The changed climate(s) of Barrow.

• Author: Anjum, Shehla
• Position: ARCTIC

The climate in Barrow, both natural and political, is much changed.

On my recent visit in late August an autumn storm raged in the Chukchi Sea; a hard wind blew, and the sea pounded the beach. The waves were rougher, unlike any I remembered from my years in Barrow in the early 1980s. Along the beach workers were keeping the sea at bay by piling gravel on a berm to prevent it from being washed away. Farther offshore, Royal Dutch Shell halted its exploratory drilling until the storm passed.

More than fifteen years had elapsed since my last trip to Barrow. I was back as a guest of Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC). The company hosted a group of writers to the corporation's home community to discuss Arctic issues and the importance of natural resource development, including oil and gas.

Barrow had changed greatly. It was bigger. Familiar structures were gone; others were closed or boarded up. The old Brower's Cafe was gone. The Top of the World Hotel and the hospital were in new facilities in Browerville. And the "top of the world" even had a coffee shack--the Arigaa Java shack, which although closed when I visited, signaled the ubiquity of coffee shacks across Alaska.

Oil & Gas Industry Welcomed

One example of the change in the political climate is a more welcoming attitude toward the oil and gas industry, which was once viewed with suspicion. ASRC and North Slope Borough officials' unified message now is that development and environmental protection can occur simultaneously. Oil and gas exploration in the Arctic, both onshore and offshore, is no longer controversial as it was in the late 1970s and 1980s.

The passage of time and industry's long presence on the North Slope might be reasons for such change. ASRC and the North Slope Borough were both incorporated in 1972. Property taxes on the Prudhoe Bay oil and gas facilities generated a large portion of the borough's budget and allowed it to fund large capital projects such roads, schools, and water and sewer improvements through sales of general obligation bonds.

In the years since, ASRC also expanded, some of its subsidiaries began providing support services to the oil and gas industry, and it began leasing its lands for exploration.

"The oil industry is essential for us as nothing can replace it. The industry generates one-third of our income," says Richard Glenn, ASRC's executive vice president for lands and natural resources. ASRC, which is the most successful Alaskan-owned...