SILA's Letter to BLM Requesting A Comment Phone Line

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Kunaan Smyth and I’m writing on behalf of Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic, SILA. We focus on creating healthy spaces for Iñupiat wherever they are mentally, physically, and spiritually. We strive to make connections between people, culture, and land. Our members have taken a special interest in anything to do with oil extraction in Alaska, especially areas that impact Iñupiat communities.

The reason I am writing this letter is to ask you to have 24 hour, 7 day a week telephonic commenting available for the Coastal Plains EIS commenting period and any other commenting period during the Covid pandemic. This is because several people had commented that they had issues being included in the process both in the in-person pre-Covid meetings and during the virtual hearings. Some of the issues that led to this during the last commenting period include, but are not limited to, a lack of informing the community in a timely manner that is effective, technological issues, and decisions as to which communities should have hearings. We at SILA would like to help solve some of these issues and have come up with an idea.

Having a 24/7 comment phone number will help protect the smaller Alaskan communities during the covid pandemic, allow people who are working any shift to participate, and open the conversation to all those who will be impacted by these decisions. This will also prevent technological issues that may happen during zoom. If you have fluent speakers for Iñupiat and Gwich’in communities available during certain times, you can advertise this in the same spaces that you announce a comment phone number. We ask that you take this idea under serious consideration.

Sincerely,

Kunaan Smyth, SILA Communications Director

Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic Statement: Biden Administration’s NOI on Arctic Drilling Review

Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic (SILA) appreciates the Biden administration's intention to address the insufficiencies and legal violations in the prior administration's oil and gas leasing program for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Now it's time for Congress to do only what it can by repealing the program entirely.


We look to our representatives in Congress to now step up and do their share of the work in protecting this land that provides for Iñupiat and Gwich’in communities. It is time to protect the Refuge and rescind the leasing program from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. We remind members of Congress that traditional Iñupiat values include hunting traditions, respect for nature, and spirituality, all of which this law impacts in our communities. Please, act now to move to change laws that will impact Iñupiat communities, Gwich’in communities, and the rest of the world.


Biden's Order Temporarily Stops New Oil and Gas Leases

Today, Biden signed 17 Executive Orders today. Several are ones that SILA staff are excited and overjoyed about, but the one we want to focus on is one that affects oil extraction and production on the North Slope.

The Executive Order on Protecting Public Health and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis has an entire section (Sect. 4) regarding the Arctic Refuge. This order puts a temporary moratorium on all federal activity regarding the oil and gas leases and reinstates protections along the shores. This order also gives directions to the Attorney General on how to handle litigation concerning this order.

To read the Executive Order yourself, follow this link: https://www.whitehouse.gov/.../executive-order.../

#StopArcticOilExtraction #DefendTheSacredAK #InupiatGwichinSolidarity

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SILA Press Release on January 6th, 2021

Administration Endangering Food Security and Human Rights

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

January 6th, 2021


On January 4, 2021, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its final Record of Decision for a new Integrated Activity Plan (IAP) in the Western Arctic, opening sacred land to the Inupiaq Peoples and threatening the Teshekpuk Caribou Herd. January 6th, 2021 the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that births 40,000 caribou, was opened to lease sales for oil and gas extraction. These rushed and incomplete processes during a global pandemic is a direct threat to human rights and food security to the Indigenous Peoples. 


The Integrated Activity Plan will open 82% of the Reserve for oil leasing, adding seven million acres. This threatens eight Iñupiat communities, especially the community of Nuiqsut and those who depend on the Teshekpuk Herd. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge provides safe and vital lands to sustain the Porcupine Caribou Herd, polar bears, birds, and sensitive ecosystem. But this land has also sustained the Inupiaq and Gwich’in Peoples for over 12,000 years. The original caretakers knew our health depended on the health of the land and animals. Today where oil and gas has been developed in the Arctic Slope rare cancer clusters, respiratory illness, and sickness follow. There is no way to safely drill for fossil fuels. 


As twelve Alaska Native villages need to relocate due to climate change without sufficient funds, our government continues to exasperate climate change to a point of no return. Western science, Traditional Ecological knowledge, and elders such as the late Eben Hopson Sr. made it clear that extraction of fossil fuels is the leading cause of our climate crisis. This generation has the ability to ensure our great grandchildren can continue to eat off the land and keep their identity as Inuit and Indigenous Peoples. 


