Official claims 1987 agreement gives Canada say-so on ANWR drilling

Kristen Nelson & Steve Sutherlin

Roger Simmons, Seattle-based Consul General of Canada for Alaska, Washington, Idaho and Oregon, told Commonwealth North Nov. 20 that a 1987 agreement between Canada and the United States for the conservation of the Porcupine caribou herd gives the Canadian government approval rights over anything that would affect that herd — including development on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

“The undertaking in the agreement,” … Simmons said, “is that each country will consult the other before it takes any initiative which would have any real adverse impact on the herd.

“We interpret that to mean that before any drilling would be decided on by the Americans, we, the Canadian government, would be consulted,” he said.

The Canadian position relates to both the survival of the herd and survival of the way of life of the Gwich’in people — in both Alaska and the Yukon, Simmons said.

Canada and the United States have different positions on various issues, “and on ANWR we not only have a very different position than yours, we’ve put our money where our mouth is. We have established two national parks up in the Yukon and we’ve closed off forever the development of those areas, even though studies had shown, preliminary drilling had shown that there were substantial reserves of … oil up there.”

Canadian jurisdiction overstated

Before objecting to ANWR development, Arctic Power said, Canada first must prove that the proposed action would be detrimental to the herd. Anti-development forces have tried to make that case and failed, the organization said.

Arctic Power said that Canada is acting in its own self interest by attempting to block ANWR development: Canada would like to see Canadian oil shipped to the United States, not Alaska oil. Canadian producers stand to benefit most if ANWR stays on ice, Arctic Power said.