Eskimo villagers' pro-drilling stance wavering

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5729080&cKey=1114653924000

ANCHORAGE (Reuters) - An Eskimo village on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's coastal plain has long supported oil drilling there, but some residents are now opposing the controversial drilling plan embraced by President George W. Bush and most Alaska politicians.

Many residents of the Inupiat Eskimo village of Kaktovik, the only settlement in the refuge's coastal area, are rethinking their support because of potential threats to migrating whales and other sea life from offshore drilling activity in the Beaufort Sea, said Stephen Haycox, a professor of history at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

The emerging Kaktovik dissent is "a major crack in what has been so far a pretty solid front" in favor of drilling, Haycox said, "I think it's highly significant and I think it's going to weaken the ANWR-drill advocates in Congress."

Robert Anderson, a local tour operator who organized a petition drive opposing refuge development, said that offshore drilling in the remote, ice-bound Beaufort is feasible only if it is linked to some onshore oil-field infrastructure.

[roguevalley]

1. I hope they stand firm.

[MisterP]

2. which ones?