Latest news with #Iñupiat
Mint
18 hours ago
- Science
- Mint
Alaska's Kivalina, Endangered by Climate Change, Explores Retreat– Again
(Bloomberg) -- Over a century ago, Austin Swan's father attended a relocation planning meeting for the village of Kivalina, a small community in the Alaskan Arctic Circle. Established on a sandy barrier island, Kivalina had an eroding coast line and needed to move further inland to protect the homes of a mostly Native community of Iñupiat residents. 'That was when the landmass was twice what it used to be. They were talking about relocation already,' says Swan, 77, the village's mayor. The village is only about a mile long and a few hundred feet wide. It's viewed as among the most indefensible places in the US from the consequences of global warming. Remote, only accessible by plane, and built entirely on a sand bar, Kivalina has long been a case study for scientists, politicians and civil engineers, all trying to front-run a climate disaster that will sweep away the few dozen structures belonging to about 300 local residents. But despite all the interest it has amassed, almost nothing has moved. On a July afternoon, Swan was sitting in the front room of one of the only structures successfully relocated in the 100 years since his dad attended that meeting: the village's school. It's about eight miles uphill and inland, on a site identified as safer from climate change than the sand spit the current village is built on. The tentative plan is to move the entire village to the same plot of land, forming a town around the school building. Bountiful berry bushes separate the brand-new school building—which the state allotted $43 million to building—and the village, which lacks widespread water and sewer systems. The road to the school cost an additional $53.1 million, according to the Northwest Arctic Borough planning department. When a storm is bad, debris and waves can crash onto the town's airplane runway. Melting permafrost turns fields into lumpy mush. Where no puddles once formed, standing water is now constant. The small community filed a lawsuit years ago, blaming Exxon Mobil Corp. and others for the climate dangers it faced. (The Supreme Court declined to hear the case in 2013, effectively ending the legal battle). The town was supposed to be an early example of strategic retreat. The Army Corps of Engineers has long urged relocation and President Barack Obama did a flyover of the remote village, also promising a move. The Army Corps and local politicians estimate transferring the community of around 400 people could cost as much as $1 million a head. But that's if they are able to secure the funds at all—an increasingly unlikely feat in a shrinking federal government. Swan was among the lawmakers, law enforcement officers, Indigenous community elders, tribal representatives and climate experts were gathered at Kivalina's relocated school last month for a three-day summit to discuss safety in the Northwest Arctic. Attendees slept inside the school on cots, and one of the police officers who used to have a restaurant cooked group meals, with an emphasis on Costco staples. The conference focused on several primary topics: the murdered and missing Indigenous persons epidemic, emergency preparedness, and climate change. Neither problem has a singular solution and both, more than anything, desperately need funding that is harder to come by in a federal government defined by spending cuts. To kick off the event, a local emergency manager tried to parse how FEMA cuts could impact this rural Arctic community. 'We need to pour more effort and diligence into our hazard mitigation planning process,' says Kelly Hamilton, the Northwest Arctic Borough official who helped organize the summit and hoped ample pre-planning for disasters could help communities facing imminent climate risk. In an hour-long session meant to prepare the area for climate retreat, no firm way to pay for retreat was proposed. 'I don't know where the funding comes from,' says State Representative Robyn Niayuq Burke, a newly elected Democrat who represents Kivalina and spoke on the panel. The area she represents is roughly the size of Germany, and she emphasized the diversity of opinions and interests among her constituents. 'Even in the community that I grew up in, people don't like to hear the term climate change. It is challenging in that way as well. Our state government is more reactive than proactive.' The tightening timeframe to make change was on all the panelists' minds, even if a plan to expedite relocation had yet to be formed. 'The frequency of the challenges of things like flooding, and coastal erosion, and the time pressure that's on a lot of our communities is so much more frequent now than it was 10, 15, 20, 50 years ago,' says Ashley Carrick, Alaska state representative and Democrat who attended the panel alongside Burke. Prior to the mandated schooling of local Native children, the indigenous community primarily used the areas as a seasonal hunting and fishing grounds, moving as the weather dictated. Kivalina was not settled year-round and the local community was not tethered to a sand spit hampered by winter storms. For generations, the Native community was able to maintain its subsistence lifestyle in relative peace. When missionaries, whalers, and the federal government came bursting into Alaska in the 19th century, the original residents of the Arctic found their way of life was forced to change, with permanent, year round settlements becoming the norm. Communities often form around schools, and by sticking the school house on a barrier island, homes and churches grew around it. No one asked the Native community if that was a particularly good location for a school, says Colleen Swan, an elder in Kivalina, who is a member of the mayor's family. 'They dropped it on this little spit out there—a sand spit. That's how our village started. We didn't make this decision–it was made by people who didn't know any better. Maybe they did not regard the Native people as people they could consult with,' says Colleen Swan, who also served as a councilwoman. 'All of the issues we face today, they're all because we were not included in the discussion, in the planning, and most importantly the decision making.'
