic roads like the Dalton Highway, recent research shows that roads can significantly change caribou migration patterns, both in Western Alaska and on the North Slope.
The Gwich’in community of Arctic Village is located right outside the Arctic Refuge to the south. Residents there have long advocated against development within the refuge – specifically because the caribou they rely on give birth on that land.
Faith Gemmill lives in Fairbanks but is from Arctic Village and has family there.
“Imagine oil development in their core calving area. It's going to devastate the herd,” Gemmill said. “Any type of oil extraction in the Arctic Refuge is going to devastate our herd.”
Gemmill said caribou support food security, culture, spirituality and economy for Gwich’in people, including the future generations.
“Our way of life is reliant on the caribou,” Gemmill said. “So in my opinion, Trump's incessant drive to drill in this area is a form of cultural genocide of the Gwich'in.”
The June 5 auction of drilling rights will be the third since 2017, when Congress passed a bill requiring them. The first lease sale drew bids, but the only oil company to win a lease relinquished it later. The second sale drew no bids.
If the upcoming lease sale is successful, it could still take years for a project to break ground.
Alaska Public Media’s Liz Ruskin contributed to this story.
