Iñupiat whalers use a sealskin boat, or umiak, in 2019. Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat, an advocacy group, say oil revenues allow North Slope people to live longer, healthier lives.
Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Anchorage last week that takes aim at acompleted in May. The rules tightens environmental restrictions on development in the NPR-A, an area of federal land the size of Indiana. “These tax receipts provide the vast majority of revenue for the North Slope Borough, which is then used to provide a wide range of essential public services,” the lawsuit says, “including sewer, water, heat, sanitation, schools, clinics, hospitals, wildlife and fisheries management and research, infrastructure, and social and cultural programs.”
Many environmental groups hailed the Biden administration rule for the Reserve. They said it would protect birds, wildlife and other resources important to subsistence. The protections in the rule helped lessen their anger at President Biden for allowing ConocoPhillips to proceed with Willow, a large oil development underway in the NPR-A.