San Francisco Chronicle
13-06-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
US appeals court refuses to vacate Biden approval of Alaska's Willow oil project
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A federal appeals court panel on Friday refused to vacate the approval of the massive Willow oil project on Alaska's petroleum-rich North Slope though it found flaws in how the approval was reached. The decision from a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals comes in a long-running dispute over the project, most recently greenlit in March 2023 by then-President Joe Biden's administration and under development in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska by ConocoPhillips Alaska. The court's majority opinion found what it called a procedural error — but not a serious or substantive one — by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management as part of the analysis in approving Willow. The court sent the matter back to the agency for additional work. The majority determined that vacating the project's approval would be unwarranted and its consequences severe, though Judge Gabriel P. Sanchez dissented on that point. A prior version of the project approved late in President Donald Trump's first term was overturned in 2021, leading to the environmental review process completed under Biden that drew the latest legal challenges from environmentalists and a grassroots Iñupiat group. Alaska's Republican governor and its congressional delegation and state Legislature have backed Willow. The project also has broad support among Alaska Native leaders on the North Slope and groups with ties to the region who see Willow as economically vital for their communities. But critics cast the project as being at odds with Biden's pledges to combat climate change and raised concerns that it would drive further industrialization in the region. Trump expressed support for additional drilling in the reserve as part of a broader, Alaska-specific executive order he signed upon his return to office aimed at boosting oil and gas drilling, mining and logging in the state. During the cold-weather seasons, ConocoPhillips Alaska has worked to build infrastructure such as new gravel roads, bridges and pipelines at the project site, and it has laid out a timeline for producing first oil in 2029. In a statement Friday, the company said it welcomed the ruling and looked forward to 'continuing the responsible development of Willow.' J. Elizabeth Peace, a spokesperson with the U.S. Department of the Interior, said the agency doesn't comment on litigation. The Bureau of Land Management falls under Interior. The appeals panel ruling comes more than a year after it heard arguments in the case. Environmental groups and the grassroots Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic had appealed a lower-court ruling that upheld Willow's approval. Attorneys representing the groups on Friday were evaluating next steps. Arguments before the appeals court panel focused largely on claims the land management agency did not consider a 'reasonable' range of alternatives in its environmental review, as well as the groups' contention the agency had limited its consideration of alternatives to those that allowed for full-field development of the project. Attorneys for ConocoPhillips Alaska argued the leases in the company's Bear Tooth Unit in the northeast part of the petroleum reserve are in areas open to leasing and surface development — and that the agency committed the unit to development in issuing leases there over a number of years. Willow is in the unit. Friday's ruling said the agency during the environmental review process took a stance that it needed to screen out alternatives that stranded an economically viable quantity of oil but then never explained whether the pared-back plan it ultimately approved satisfied the full-field development standard. The agency 'framed its environmental review based on the full field development standard and had a rational explanation for doing so,' the ruling states. 'But that does not permit BLM to potentially deviate from the standard without explanation.' ConocoPhillips Alaska had proposed five drilling sites for Willow but the Bureau of Land Management approved three, which it said would include up to 199 total wells. Erik Grafe, an attorney with Earthjustice who represented some of the groups that challenged Willow, saw the ruling as a partial victory. 'They found a fundamental flaw that led them to conclude that the BLM acted arbitrarily in approving the Willow project and have sent that back to the agency to reconsider in a non-arbitrary way and make a new decision,' he said.
