Make sure to check out the videos we've provided for more information at the end of the article and index sections! See and hear the peoples of these lands that are being exploited and destroyed in the name of oil and greed.


REDOIL
STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES


In June 2002, a group of Alaska Natives came together in Cordova to share knowledge, experience and strategies for addressing the detrimental impacts of oil and gas development in Alaska. The following principles had been agreed upon by the participants of that gathering who have formed a new network, Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands or REDOIL. The REDOIL network is a program of the Indigenous Environmental Network.

PRINCIPLES


We adhere to the inherent right to self-determination for all indigenous peoples.

We reject the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act as an illegitimate infringement on our right to sovereignty and self-determination.

We are committed to a moratorium on all new exploration for oil, gas and coal as a first step towards the full phase-out of fossil fuels with a just transition to sustainable jobs, energy and environment. We take this position based on our concern over the disproportionate social, cultural, spiritual, environmental, and climate impacts on indigenous peoples, particularly in Alaska.

We are committed to creating sustainable economic solutions for our communities.

We are committed to upholding and promoting the integrity of our traditional cultures and values.

We are committed to an intergenerational approach, which honors the wisdom and guidance of our elders and that values the role of our youth.

We are committed to standing in solidarity with the members of this network and their struggles for self-determination and a sustainable future for the seventh generation to come.

All decisions of and direction for the network will come from the indigenous members from impacted communities. Non-indigenous supporters will be included at the prerogative of the decision-making members.

New members will be added to the network by consensus of the group based on adherence to our principles.

We welcome individuals and legitimate, empowered representatives of communities and organizations that accept and adhere to the principles.

REDOIL is honored to share, reach out and network with Indigenous peoples who want to defend their inherent way of life.

We believe that the working group has the potential to bring these critical issues to a head and address them with honor, science, and spirituality and to help build an alliance where our collective voice will be louder than broken promises.

 

RedOIL Group



The Anchorage Declaration

April 24, 2009

From 20-24 April, 2009, Indigenous representatives from the Arctic, North America, Asia, Pacific, Latin America, Africa, Caribbean and Russia met in Anchorage, Alaska for the Indigenous Peoples’ Global Summit on Climate Change. We thank the Ahtna and the Dena’ina Athabascan Peoples in whose lands we gathered.

We express our solidarity as Indigenous Peoples living in areas that are the most vulnerable to the impacts and root causes of climate change. We reaffirm the unbreakable and sacred connection between land, air, water, oceans, forests, sea ice, plants, animals and our human communities as the material and spiritual basis for our existence. We are deeply alarmed by the accelerating climate devastation brought about by unsustainable development. We are experiencing profound and disproportionate adverse impacts on our cultures, human and environmental health, human rights, well-being, traditional livelihoods, food systems and food sovereignty, local infrastructure, economic viability, and our very survival as Indigenous Peoples.

Mother Earth is no longer in a period of climate change, but in climate crisis. We therefore insist on an immediate end to the destruction and desecration of the elements of life.

View or Download the full declaration:
HTML | PDF



Red Oil Protest

HIT FIRST AND HIT HARDEST:
GLOBAL WARMING, THE OIL INDUSTRY AND ALASKA NATIVES

Global warming, more accurately known as climate change, is a major global environmental and human rights problem of our time. Caused by the excessive buildup of heat-trapping “greenhouse” gases in the earth’s atmosphere—in particular carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of oil, gas and coal—climate change threatens virtually every segment of the biosphere and human society. Read the rest of the document...





OIL AND THE ALASKA NATIVE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT ACT

Sixth Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues


Indigenous peoples in the United States, Canada and the Americas have experienced systematic and repeated violations by oil, gas, and mining industries infringing on our inherent right to protect our traditional lands and our treaty rights. These industries violate our human rights and create unconscionable destruction to traditional territories that have sustained us for time immemorial.

Protect Alaska's Bristol Bay



Caribou People




Oil On Ice #1




Oil on Ice #2



Oil on Ice #3




Oil On Ice #4




Oil on Ice #5



Oil on Ice #6




NEWS & PRESS RELEASES:


At Copenhagen, Native Alaskans Urge Action

IEN and REDOIL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE WIN IN ALASKA!

Indigenous Peoples from around the World Outraged at the Rapid Escalation of Climate Change and Denounced False Solutions

Native Groups Sue MMS Over Chukchi Sea Lease Sale

CONSERVATION, NATIVE GROUPS OPPOSE PROPOSED LAND SWAP FOR OIL DEVELOPMENT IN YUKON FLATS REFUGE IN ALASKA

9th Circuit Court of Appeals Denies Shell Oil Request to Reconsider Ban on Oil Exploration in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea

North Slope:


National Academy of Sciences 2003 Cumulative Environmental Effects of Oil and Gas Development on Alaska’s North Slope“Effects on the Human Environment.”


