Inupiat Eskimos on the North Slope of Alaska are at a pivotal moment in history -- our whole way of life could irreversibly change with proposed offshore oil development in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. International oil corporations have everything to gain and nothing to lose, yet our intricate tribal hunting and whaling culture on the ocean is just one VLOS -- Very Large Oil Spill -- away from collapse.
The concept of containing an oil spill underneath large ice sheets or through moving ice packs is absurd, even laughable. Boom response would be completely futile in drift ice, an impossible attempt to contain anything in a strong current of giant ice blocks. If ever a spill occurred, the response would be completely ineffective -- a mass of people and equipment dutifully, and ineffectively, pretending to contain the uncontainable.
After reviewing the revised environmental impact statement regarding proposed leases in the Chukchi Sea , I understand the effects of a Very Large Oil Spill on our tribal food sources would be devastating. The details begin on Page 252. Results include "(1) displacement (2) undesirability for use from contamination or perceived tainting (3) reduced numbers due to species deflection ... (4) increased risk or cost of the subsistence effort due to having to travel further distances to harvest species. Direct contact of oil with barrier islands and coastal shorelines would create toxic environments for resources and traditional subsistence harvests in these areas."
These are just some of the results of a large spill (that the government's own scientists documented). Remember the industry cannot effectively respond (even in drills and practices) to any spill scenario in steadfast or flowing ice conditions.
The sea is our garden, our source of food. For millennia our Inupiat people have lived in balance in this harsh yet abundant marine and coastal ecosystem. Our children learn hunting and gathering as they grow, and this place is who we are. It defines our culture. A large spill would not only contaminate the ocean and the ice that flows through it but it would contaminate the Inupiat culture by removing us from the things that we do -- the hunting, the fishing and the way of life on the ocean ice and coasts.
Waterfowl, polar bears, bearded, spotted, and ringed seals, walrus, bowhead whales, beluga whales and countless fish would be contaminated in a Very Large Oil Spill event. Many of these marine mammals can live for decades. The bowhead whale, the longest-lived mammal on earth and the main food source for coastal Inupiat, can live for centuries. Inupiat will not eat tainted walrus, oiled seals or contaminated fish, nor would we feed it to our children. If our children do not learn to harvest and consume our traditional diets, the main activities in our culture become dormant and will die. The great nomadic Plains Indian cultures met similar challenges in the eradication of the wild buffalo.
Political and economic pressure on the government and our president to develop oil in the Arctic Ocean is great. It could outweigh our small and unique Alaskan Native way of life. The industry will spin it all under the patriotic guises of national security and energy independence, while landing outrageous profits at every quarter. It's a scam, a giant gamble where the Inupiat have everything to lose. Every year we read about oil spills on the North Slope. After decades of experience in the Arctic why can't the industry prevent them? It is a failure of commitment, technology and investment onshore, and they want to move all of that to the Chukchi Sea.
There are no second chances on the Chukchi or Beaufort seas -- the ice is as powerful as it is unforgiving. Why would government agencies and our president ever allow this?
I ask on behalf of my five Inupiat children, and someday their children, please do not destroy our way of life, do not allow the rigs near the Arctic Ocean ice. There is no return for us to coastal subsistence if disaster occurs. Quyanaq.
Daniel James Inulak Lum is a former wildlife tour operator and subsistence user from Barrow. He is a husband and father of five children, currently living in Fairbanks.
By DANIEL LUM