Alaska’s oil renaissance has arrived at the doorstep of an Iñupiaq village

image from: alaskabeacon.com

The Iñupiaq village of Nuiqsut has contended for decades with the westward expansion of oil development on Alaska’s North Slope.

Oil rigs have cropped up along the horizon, and industry roads now cut across the tundra just beyond the village.

The industry’s growth has been lucrative for Nuiqsut’s Indigenous-owned village corporation, Kuukpik, which owns land that’s coveted by multinational oil companies. But it also has provoked tensions among local leaders and some subsistence hunters and fishermen, who have objected to encroaching development.

Now, a proposal from one of the North Slope’s most prolific oil producers is driving a new conflict.

ConocoPhillips wants to drill wells and pump oil just two miles from the village, within clear view and potentially earshot of Nuiqsut’s center. The nearest existing drill site sits about five miles away.

Local leaders — even some who have historically supported and profited from oil production — say ConocoPhillips’ proposal is raising fundamental questions about the village’s relationship with the industry.

(READ MORE - alaskabeacon.com)