The Independent
13-06-2025
- Business
- The Independent
US appeals court refuses to vacate Biden approval of Alaska's Willow oil project
A federal appeals court panel on Friday refused to vacate the approval of the massive Willow oil project on Alaska's petroleum-rich North Slope though it found flaws in how the approval was reached. The decision from a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals comes in a long-running dispute over the project, most recently greenlit in March 2023 by then-President Joe Biden's administration and under development in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska by ConocoPhillips Alaska. The court's majority opinion found what it called a procedural error — but not a serious or substantive one — by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management as part of the analysis in approving Willow. The court sent the matter back to the agency for additional work. The majority determined that vacating the project's approval would be unwarranted and its consequences severe, though Judge Gabriel P. Sanchez dissented on that point. A prior version of the project approved late in President Donald Trump 's first term was overturned in 2021, leading to the environmental review process completed under Biden that drew the latest legal challenges from environmentalists and a grassroots Iñupiat group. Alaska's Republican governor and its congressional delegation and state Legislature have backed Willow. The project also has broad support among Alaska Native leaders on the North Slope and groups with ties to the region who see Willow as economically vital for their communities. But critics cast the project as being at odds with Biden's pledges to combat climate change and raised concerns that it would drive further industrialization in the region. Trump expressed support for additional drilling in the reserve as part of a broader, Alaska-specific executive order he signed upon his return to office aimed at boosting oil and gas drilling, mining and logging in the state. During the cold-weather seasons, ConocoPhillips Alaska has worked to build infrastructure such as new gravel roads, bridges and pipelines at the project site, and it has laid out a timeline for producing first oil in 2029. In a statement Friday, the company said it welcomed the ruling and looked forward to 'continuing the responsible development of Willow.' J. Elizabeth Peace, a spokesperson with the U.S. Department of the Interior, said the agency doesn't comment on litigation. The Bureau of Land Management falls under Interior. The appeals panel ruling comes more than a year after it heard arguments in the case. Environmental groups and the grassroots Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic had appealed a lower-court ruling that upheld Willow's approval. Attorneys representing the groups on Friday were evaluating next steps. Arguments before the appeals court panel focused largely on claims the land management agency did not consider a 'reasonable' range of alternatives in its environmental review, as well as the groups' contention the agency had limited its consideration of alternatives to those that allowed for full-field development of the project. Attorneys for ConocoPhillips Alaska argued the leases in the company's Bear Tooth Unit in the northeast part of the petroleum reserve are in areas open to leasing and surface development — and that the agency committed the unit to development in issuing leases there over a number of years. Willow is in the unit. Friday's ruling said the agency during the environmental review process took a stance that it needed to screen out alternatives that stranded an economically viable quantity of oil but then never explained whether the pared-back plan it ultimately approved satisfied the full-field development standard. The agency 'framed its environmental review based on the full field development standard and had a rational explanation for doing so,' the ruling states. 'But that does not permit BLM to potentially deviate from the standard without explanation.' ConocoPhillips Alaska had proposed five drilling sites for Willow but the Bureau of Land Management approved three, which it said would include up to 199 total wells. Erik Grafe, an attorney with Earthjustice who represented some of the groups that challenged Willow, saw the ruling as a partial victory. 'They found a fundamental flaw that led them to conclude that the BLM acted arbitrarily in approving the Willow project and have sent that back to the agency to reconsider in a non-arbitrary way and make a new decision,' he said.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US appeals court refuses to overturn Biden approval of Alaska's Willow oil project
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A federal appeals court panel on Friday refused to overturn the approval of the massive Willow oil project on Alaska's petroleum-rich North Slope. The decision from a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals comes in a long-running dispute over the project, which was greenlit in March 2023 by then-President Joe Biden's administration and is being developed in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska by ConocoPhillips Alaska. The court's majority opinion found what it called a procedural but not substantive error by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management as part of the analysis in approving Willow. The majority determined that overturning the project's approval would be unwarranted and its consequences severe. During the cold-weather seasons, ConocoPhillips Alaska has worked to build infrastructure such as new gravel roads, bridges and pipelines at the project site. The ruling comes more than a year after the appeals court panel heard arguments in the case. Environmentalists and a grassroots Iñupiat group had appealed a lower-court ruling that upheld Willow's approval. Alaska's Republican governor and members of its congressional delegation and state Legislature have backed Willow. The project also has broad support among Alaska Native leaders on the North Slope and groups with ties to the region who see Willow as economically vital for their communities. J. Elizabeth Peace, a spokesperson with the U.S. Department of the Interior, said the agency doesn't comment on litigation. The Bureau of Land Management falls under the Interior. Messages seeking comment were left with ConocoPhillips Alaska and environmental groups.
Winnipeg Free Press
13-06-2025
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
US appeals court refuses to overturn Biden approval of Alaska's Willow oil project
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A federal appeals court panel on Friday refused to overturn the approval of the massive Willow oil project on Alaska's petroleum-rich North Slope. The decision from a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals comes in a long-running dispute over the project, which was greenlit in March 2023 by then-President Joe Biden's administration and is being developed in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska by ConocoPhillips Alaska. The court's majority opinion found what it called a procedural but not substantive error by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management as part of the analysis in approving Willow. The majority determined that overturning the project's approval would be unwarranted and its consequences severe. During the cold-weather seasons, ConocoPhillips Alaska has worked to build infrastructure such as new gravel roads, bridges and pipelines at the project site. The ruling comes more than a year after the appeals court panel heard arguments in the case. Environmentalists and a grassroots Iñupiat group had appealed a lower-court ruling that upheld Willow's approval. Alaska's Republican governor and members of its congressional delegation and state Legislature have backed Willow. The project also has broad support among Alaska Native leaders on the North Slope and groups with ties to the region who see Willow as economically vital for their communities. J. Elizabeth Peace, a spokesperson with the U.S. Department of the Interior, said the agency doesn't comment on litigation. The Bureau of Land Management falls under the Interior. Messages seeking comment were left with ConocoPhillips Alaska and environmental groups.
