ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Indigenous leaders want a seat at the table and to be seen and heard. “Nothing about us without us.”
That’s the message Indigenous leaders shared at an Arctic symposium that organizers say brought in participants from 30 countries. Six Inupiaq, Tlingit and Athabascan leaders kicked off “Arctic Encounter 2024” with a plenary session entitled “Northern Indigenous Leadership: Our Future, Our Vision for Success.” Organizers say the three-day symposium drew about a thousand leaders in diplomacy, research, science, the military and business to the Dena’ina Convention Center in Anchorage.
Dr. Pearl Kiyawn Nageak Brower, Inupiaq, is CEO of Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation and Affiliate Research Professor at the International Arctic Research Center, and at right is Kasannaaluk Marie Green, Inupiaq, speaking at the Arctic Encounter Symposium on April 10, 2024, Anchorage, Alaska (Photo by Joaqlin Estus/ICT)
Kasannaaluk Marie Greene, Inupiaq, is president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, which is made up of members from Greenland, Canada, Russia and the United States. She told an audience of about 150 people her goal is to continue to fulfill the vision of the council’s founder, Eben Hopson, Inupiaq: “to have our Inupiat people at the international level come together to strengthen our unity, to work together in harmony as we come together and address our concerns, our common concerns, our challenges, and what we need to be doing going forward as we continue to build that unity.”
Greene said Hopson expressed at the founding meeting of ICC in 1977 “the need to … to be promoting our language, our culture, our customers, who we are as Inuit and to promote and work with our governments, to ensure that we have the policies, long-term policies in place and to also address our interests at the international level.”
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She added that Hopson challenged “us to do what we can to protect our homeland, to protect the Arctic and that’s a privilege being in this role that I have.”
She said communications need to be honest and respectful toward governments, but “we have got to be expressing our concerns about the change of the climate that we’re now experiencing in the Arctic.”
Apagzuk Roy Agloinga, Inupiaq, is president and CEO of the First Alaskans Institute, an Alaska Native policy and advocacy nonprofit. “(Our) people have always lived in this land,” he said. “We have a passionate and deep connection to every place. And the fact that we are able to make decisions about education, about the economy, about any kind of policy that impacts us, is really critical.”
At left, Apagzuk Roy Agloinga, Inupiat, is president and CEO of the First Alaskans Institute, an Alaska Native policy and advocacy nonprofit with at right, Morrie Lemen, Jr., Tlingit, is executive director of the federally recognized tribe, the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope. They spoke at the Arctic Encounter Symposium on April 10, 2024, in Anchorage. (Photo by Joaqlin Estus/ICT)
Agloinga said the institute plans to build on the training and education previous First Alaskans leaders have provided on the importance of subsistence, an effort he said that helped lead to the appointment of three subsistence users to the federal Subsistence Board. “One of the things that we’ve done, of course, is a lot of advocacy around protecting our ways of life and have such an amazing working group with about 200 people who are from across the state.” That work was brought to the forefront, he said, “so that we can really work closely with our communities to identify ways so that they can continue protecting subsistence… that will always continue to be a major priority for us, and we want to make sure that our community understands what the issues are and how to move forward.”
Agloinga said youth leadership is also a key area for the Institute. “Our youth are pretty amazing and the youth that participated in (our) Elders and Youth conference really already show tremendous leadership in their region. We want to make sure that those young people are able to get as much support as they can, as much education as they can, as much knowledge as they can about the issues that are so important to us as Native people in Alaska so that they can continue the fight for self-determination and really understand what that means.”
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Aaron Schutt, Koyukon Athabascan, is CEO of the Alaska Native regional corporation Doyon Limited. He told the audience the Doyon region is about the size of the country of France, and home to about 40 communities, and 25 village corporations. Doyon has about 20,500 shareholders.
Aaron Schutt, Koyukon Athabascan, is CEO of the Alaska Native regional corporation Doyon Limited. He spoke at the Arctic Encounter Symposium on April 10, 2024. (Photo by Joaqlin Estus/ICT).
“We were able to select and retain about 12.2 million acres within our very large homeland,” Schutt said. “We share about 4 million of those acres with our village corporations where they own the surface and we own the subsurface and we have about 8.2 million acres that we own outright like all the other Native companies. Our job is to make money, train and employ our shareholders, and then, most importantly, steward our land base.