Sovereign Inupiat for a Living Arctic (SILA) is shocked by our representatives and our government that have gone against our values, ways of living, and human rights. We remind the public that these sacred lands are unceded territory that our people have lived on and harvested from since time immemorial. We oppose any lease of these sacred lands and will defend our ways of living against the attack on the Arctic as a whole. We stand with the Gwich’in and the Inupiat who stand to protect our lands and animals and a livable future for all.

WHY IS BANK OF AMERICA STILL OPEN TO FUNDING THE DESTRUCTION OF OUR HOMELANDS IN THE ARCTIC?

WE STAND TOGETHER, THE IÑUPIAT AND THE GWICH’IN, IN CALLING ON BANK OF AMERICA TO LISTEN TO INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, PROTECT OUR HOMELANDS, AND STAY OUT OF THE ARCTIC REFUGE. CONTINUE READING AT COMMONDREAMS.ORG >>

Original Press Release Below:

All Eyes Are on Bank of America to Rule out Support for Arctic Drilling 

By Bernadette Demientieff and Siqiñiq Maupin

Bank of America’s customers may have noticed that recently the bank has been standing out from the rest of its peers. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been in a good way. Right now, Bank of America is the only major American bank that has not yet ruled out funding for destructive drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Photo by Keri Oberly

Photo by Keri Oberly

Bank of America is the only major American bank that has not yet ruled out funding for destructive drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)

Bank of America is the only major American bank that has not yet ruled out funding for destructive drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)

Over the last year, every other major American bank -- Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Chase, Citi, and Morgan Stanley -- have joined more than two dozen financial institutions worldwide in updating their lending policies to exclude funding for new drilling in the Arctic, including the Arctic Refuge. Indigenous human rights are being upheld in these new policies and pave the way towards a just transition into a sustainable economy. 

For thousands of years, the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge has sustained life for the Porcupine Caribou Herd, and other relatives on and off the land, that sustain the food security and ways of life of the Iñupiat and Gwich'in people as well as other Alaska Native Tribes. Any disruption of this area would pose an existential threat to not just food security, but our identity as Iñupiat and Gwich'in People. Drilling in the Arctic Refuge would also pose an increased public health threat to communities on Alaska’s North Slope that already experience severe health disparities directly tied to the oil production surrounding their community. 

Drilling in the Arctic Refuge violates Indigenous rights, and is a threat to the bottom line of any bank that funds this destructive activity. As the world increasingly recognizes the urgent need to move away from polluting fossil fuels, investments in expensive new drilling projects are growing riskier. By ruling out support for Arctic drilling, banks have recognized that investing in a project that would threaten human rights and worsen the climate crisis is a risk that’s not worth taking. 

Pro-drilling politicians that have long sought to sell off the coastal plain for drilling have predictably pushed back on this growing trend, even going so far as to point to support from corporations like Arctic Slope Regional Corporation to claim that Alaska Native people support drilling, or that the Gwich’in are alone in their opposition to drilling while the Iñupiat people or members of other Tribes support it. This week, we had the opportunity to meet with Bank of America executives to correct the record and explain that these claims couldn’t be further from the truth. 

We let them know that both Gwich’in and Iñupiat Peoples have made official resolutions to protect the Arctic Refuge, and that Alaska Native corporations are just that: corporations. They are not accountable to Tribal members, and they do not speak for us. Neither does Alaska’s Congressional delegation, whose push for drilling and disingenuous claims that the destruction of the Arctic Refuge would help Native communities have made it clear that they care more about corporate profits than our health or human rights. 

We know that we can’t count on these politicians to do the right thing to defend our land and our communities, and the Trump administration is pushing ahead to try to sell off the coastal plain for drilling by the end of the year. That’s why it’s more important than ever that financial institutions like Bank of America recognize the role they play in helping destroy this sacred place or keeping it intact.

As a growing number of major banks are making the right decision, all eyes are on Bank of America to see whether they will follow their peers or continue to stand out in their disregard for the rights of Alaska’s Indigenous people. We stand together, the Iñupiat and the Gwich’in, in calling on Bank of America to listen to Indigenous people, protect our homelands, and stay out of the Arctic Refuge. 


Bernadette Demientieff is the Executive Director of the Gwich’in Steering Committee. Siqiñiq Maupin is a co-founder/Director of Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic.

