North Slope Borough Mayor Ben Nageak chastises Babbitt, Clinton

March 23, 1999

Dear Mr. President,

I was quite dismayed to hear that Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt is proposing wilderness designation for the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

This is being proposed with complete disregard for the people who live in the Arctic and their needs. Once again the Great White Father in Washington is telling Native Americans what will be done with their land whether they agree or not; whether it will hurt them or not; whether it will cripple their ability to provide for their people or not.

What most of this country, and certainly Secretary Babbitt, does not seem to understand is that people live in the Arctic, my people, the Inupiat people. The Arctic is not an untouched wilderness never visited by man. My people have called it home for as long as the caribou have calved on the coastal plains.

It has provided for our families since the days you refer to as pre-history. And in all that time, we have made every effort to be good stewards of our resources because we truly believe that we hold our land in trust from our parents to give to our children.

In fact, I was born in the village of Kaktovik, the nearest village to these coastal plains and they are part of my heritage to my children.

Every time I see ANWR in ads, whether on TV or in print, I find myself insulted by the glaring absence of the people of the Arctic, the Inupiat Eskimos who have every right to be part of that picture because they have been here since the beginning. By keeping us out of the picture, it is easier to present a vision of ANWR as some virgin wilderness that has never felt the hands of man. And that is simply a lie.

But it is an effective lie because it enables people to support Secretary Babbitt’s proposed designation without feeling that they are harming or displacing any people.

I am requesting that you seriously review the erroneous thought process that led to this proposed bill and pull your support for it. The Inupiat people have never spoiled this land and won’t allow it to happen now. The oil industry has been a good friend to the environment here while providing us with money and jobs so that we could be productive members of American society.

This wilderness designation will cripple our continued efforts to bring our people the benefits most Americans take for granted. It will cripple our ability to wean ourselves away from federal government subsidies and destroy our attempts at self-reliance.

No decision of this magnitude, no decision that will so effect our lives, should be made without our input. This is our land. We have a right to be consulted.

You might be pleasantly surprised if you do consult us at the depth of our knowledge and love of this land. We know how to use it without abusing it and would gladly offer to work with federal agencies on how best to both protect it and allow the Inupiat people to continue to use it to benefit themselves and their families.

We have lived here all our lives. So did our ancestors. Bruce Babbitt has spent maybe 24 hours altogether here. And he conveniently chooses to forget that the major polluter of the Arctic was, and still is, the federal government through its military.

Please put my people, the Inupiat Eskimo people, into the picture of ANWR. Stop airbrushing us out.

Sincerely,

Benjamin P. Nageak, mayor

North Slope Borough

Barrow, Alaska