“We have our land. We have our people. We have to have economic success in order for our people to thrive, in order for us to steward the land. The federal government doesn’t give us any money…We have trespass, fire, gravel, wildlife, all these issues that are very important to our people, that we have economic success in order to take on all of those issues.” He quoted a former chief who would often say, “We’re doing well; we can do better.”
Dr. Pearl Kiyawn Nageak Brower, Inupiaq, is president/CEO of the Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation, and Affiliate Research Professor at the International Arctic Research Center. She said like the other village, urban and regional corporations created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corp represents a distinct Alaska Native community village tribe. ”But each has an important land base and each has had to learn how to traverse the for-profit environment.”
The Ukpeagvik corporation has about 3,800 shareholders and stewards about 229,000 acres of ancestral lands. “We employ about 4,700 people and about a quarter of those are here in Alaska,” Brower said. “We are the ninth largest company by revenue in the state and we’re hoping to be the eighth after the end of this year. So our mission is really we bring our Inupiaq values to the services and products that we provide to enhance the lives of our shareholders.”
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She said of shareholders, “They’re us. They’re our aunts and our uncles, they’re our grandparents, they’re our parents, they’re our children, our grandchildren, and what that looks like into the future. I think we also have challenges in the market and in policy. Nothing about us without us is just how we have to move forward.”
Brower added, “I think as Indigenous people, right, we are the best ecologists. We are the best scientists for our region. We are tethered to our place. We care about our land. We want it to be there for future generations…listen to the people, listen to those who have lived off this land and learned the stories and heard the stories and been taught about this place for generations.
Morrie Lemen, Jr., Tlingit, is executive director of the federally recognized tribe, the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope. He said the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act was a dramatically different approach to federal Indian policy. “It created a fragmented system of the Alaska Native representation and delivery of services that required a coordinated approach to effectively serve Alaska Native people. It also resulted in landless groups, which ICAS is one of.”
Speaking of his vision of success, he said “The first thing that comes to my mind is self-determination. We determine our future by building our own, growing our own leaders based on millennia of tradition. Listen to us. I challenge the audience every time you think about the Arctic, think about the people first. What we have identified as our needs, not what you think we need. The North Slope approach to leadership is centered at the local level. There’s a trust that the residents of our villages know what is best for their village and we support them, not supplant them. At ICAS, we work to uplift, empower, and grow the tribes and our tribal citizens within our region.”
Tara Katuk Mac Lean Sweeney, Inupiaq, is vice president for external affairs, at ConocoPhillips Alaska, an oil company that has had a presence in Alaska she said for 50 years, “and we continue in our commitment to the state.”
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Tara Katuk Mac Lean Sweeney, Inupiaq, vice president for external affairs at ConocoPhillips Alaska, spoke at the Arctic Encounter Symposium on April 10, 2024, in Anchorage. (Photo by Joaqlin Estus/ICT)
She said life has changed in Alaska over the years. “I grew up on the cusp of development and was 16 when we finally had the infrastructure to have a flush toilet in our home. And there are many communities throughout Alaska that still don’t have the infrastructure to afford that luxury, and it’s important to remember. But what development has provided to Indigenous communities across the North Slope is opportunity, opportunity for education, opportunity to live in thriving communities that have police and fire protection, opportunities for work and career, career advancement.
“So our goal and our focus at ConocoPhillips really is to develop Alaska resources safely and responsibly and responsibly really means a number of things: Effective stakeholder engagement. It also means transparency and respect in the process. But effective stakeholder engagement means that local voices have a seat at the table, that they help guide the process, the projects through the conception phase all the way to the production phase. And so for me, when you ask me what success looks like, that would be my answer.”
The three-day conference continued with sessions ranging from energy, governance, and wildfire management, to oil spill response, security, and waste management, as well as media, leadership, thawing permafrost, food security, science, education, health, shipping, and geopolitics.
CT originally published this article. ICT is an an independent, nonprofit, multimedia news enterprise. ICT covers Indigenous peoples.
Shares in Alaska Air Group(ALK 1.16%) rose by 12.7% in an excellent week for airline stocks. The move comes as the sector climbs a wall of worry driven by soaring jet fuel prices stemming from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. While the market’s prior concerns are understandable, there’s growing anecdotal evidence suggesting that airlines, including Alaska Air, might emerge from the period in better shape than many expect.
