A firsthand account of drilling effects

Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, is an Inupiat and a community health practitioner in the town of Nuiqsut, Alaska, which is four miles from the Alpine Oil Field, a satellite field of Prudhoe Bay.

Ahtuangaruak says she has seen the effects of offshore drilling on towns like Barrow, where oil money has helped to modernize airports, roads and schools. But she says people there and in other villages in the area have also encountered problems with health and food safety, problems she believes are related to offshore drilling.

She also says one aspect of the Inupiat culture, a reluctance to outwardly show disagreement or conflict, is masking the true amount of opposition the people have toward the oil industry. She says there is tremendous opposition, and although people may not march in the streets or carry signs, they show it by the way they live their lives and interact with others.

She says in small communities, a strong core of elders and people who are respected can mobilize opponents. But in a larger town like Barrow, many people are constrained in what they can do because of employment in the oil industry. Most people have to sign contracts with no-comment clauses as a condition of their employment, so they cannot express dissent for fear of losing their jobs.