- UPDATE: Arctic leaders share experiences from Gulf
Coast trip; push for halt to Arctic drilling planned for this summer - Four Alaska Native leaders, visited the Gulf of Mexico coast to view the destruction of the Deepwater Horizon disaster firsthand, and then made their way to Washington in late May to ask administration officials and Congress to stop drilling planned for their backyard. These leaders and the communities they represent urged government leaders to keep what happened in the Gulf from happening to the ocean and surrounding coasts that they have depended on for thousands of years.
There is no demonstrated or reliable way to contain and clean up a large spill in the harsh and remote Arctic waters. A blowout like the one that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico would have catastrophic impacts on fish and wildlife in the region. Alaska Native communities rely on subsistence fishing, whaling, and hunting in this area.
One of the tribes represented during the trips to the Gulf and DC, the Native Village of Point Hope, is a federally recognized native tribe located in the oldest continuously inhabited community in North America. Community members rely on subsistence use of Arctic animals such as bowhead whale, seals, walrus, fish and more.
- MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: Native Alaskans Tour Gulf Coast, Fight Drilling in Alaska; Alaska Tribe Asks Government To Suspend Arctic Oil Drilling; APRN: Alaskans Visit Communities Affected by the Gulf Oil Spill; KTUU: Native leaders get firsthand look at Gulf of Mexico spill; Oil-soaked sand along Gulf Coast raises memories of Exxon Valdez
- VIDEOS: Oil Spill Briefing; Dan Rather Report