This week’s airline updates
Southwest Airlines(LUV 0.83%) CEO Robert Jordan gave a presentation at the Bernstein 42nd Annual Strategic Decisions Conference, and his remarks surprised the market. It’s no secret that jet fuel prices have soared, and that’s challenging airlines’ profitability. Still, it doesn’t appear to have affected end demand, with Delta Air Lines previously telling investors that strong demand in the first quarter was continuing into the second quarter, even as it raised prices.
Today’s Change
(-1.16%) $-0.54
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Current Price
$46.05
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$5.1B
Day’s Range
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$46.04 – $47.84
52wk Range
$33.03 – $65.88
Volume
162.4K
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Avg Vol
4.5M
Gross Margin
13.76%
That positive trend, with Southwest’s Jordan telling investors that Southwest had participated in seven consecutive fare increases with “no drop off in demand at all.” Jordan went on to note that “I’m becoming increasingly bullish that we will be able to cover these fuel increases with revenue increases,” and also believes that “the industry will retain a much higher percent of the fare increases that would be typical historically.”
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What it means to Alaska Air
Given that Alaska competes with Southwest on some routes and is suffering from rising jet fuel prices, the news from Southwest is particularly relevant. For example, in its recent first-quarter earnings report, Alaska’s management said higher fuel costs would impact earnings per share (EPS) by $0.70 in the first quarter and by more than $3 in the second quarter.
Image source: Getty Images.
These are significant numbers from an airline that analysts expect to report a $0.77-per-share loss in 2026 and then $6.32 in EPS in 2027. However, if Alaska can offset fuel costs with higher prices, then those estimates might need a positive revision.
Lee Samaha has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Alaska Air Group, Delta Air Lines, and Southwest Airlines. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
(Bethel, AK) –Wednesday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a favorable opinion for the State of Alaska in ConocoPhillips Alaska v. Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC), agreeing that State laws requiring disclosure of oil well data are not preempted by federal law.
“Alaska relies heavily on our resources and resource development,” said Acting Alaska Attorney General Cori Mills. “We are also stewards of those resources for the citizens of Alaska. Alaska’s law both allows resource development now, and encourages further development and exploration in the future. We’re pleased that the Ninth Circuit recognized that federal law has not overridden Alaska’s balanced approach.”
The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission regulates oil and gas operations throughout Alaska, including within the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska (NPR–A). Under Alaska law, companies need permits from the AOGCC to drill and must submit well data. The AOGCC is required to keep well data confidential for 24 months.
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ConocoPhillips drilled several wells on lease holdings within the NPR–A and submitted data to the AOGCC. When the 24-month period expired, the AOGCC notified ConocoPhillips of the upcoming well data disclosure. ConocoPhillips sued in federal court to stop the disclosure process claiming that the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act, the federal law allowing private exploration in the NPR–A, preempted Alaska’s 24-month disclosure law. The federal district court found Alaska law preempted, and the AOGCC sought appellate review by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
On appeal, the Ninth Circuit agreed with the AOGCC. The federal Production Act does not preempt state law. The Ninth Circuit therefore reversed the district court’s holding to the contrary.
“The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission is pleased with the court’s decision upholding Alaska law,” said AOGCC Commissioner Jessie Chmielowski in a declaration filed in the litigation court. “Alaska’s balanced approach to well data confidentiality leads to increased exploration activity, not less. Alaska law allows for a two-year confidentiality period on exploration well data to leverage a company’s investment in drilling. Thereafter, making the data public has incentivized exploration on the North Slope. Placing well data in the public record allows competing companies to evaluate different exploration concepts or interpretations based on seismic data that, without well data, are just educated guesses.”
Alaska Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins (Photo courtesy Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins)
Alaska needs change. That’s why I’m running for governor: to bring new energy and a new generation of leadership to the governor’s office.
For 13 years in a row, more Alaskans have left our great state than have moved here. Prices are rising, schools are closing and Alaskans are getting left behind.
This year, those planning to leave Alaska include Ben and Catherine Walker, both recipients of Alaska’s Teacher of the Year Award. They can’t justify staying in the place they grew up in and love because of our failure to invest in the fundamentals, such as our schools.
The problem is personal. I’m 37. Many of those leaving Alaska are my age — debating whether there’s a future for us here or not. It’s a challenge we must solve.
