Senator Murkowski’s bill to allow oil and gas production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has been attached to the Senate tax reform bill.
According to Murkowski, removing the protections that prevent drilling will lead to “tens of billions of dollars in revenue over the life of the fields. Revenues reduce our debt and simultaneously creat[e] growth needed to reduce it on a greater scale.” Senator Murkowski assures that the “environmental impacts will be minimal.” But it is not at all clear that the impacts on the traditional livelihood of the Gwich’in people were taken into consideration.
The Gwich’in people have been the stewards of the lands within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge since time immemorial. Their traditional livelihood depends upon access to the porcupine caribou, whose breeding grounds are part of the land designated for drilling. The disruptions to the land could impact the porcupine caribou population and thus alter the Gwich’in people’s ability to hunt the caribou.
In the past few decades, Native people and others have begun to acknowledge the intergenerational effects of historical trauma. The trauma results from theforced assimilation, relocation, and cultural decimation of Native people. Tribes have been fighting to reclaim the cultural and spiritual ties lost as a result of colonization. Having access to ancestral lands and the continuation of traditional practices are integral to the healing of historical trauma. It is therefore all the more important that the U.S. government honor its promises and protect the lands of the Gwich’in people.
Drilling within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge threatens the Gwich’in culture, their traditional way of life, and the spiritual wellness that is deeply inherent within the land. We must continue to tell Congress to keep its promises to Native Americans by upholding the environmental protections of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
