Gwich’in Indians threatened by oil drilling

"If President George Bush gets his way with the plundering of the resources in the Arctic the traditional culture of the Gwich’in Indians living in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is threatened with extinction” warned the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) on Friday in Göttingen. In spite of protests from the indigenous people and environmentalists the US House of Representatives approved the plans of President Bush for drilling oil in the nature reserve. It is pure eye-wash for the US government to declare that the oil-mining in the ANWR would make a noticeable contribution towards lowering the petrol prices in the USA. The plundering of the "Serengeti of the Arctic” and the destruction of the means of life of the Gwich’in Indians cannot replace responsible energy policies.

The Gwich’in Inidans are to the present day dependent in their way of life on the caribous. They hunt animals of the porcupine caribou herds, which have their breeding grounds in the protected area. The animals are so disturbed by the infrastructure needed for the drilling for oil that they change their paths and are thus out of reach of the Indians.

Since 1957 the "Serengeti of the Arctic”, the place where the porcupine caribou herds, numbering some 130,000 animals, bring up their young, has been a nature reserve. The animals are the economic and cultural backbone of the 7,000 Gwich’in, who live in 15 settlements along the trails of the caribous. For decades the indigenous people have together with environmentalists and supported by democrats and many republicans resisted the destruction of their way of life. Since 1995 the Republican Party has supported twelve times with its majority in the House of Representatives the opening of the ANWR for oil-mining.  But the beginning of oil-mining failed each time with the opposition of the Senate, whose consent is hardly likely now either. The GfbV has already carried out several campaigns for the protection of the ANWR.

For US President George Bush the opening of domestic energy sources is the key to becoming more independent of imports from abroad and lowering the rising petrol prices. The oil from the ANWR would not even cover the US demand for six months according to independent studies. It would only mean a reduction of the petrol price by one cent according to environmentalists.