JUNEAU EMPIRE SPECIAL REPORT:
Refuge of Riches
At the dawn of a new millennium, the nation debates how best to preserve the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and fulfill the promise of its energy potential.
Text By Bill McAllister billm@juneauempire.com
Photos By Michael Penn mpenn@juneauempire.com
THE JUNEAU EMPIRE
ANWR Updates:
August 2, 2001
 House votes to allow drilling in Arctic refuge in passing major energy bill
Young credits unions for keeping drilling provisions in energy bill
An aerial shows the footprint of the test well drilled in the mid-1980's on land owned
by the Kaktovik Native village corporation within the 1002 area of the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge. Test results, indicating how much oil may be available, have been kept confidential. The well is about 12 miles east of Kaktovik and close to the Beaufort Sea.
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High stakes oil struggle
As backers and critics debate oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, one question remains: How much oil is there?
For many Americans, the debate over drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is about securing energy independence and lowering gasoline prices vs. protecting wilderness and a Native culture that depends on it.
In Alaska, political and business leaders want to bolster the economy and the oil-dependent state budget.
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A land vast and wild
Controversy over drilling in the arctic refuge has boosted interest so much that tour operators turned away clients this year
There are no roads, trails or designated campsites in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a 19-million-acre area almost as large as South Carolina. Visitors must float rivers, book small planes or walk in at their own risk.
It's this sense of remoteness and isolation that attracts those with the stamina - and the money - to go on a guided ANWR excursion of a week or more at a cost of $2,300 to $3,200.
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Trisha Gilbert, 14, and her brother, Galen, 13, hang out in front of the Arctic Village
community center after dancing with the Vashraii K'oo Neetsaii Gwich'in Dancers during
opening ceremonies of Gwich'in Gather 2001.
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Gina Shewfelt, 12, and Jeremy Peter, 18, both of Ft. Yukon, Alaska, enjoy the warmth of
the sun near midnight while waiting for the dances to start.
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Looking out
for their lifeblood
Caribou are at the core of
the diet and culture of some
northern Alaska villages
Wilderness guide Robert Thompson's front porch in Kaktovik, Alaska, is a virtual museum of the subsistence way of life.
A polar bear skull, a whale shoulder blade, caribou jaws and musk-oxen hides are intermingled with tools and traps.
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Oil and gas:
Alaska's industry
Alaskans are watching the ANWR debate closely because it's tied to their bank accounts
To understand why so many of Alaska's 626,932 residents support opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to energy exploration, Americans in the Lower 48 should look to the industry's economic impact in the 49th state.
"I'm not aware of any state, that its revenue is dominated so much by one industry," said Larry Persily, deputy commissioner of revenue.
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Pipes cross the tundra at the Alpine facility operated by Phillips Alaska.
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