The "middle Place": the Npr-a Impact Mitigation Program and Alaska's North Slope

• Jurisdiction: Alaska,United States
• Publication year: 2013
• Citation: Vol. 30

§ 30 Alaska L. Rev. 263. THE "MIDDLE PLACE": THE NPR-A IMPACT MITIGATION PROGRAM AND ALASKA'S NORTH SLOPE

Alaska Law Review
Volume 30, No. 2, December 2013
Cited: 30 Alaska L. Rev. 263

THE "MIDDLE PLACE": THE NPR-A IMPACT MITIGATION PROGRAM AND ALASKA'S NORTH SLOPE

Shauna Woods ^[*]

ABSTRACT

The communities of Alaska's North Slope increasingly find themselves in a "middle place," stuck between a past to which they cannot return and a future that is fraught with uncertainty. Oil and gas development on Alaska's North Slope has resulted in environmental, cultural, and social changes that have adversely affected the communities in the area. At the same time, oil and gas leasing in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, located on the North Slope, has created an important revenue source for helping those communities mitigate the impacts of development and augment their capacities for addressing future changes. In particular, the Impact Mitigation Grant Program channels money from oil and gas leasing to the communities of the North Slope to address impacts caused by development. This situation has placed North Slope communities in an increasingly grave predicament: the very activities that most endanger their ongoing existence are also the source of the funds upon which they increasingly depend. When the region's finite oil and gas resources no longer generate the current levels of revenue, North Slope communities will potentially be deprived of an economic life-line that enables them to sustain themselves in a situation that has been irrevocably changed. This Note proposes a research agenda for better understanding the challenges faced by North Slope communities and proposes how funding sources might be reorganized to address future needs. In particular, it highlights the importance of identifying stable sources of funding for local governments. It frames this discussion by examining the history of the Impact Mitigation Program and the documented changes wrought by oil and gas development on North Slope communities.

INTRODUCTION

There is no turning back. We were introduced to the cash economy and now we can't do without it. How do we balance these? I don't know. We are learning it as we go. I don't know where is the middle place and I don't know what the future holds. ^[1]

In the early 1980s, the U.S. Congress began to permit development in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska ("the NPR-A"). Subsequent development brought rapid cultural, social, and technological changes to Alaska's North Slope, and serious and unalterable consequences for its residents. ^[2]

The State of Alaska responded to the creation of the NPR-A by establishing an Impact Mitigation Grant Program ("the Program") to alleviate these increasing problems. The Program, with guidance from the federal government and funding from entities leasing land for oil and gas development, serves a critical role in the eight communities of the North Slope, and its continuing vitality is crucial to their well-being.

Nuiqsut is one of the communities in the North Slope Borough affected by this development. ^[3] Nuiqsut, translated from the native Inupiatun as "a beautiful place over the horizon," ^[4] sits on the Nigliq Channel of the Colville River, about thirty-five miles south of the Beaufort Sea Coast. ^[5] Originally a tent city, Nuiqsut was incorporated in 1975. ^[6] The community of Nuiqsut has worked with the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development ("the Department") since 1986, and in that time has been awarded $6.2 million for projects that maintain public facilities and public services. ^[7]

In 2011, the Department approved Nuiqsut for two grants: (1) a grant to continue support for its youth center, and (2) a grant for local government operation and maintenance. Nuiqsut's Youth Center, according to the grant application, provides a safe, healthy, and controlled environment for the community's youth to gather, socialize, and participate in sports and recreation. ^[8] Continuing to fund the Youth Center ensures local teenagers have an opportunity to develop positive lifestyle characteristics, leadership attributes, health and life skills, artistic appreciation, sports skills, and respect for physical fitness. ^[9] The Nuiqsut Youth Center is designed to operate with an emphasis on the maintenance of local cultural tradition. ^[10]

In addition to receiving funding for its Youth Center, Nuiqsut received a grant to support local government operations and maintenance. ^[11] The local government operations and maintenance grant allows Nuiqsut to continue developing its administrative capacity. It aims to establish procedure, protocol, and policy for city operations and city staff-employment issues, and to provide continuing education and training for staff personnel. ^[12] The grant attempts to further develop an autonomous local government and to strengthen the newly created Nuiqsut Comprehensive and Strategic Plan, ^[13] which ensures an inclusive community-planning process ^[14] as funding from the Program diminishes.

