Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic
Full story below:
by Mary Auld
The Bureau of Land Management's decision late last month to allow a new oil and gas project in the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska (NPRA) has drawn praise from Alaska's congressional delegation, and questions from native and environmenal groups about the decision-making process.
Original Press Release Below:
All Eyes Are on Bank of America to Rule out Support for Arctic Drilling
By Bernadette Demientieff and Siqiñiq Maupin
Bank of America’s customers may have noticed that recently the bank has been standing out from the rest of its peers. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been in a good way. Right now, Bank of America is the only major American bank that has not yet ruled out funding for destructive drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Photo by Keri Oberly
Bank of America is the only major American bank that has not yet ruled out funding for destructive drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)
Over the last year, every other major American bank -- Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Chase, Citi, and Morgan Stanley -- have joined more than two dozen financial institutions worldwide in updating their lending policies to exclude funding for new drilling in the Arctic, including the Arctic Refuge. Indigenous human rights are being upheld in these new policies and pave the way towards a just transition into a sustainable economy.
For thousands of years, the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge has sustained life for the Porcupine Caribou Herd, and other relatives on and off the land, that sustain the food security and ways of life of the Iñupiat and Gwich'in people as well as other Alaska Native Tribes. Any disruption of this area would pose an existential threat to not just food security, but our identity as Iñupiat and Gwich'in People. Drilling in the Arctic Refuge would also pose an increased public health threat to communities on Alaska’s North Slope that already experience severe health disparities directly tied to the oil production surrounding their community.
Drilling in the Arctic Refuge violates Indigenous rights, and is a threat to the bottom line of any bank that funds this destructive activity. As the world increasingly recognizes the urgent need to move away from polluting fossil fuels, investments in expensive new drilling projects are growing riskier. By ruling out support for Arctic drilling, banks have recognized that investing in a project that would threaten human rights and worsen the climate crisis is a risk that’s not worth taking.
Pro-drilling politicians that have long sought to sell off the coastal plain for drilling have predictably pushed back on this growing trend, even going so far as to point to support from corporations like Arctic Slope Regional Corporation to claim that Alaska Native people support drilling, or that the Gwich’in are alone in their opposition to drilling while the Iñupiat people or members of other Tribes support it. This week, we had the opportunity to meet with Bank of America executives to correct the record and explain that these claims couldn’t be further from the truth.
We let them know that both Gwich’in and Iñupiat Peoples have made official resolutions to protect the Arctic Refuge, and that Alaska Native corporations are just that: corporations. They are not accountable to Tribal members, and they do not speak for us. Neither does Alaska’s Congressional delegation, whose push for drilling and disingenuous claims that the destruction of the Arctic Refuge would help Native communities have made it clear that they care more about corporate profits than our health or human rights.
We know that we can’t count on these politicians to do the right thing to defend our land and our communities, and the Trump administration is pushing ahead to try to sell off the coastal plain for drilling by the end of the year. That’s why it’s more important than ever that financial institutions like Bank of America recognize the role they play in helping destroy this sacred place or keeping it intact.
As a growing number of major banks are making the right decision, all eyes are on Bank of America to see whether they will follow their peers or continue to stand out in their disregard for the rights of Alaska’s Indigenous people. We stand together, the Iñupiat and the Gwich’in, in calling on Bank of America to listen to Indigenous people, protect our homelands, and stay out of the Arctic Refuge.
Bernadette Demientieff is the Executive Director of the Gwich’in Steering Committee. Siqiñiq Maupin is a co-founder/Director of Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic.