Iñupiat People Demand Justice

PRESS RELEASE
Date: 8/17/2020

Contact:
Siqiniq Maupin - SILA co-founder inupiaq@silainuat.org 
Jody Potts - Native Movement Regional Director jody@nativemovement.org  
Dallas Goldtooth - Keep it in the Ground Campaigner dallas@ienearth.org

Iñupiat People Demand justice as the attack on Alaska elevates with release of Record of Decision of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge  

“SILA demands BLM stop all processes of oil and gas extraction projects until justice and true public engagement are possible.” -  Siqiñiq Maupin, co-founder of SILA stated. “The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and Western Arctic are lands that sustain our spirits, wellbeing, and traditions, since time immemorial. These lands are under attack while our communities are being left behind. Both Gwich’in and Iñupiat need caribou to sustain our ways of life and have been divided by oil and gas for far too long. We must stand in solidarity to protect our sacred ways of life and use our voices together.”

 “This is an ongoing attack upon Gwich’in and Inupiat communities of northern Alaska and their traditional lifeways. It is nothing more than yet another example of the Trump administration kowtowing to the interests of the oil and gas industry. We are prepared to take whatever action is needed to support the frontline villages and communities in their fight to protect the sacred.” - Dallas Goldtooth stated as the Keep it in the Ground Campaigner with Indigenous Environmental Network.

Today's record of decision approving oil and gas leasing on the Arctic Refuge, shows the Trump Administration's complete disregard or concern for the millennia strong Gwich'in way of life that depends on the health of the Refuge's coastal plain where oil development is proposed. -stated Jody Potts, Regional Director at Native Movement. The adverse impacts of oil development in this sacred and very critical caribou calving grounds will be heavily felt by Gwich'in villages and families food security, culture, spirituality and ways of life.  The Gwich'in people will not compromise and we will defend our way of life for future generations until this sacred land is protected. 

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RESPONSE TO AK CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION ON THE REALITY OF RACISM

Recently the Alaska Congressional delegation, Don Young, Dan Sullivan, and Lisa Murkoski, shamefully attempted to utilize this moment of racial spotlight to benefit their own profit interests, by implying  that global banks' decisions to divest from the fossil fuel industry in Alaska is racially fueled. Banks around the world are divesting from activities that contribute to climate change AND they are listening to Indigenous Peoples calling for the protection of our ways of life. Both Gwich’in and Iñupiat Peoples have made official resolutions to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, therefore divesting from oil and gas development in the Refuge is answering the calls of Indigenous Peoples, it is the right thing to do.  

Today we are in a revolution. The world is finally waking up to the long fought battle against racism.  Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities have been subjected to subtle and violent racism since the onset of colonialism that has been both systemic and very very personal. Yet, in the last few weeks we are seeing the possibility of real change. We are seeing Justice demanded and taken. 

While Arctic Slope Regional Corporation supports drilling in the Arctic Refuge, they are not a tribal entity nor do they require or practice consensus from their Iñupiat shareholders.  Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic (SILA) is an Iñupiat organization, and while we respect the complex relationship of regional corporations and our Native peoples of the North Slope, we also recognize that regional corporations, by definition of law are not tribal entities and do not meet federal tribal consultation standards/requirements. Alaska Native corporations are beholden to shareholders (who may or may not be tribal members), they are not necessarily accountable to tribal membership. When Alaska’s congressional delegation sides with the corporations rather than the Alaska Native nations it is for blatant interest in oil and gas profits, not people and definitely not for racial equity.

For decades, Gwich’in and Iñupiat peoples have spoken, rallied, petitioned, and pleaded for recognition of Indigenous rights to food security and our long practiced ways of life. SILA stands united with our Gwich’in neighbors in the call to protect the Porcupine Caribou herd whose birthing grounds are on the coastal plain of what is now known as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. We stand united with Black, Indigenous, and peoples of color globally in our demands to address climate change which is creating a continuous crisis in so many of our communities right now. SILA stands united with Black, brown, and Indigenous lives that are threatened daily by systemic racism. This systemic violence has been perpetuated by elected leadership who would manipulate our suffering for their profit. 

By calling for a federal investigation of the banks who have taken a stand to support Indigenous Peoples rights, the Alaska congressional delegation -- Senators Murkowski, Sullivan, and Representative Young -- have shamefully declared, once again, that they side with corporate profits rather than racial equity.