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I love challenges.
Back in 2012, I dropped out of college to challenge an entrenched Republican incumbent legislator who was running unopposed to represent my home region of Southeast Alaska. I launched a scrappy, grassroots campaign and focused on the kitchen table issues that matter to every Alaskan: good schools, getting our fair share of oil revenues, lowering costs, protecting our fisheries. I won — by 32 votes.
When I was sworn in, I was baby-faced and bushy-tailed, just 23 years old. It was the beginning of a decade-long tenure in the Legislature. A lot happened in those 10 years.
Among the most important: We formed the House Bipartisan Coalition in 2016. While I have a “D” next to my name, I believe strongly in working across party lines. That’s what the Bipartisan Coalition was, and is, all about: Democrats, moderate Republicans and independents, all working together to do what’s best for Alaska.
I want to bring that same bipartisan, vigorous problem-solving spirit to the governor’s office, where it has been nonexistent the last eight years.
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As governor, I want to work hand in hand with the Legislature to deliver some desperately needed wins for Alaska that will make our lives better and get our state back on track:
• Reinvest in our public schools. Our school districts are in battlefield triage mode, but instead of amputating limbs, our school boards are forced to choose which sports to cut, which electives to discontinue and which neighborhood school to close. Enough already. Get school funding back up to par.
• Forward fund our schools. Our school districts shouldn’t have to guess how much education funding will end up being appropriated in end-of-session legislative haggling.
This circus forces school districts to prospectively fire teachers, then rehire them a month or two later, when they find out the final education funding number. It’s awful for all involved. We should fix it by forward funding.
• Close the Hilcorp corporate income tax loophole. Hilcorp should pay their fair share in taxes just as ConocoPhillips, and nearly every other major corporation in Alaska, already does.
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• Lower the cost of energy. Chugach Electric Association, Golden Valley Electric Association, Homer Electric Association and Matanuska Electric Association operate about 1,700 megawatts in power generation capacity. Peak Railbelt winter demand is half that: about 850 megawatts. Guess who pays for the nearly gigawatt in underused and unused power plants? You, on your power bill. The governor should force the co-ops to work together, reduce redundancies and diversify energy sources, including renewables, in order to reduce the sky-high cost of energy for Alaskans.
• Lower the cost of childcare. Alaska has inadvertently created a system of childcare permitting and licensing that effectively amounts to death by a thousand pieces of paperwork. It’s creating scarcity and cost. We need to fix it.
• Lower the cost of housing. Cut red tape to make it easier and cheaper to build more homes of all kinds — from tiny homes and ADUs to manufactured and modular housing, to apartments and condos, to traditional single-family homes. More housing of all kinds, faster.
• Rein in bottom-trawl bycatch. I will nominate Alaskans to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council who will make sure that Alaska and Alaskans — not Seattle and Lower 48 industry interests — foremost benefit from our fisheries.
• Responsibly develop our resources. Support projects that have regional buy-in and support, such as Pikka on the North Slope, which just produced first oil this month, while saying “no” when the risks are too great and those in the region are opposed, as is the case with Pebble.
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• Grow our tourism economy. And let’s crack the code on winter tourism while we’re at it. If Iceland can do it, we darn well can, too. Fairbanks is having burgeoning winter tourism success. Let’s follow their great lead.
• Make Alaska an awesome place to live. Let’s build dozens more public-use cabins. Let’s build an alpine hut-to-hut system like they have in New Zealand and the Alps. Let’s build the Alaska Long Trail. Let’s make Anchorage a world-class winter city.
Does this sound like the kind of Alaska you want to live in? Then I have great news: We are the governor campaign for you. And if what you just read gives you indigestion, you’ll be relieved to know you have 17 other options.
I have more great news: I can win.
After beating an entrenched Republican incumbent, I spent a decade representing a swingy district that voted for Donald Trump.
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In those 10 years, I recorded some of the highest margins of crossover support from Trump voters of any Democrat in Alaska. I ran 12% ahead of Hillary Clinton in 2016 and 15% ahead of Joe Biden in 2020.
Here’s the simple truth: Whoever becomes our next governor will need to win with the support of significant numbers of independents and moderate Republicans, in addition to Democrats. I’ve done that. And I’ll do it again. Will you join me?
Former state Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins of Sitka is a candidate for governor of Alaska.
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