Alaska’s history in perspective: ANSCA: —How Alaska Natives leveraged the pipeline for a just settlement

For decades the fortunes of Alaska’s Native people and the state’s oil and gas industry have been linked. The relationship was frosty at first, mainly on the part of Alaska Natives. Things have since mellowed.

In 1964 and 1965 the state of Alaska selected lands at Prudhoe Bay and issued leases to oil companies, getting things off to a bad start. Inupiat people on the Arctic Slope felt the land was theirs.

In early 1966 they filed a claim to lands across the Arctic Slope that inspired other Alaska Native groups to file similar large claims, and soon the entire state was covered. Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall ordered a freeze on federal lands transfers, halting state land selections and throwing a cloud on title to land in Alaska.

Prudhoe Bay was discovered in 1969 but the land freeze was still on, and the legal status of lands needed for a pipeline corridor from the North Slope was open to question. When a federal judge ordered an injunction blocking the Interior Department from granting a pipeline corridor, it provided an opening for national environmental groups to file lawsuits that tied up the project for years.

Alaskans were upset and blamed Alaska Natives for holding up the pipeline. The delay was causing economic harm. Emil Notti, then president of the Alaska Federation of Natives, had to request police protection for his home in Anchorage.

By 1970 the industry realized the Native land claims needed to be settled, to secure clear title for the pipeline, and Native groups realized they needed the political muscle of the industry to help get a bill through Congress for a settlement. It was an uneasy partnership formed of necessity.

Industry support for a lands claims settlement also helped in reducing opposition from some Alaskans. Historian Jack Roderick recalls Ed Patton, president of Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., telling the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce, “No claims act, no pipeline.” Things quieted down after that, Roderick said.

However, the prospect of oil production also gave Congress a way to help pay the cash part of a claims settlement, with the rest being a return of aboriginal lands. “Oil greased the skids,” helping Congress accept the deal, said Willie Hensley, a Native leader in the land claims effort.

Congress approved the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971, returning 45 million acres to Native owners and approving a $962 million cash payment. The pipeline remained mired in environmental lawsuits, however.

If oil companies helped get the land claims through Congress, Alaska Natives returned the favor with the pipeline. In 1973 they lobbied for passage of a gutsy bill by then-Alaska U.S. Senator Mike Gravel in Congress that would cut through the thicket of lawsuits, granting congressional approval for the pipeline.

The newly-formed Alaska Native corporations had a vested interest, of course. Five hundred million dollars of the cash settlement was to be paid through a royalty override on Prudhoe Bay, which was not producing because there was no pipeline.

It all finally came together in 1973 thanks to a famous tie-breaking vote in the U.S. Senate by Spiro Agnew, then vice president.

Behind the scenes, however, important relationships were being built between new Alaska Native corporations and industry. First came contracts to support pipeline construction in catering, security and maintenance.

In 1976 NANA Regional Corp. negotiated the first North Slope service contract, for BP at Prudhoe Bay. The contract still exists after four decades. Other Native corporations followed: Arctic Slope Regional Corp. in construction and oil field services; Doyon Ltd. and Calista Corp. in drilling; Cook Inlet Region and Bristol Bay Native Corp. in equipment and technical services.

The relationships that began with ANCSA helped create an Alaska-based oil and gas service industry that today employs thousands of Alaskans.

Prudhoe Bay also brought improvements in villages in the Arctic. “For the first time, our eight villages were able to provide our people electricity, police and fire protection, communications, medical services, and decent education,” said Jacob Adams, former mayor of the North Slope Borough.

Tim Bradner is an Anchorage-based business writer