These two projects in Nuiqsut are typical of those funded by the Program, ^[15] which depends on the continued leasing of land for oil and gas development. The projects exemplify the stakes of this grant program: funds dispersed through Impact Mitigation Grants have a substantial and important role in the communities of the North Slope. However, this reliance on nonrenewable resources for funding presents an important question regarding the future viability of the Program: What happens when leasing (and thus, funding) ceases?

This Note examines this question and offers suggestions for developing a workable solution. While scholars have independently discussed the economics, environmental impacts, and sociological effects of development, this Note will contribute to the existing literature by uniting all three discussions. It will address the history of the Impact Program, its current role in the North Slope, and its questionable future. This Note also offers government entities and scholars a framework for further research on the future of the Program.

Part I of this Note will discuss the history of the NPR-A and the Program. Part II will discuss the problems that have arisen in the North Slope and explore the connection with oil and gas development. Finally, Part III will argue for the importance of continued research into the problems of the North Slope, the necessity of establishing a procedure to maintain funding once leasing ends, and the value of providing the local government with a more powerful voice in determining the future of the region.

I. Formation and History of the NPR-A and the Impact Mitigation Grant Program

The North Slope Borough's eight communities-Anaktuvuk Pass, Atqasuk, Barrow, Kaktovik, Nuiqsut, Point Hope, Point Lay, and Wainwright-are largely comprised of Inupiat Alaska Natives. ^[16] According to archaeological and anthropological evidence, the North Slope Inupiat have resided in the area since approximately 1250 to 1300 A.D. ^[17] Oil was discovered on the North Slope in the late nineteenth century by non-native explorers. ^[18] From that point forward, the future of the communities of the North Slope was intertwined with the potential for oil development.

In 1923, scarcely more than forty years after the discovery of oil in the region, President Warren G. Harding established the Naval Petroleum Reserve Number Four on Alaska's North Slope. ^[19] Naval Petroleum Reserve Number Four, now known as the NPR-A, is approximately the size of Maine. ^[20] The NPR-A encompasses more than twenty-three million acres and "stretches from the Colville River delta in the east to the Chukchi Sea in the west and from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Brooks Range in the south," ^[21] making it the largest contiguous public landholding in the United States. ^[22] Estimates suggest that the land may hold 9.3 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil and 59.7 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas. ^[23]

The physical environment in the NPR-A is unique. Even today the land is relatively untouched "with few roads or significant human impacts." ^[24] Ice and snow cover the ground for around eight months a year and temperatures reach as low as -57F. ^[25] Average temperatures are so low that it is impossible to sustain agriculture or lumber. ^[26] Despite these temperatures, the land and surrounding waters are notable for their wide variety of animal and plant life. ^[27] The NPR-A is home to whales, seals, fish, polar bears, foxes, birds, white sheep, wolverines, muskoxen, and caribou. ^[28]

There are no roads that connect the communities of the North Slope Borough to each other or the rest of the State. ^[29] Because these communities are so remote, prices of goods are much higher than in urban areas. ^[30] Consequently, North Slope residents are faced with limited options: they can rely solely on a cash-based income, which may require accepting a lower standard of living, or they can supplement their income with subsistence harvesting. Most residents of the North Slope participate in at least some subsistence activities. ^[31] Oil and gas development disrupts many of these activities. ^[32] Throughout the history of the NPR-A, local communities have consistently considered the preservation of a subsistence lifestyle a high priority. ^[33] Subsistence is "more than tradition or a great adventure, for many families it is close to a...