Map: Oil Exploration and Development in America's Arctic

Oil Exploration on North Slope


Map: Proposed off shore Seismic, Leasing, and Drilling in Arctic Ocean

Oil Exploration on North Slope


Map: Current and Proposed Oil & Gas Leases on Alaska' North Shore

Oil Exploration on North Slope


Outer Continental Shelf:


Traditional Ecological Knowledge and OCS Fact Sheet”

The Outer Continental Shelf, Subsistence and Alaska Natives”

Subsistence lifestyle pays ultimate price of oil, gas development

Alaskan Natives Condemn Bush lifting of Presidential Withdrawal for Offshore Development in Bristol



Yukon Flats:


See and Hear the Voices of the People of Yukon Flats in Videos (Left Under Navigation)



Yukon land exchange faces new hurdle


By Rena Delbridge
Published Friday, July 3, 2009

FAIRBANKS --- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Thursday issued a decision against a controversial land exchange proposal on the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge.

The service picked the no action² alternative from a range established in environmental studies. While the move falls short of a final word, it indicates the agency¹s direction, according to a news release. A final decision is expected in early 2010.

Exchange proponent Doyon Ltd., which hoped to drill for oil and gas on lands gained through the exchange, said the decision isn¹t a real blow. New information revealed through the environmental reviews might have prompted Doyon to turn down the trade in the end, said Jim Mery, Doyon vice president for lands and resources.

The corporation is talking with investors interested in exploring for oil and gas in the area, he said.

The FWS decision was welcomed by many in communities near the refuge, where some people feared the exchange would open a pristine area to outsiders and oil and gas development. It was disappointing to others who hoped development would spur needed jobs.

I¹m very happy, on behalf of the tribe,² said First Chief Michael Peters of the Gwichyaa Zhee Gwich¹in Tribe at Fort Yukon. This means a lot to us. I commend Fish and Wildlife.

He said the Yukon Flats is a pristine place² where Natives value clean air, clean water and a traditional lifestyle living off the land. Oil and gas development brings toxins, he said, and roads would bring an influx of outsiders that could alter a remote lifestyle.

Doyon, the Interior¹s largest Native corporation, first petitioned FWS almost six years ago to swap lands. Under the proposal, Doyon would have received 110,000 acres and oil and gas rights to another 97,000 acres of refuge lands. In exchange, the refuge would have picked up at least 150,000 acres owned by Doyon within refuge boundaries. Additionally, Doyon would have traded 56,500 acres of land within the refuge selected under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, for acreage outside the refuge.

Now, Doyon will keep title to the 56,000 acres of land within the refuge, adjacent to other Doyon property.

Much of this acreage involves lands that have new oil and gas potential as a result of the U.S. Geological Survey work, Mery said.

FWS said U.S. Geological survey work in conjunction with the environmental review showed oil and gas resources might not be where originally thought. Doyon shared a large suite² of proprietary data with USGS for the study.

Mery said the work revealed more opportunities on Doyon lands, and it downgraded the potential of federal parcels.

Those factors, coupled with a much stronger oil price today compared to six or so years ago when this land exchange process started, has indeed cast doubts on whether Doyon would have gone forward with the exchange, he said.

Now, Doyon has an eye on very significant² prospects at Birch Creek, Beaver and Stevens Village, a small community about 30 miles from the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System.

Angela Ludwick is executive director of Tihteet Aii Inc., the corporation representing the Birch Creek tribe of about 200 members. She said the tribe was disappointed about the FWS decision, but it is optimistic that a partnership with Doyon could net the jobs the community needs.

We were for the development; we see that as a huge opportunity for a very poor tribe,² she said. There were no mixed feelings in Birch Creek Tribe. The people want to work; they want opportunities, they want opportunities for their children. ... But, it¹s actually working out for us.

The environmental impact statement prepared by FWS indicated prospective oil and gas resources on corporation land.

We feel very confident we can develop it very smartly and with considerations to the land and the environment, and I think us being involved will ensure that, Ludwick said.

FWS received more than 100,000 comments on a draft environmental impact statement released in January 2008. FWS spokesman Bruce Woods said most comments came from people living in villages near the refuge, but he could not provide a more detailed breakdown.

Key concerns included habitat fragmentation, negative impacts to traditional lifestyles through oil and gas development, and possible climate change in the future.

Peters said people want to keep their lands the way the are.

It's not easy out here in the Bush, but we¹re adjusting, he said, indicating a reluctance to open the area to outsiders, including sport hunters who might further deplete struggling moose populations.

According to the refuge Web site, residents of seven villages within or near the refuge use local resources for subsistence: Beaver, Birch Creek, Chalkyitsik, Circle, Fort Yukon, Stevens Village and Venetie. Some of the tribal corporations and Doyon own about 2.5 million acres of land within the refuge.


Comments on the Proposed Land Exchange, Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge, Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS)

Yukon Flats Land Exchange Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)

Yukon Flats Deal Won't add to our wealth

Doyon aims for accord on Yukon Flats swap

Voices from the Upper Yukon Flats

The Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge is a vital part of our Gwich’in culture; oil development can destroy our way of life as a people and our land!

OIL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS THREAT TO OUR NATIVE HEALTH AND WAY OF LIFE