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PRESS RELEASE
Date: 8/17/2020
Contact:
Siqiniq Maupin - SILA co-founder inupiaq@silainuat.org
Jody Potts - Native Movement Regional Director jody@nativemovement.org
Dallas Goldtooth - Keep it in the Ground Campaigner dallas@ienearth.org
Iñupiat People Demand justice as the attack on Alaska elevates with release of Record of Decision of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
“SILA demands BLM stop all processes of oil and gas extraction projects until justice and true public engagement are possible.” - Siqiñiq Maupin, co-founder of SILA stated. “The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and Western Arctic are lands that sustain our spirits, wellbeing, and traditions, since time immemorial. These lands are under attack while our communities are being left behind. Both Gwich’in and Iñupiat need caribou to sustain our ways of life and have been divided by oil and gas for far too long. We must stand in solidarity to protect our sacred ways of life and use our voices together.”
“This is an ongoing attack upon Gwich’in and Inupiat communities of northern Alaska and their traditional lifeways. It is nothing more than yet another example of the Trump administration kowtowing to the interests of the oil and gas industry. We are prepared to take whatever action is needed to support the frontline villages and communities in their fight to protect the sacred.” - Dallas Goldtooth stated as the Keep it in the Ground Campaigner with Indigenous Environmental Network.
Today's record of decision approving oil and gas leasing on the Arctic Refuge, shows the Trump Administration's complete disregard or concern for the millennia strong Gwich'in way of life that depends on the health of the Refuge's coastal plain where oil development is proposed. -stated Jody Potts, Regional Director at Native Movement. The adverse impacts of oil development in this sacred and very critical caribou calving grounds will be heavily felt by Gwich'in villages and families food security, culture, spirituality and ways of life. The Gwich'in people will not compromise and we will defend our way of life for future generations until this sacred land is protected.
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Recently the Alaska Congressional delegation, Don Young, Dan Sullivan, and Lisa Murkoski, shamefully attempted to utilize this moment of racial spotlight to benefit their own profit interests, by implying that global banks' decisions to divest from the fossil fuel industry in Alaska is racially fueled. Banks around the world are divesting from activities that contribute to climate change AND they are listening to Indigenous Peoples calling for the protection of our ways of life. Both Gwich’in and Iñupiat Peoples have made official resolutions to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, therefore divesting from oil and gas development in the Refuge is answering the calls of Indigenous Peoples, it is the right thing to do.
Today we are in a revolution. The world is finally waking up to the long fought battle against racism. Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities have been subjected to subtle and violent racism since the onset of colonialism that has been both systemic and very very personal. Yet, in the last few weeks we are seeing the possibility of real change. We are seeing Justice demanded and taken.
While Arctic Slope Regional Corporation supports drilling in the Arctic Refuge, they are not a tribal entity nor do they require or practice consensus from their Iñupiat shareholders. Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic (SILA) is an Iñupiat organization, and while we respect the complex relationship of regional corporations and our Native peoples of the North Slope, we also recognize that regional corporations, by definition of law are not tribal entities and do not meet federal tribal consultation standards/requirements. Alaska Native corporations are beholden to shareholders (who may or may not be tribal members), they are not necessarily accountable to tribal membership. When Alaska’s congressional delegation sides with the corporations rather than the Alaska Native nations it is for blatant interest in oil and gas profits, not people and definitely not for racial equity.
For decades, Gwich’in and Iñupiat peoples have spoken, rallied, petitioned, and pleaded for recognition of Indigenous rights to food security and our long practiced ways of life. SILA stands united with our Gwich’in neighbors in the call to protect the Porcupine Caribou herd whose birthing grounds are on the coastal plain of what is now known as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. We stand united with Black, Indigenous, and peoples of color globally in our demands to address climate change which is creating a continuous crisis in so many of our communities right now. SILA stands united with Black, brown, and Indigenous lives that are threatened daily by systemic racism. This systemic violence has been perpetuated by elected leadership who would manipulate our suffering for their profit.
By calling for a federal investigation of the banks who have taken a stand to support Indigenous Peoples rights, the Alaska congressional delegation -- Senators Murkowski, Sullivan, and Representative Young -- have shamefully declared, once again, that they side with corporate profits rather than racial equity.