ASRC seeks to develop coastal plain assets.

• Position: Arctic Slope Regional Corp. wants to start oil exploration in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska

For the Arctic Slope Regional Corp., ANWR may represent the Native group's last opportunity to become a major oil and gas producer, a role historically played in Alaska by some of the world's largest petroleum companies.

"Something Congress should understand is that our people mostly depend on jobs related to the oil industry, to taxation by the North Slope Borough, to direct employment by companies owned by the Arctic Slope Regional Corp.," says Jacob Adams, ASRC's president.

The corporation also happens to own the mineral rights to 92,000 acres within the vast Coastal Plain, which the U.S. Interior Department says may contain the last major oil and gas reserves in North America. ASRC is at least partly aware of what lies beneath its lands. Under a special agreement with the federal government, ASRC and its partners, Chevron and BP Exploration, were permitted to drill the only exploratory well on the Coastal Plain in the winter of 1984-85.

Though information from the KIC No. 1 well remains top secret, it may explain why ASRC is so adamant about opening the Coastal Plain to further exploration and development, in spite of potential threats to the environment and wildlife and to the lifestyle of the 200 people who occupy the nearby Eskimo village of Kaktovik. Says Adams, "I think industry has gone a long way in making it safe for the opening of ANWR. I think the people of Kaktovik look at it for some economic opportunities for the village people in terms of jobs and income potential for the village."

Adds John McClellan, ASRC's vice president for international business development, This might be the last chance for the regional corporation to participate in the oil...