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Alaska Bishop Lobbies Against Drilling in Arctic Refuge
By KEVIN ECKSTROM
c. 2005 Religion News Service
WASHINGTON -- The bishops of the Episcopal Church, concerned about
oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, dispatched an
emissary to the U.S. Senate with a simple message: Leave our people --
and their caribou -- alone.
Bishop Mark McDonald of Alaska said President Bush's plan to allow drilling would destroy the habitat of the native Gwich'in people, 90
percent of whom are Episcopalians.
McDonald's visit, however, was not enough to convince the Republican-led Senate to oppose drilling. Senators narrowly approved
drilling, 51-49, in a vote Wednesday (March 16).
The bishops, meeting in Navasota, Texas, had sent McDonald to Washington on Tuesday with a stern message that drilling will cause
untold damage to "this unspoiled web of life" for the Gwich'in and the
caribou herds on which they rely.
"To risk the destruction of an untouched wilderness and an ancient culture violates our theological mandate to be caretakers of creation,"
the bishops said in a statement from Texas.
McDonald came to support a Democratic amendment that would have denied Bush the $2.5 billion in drilling leases that is part of the
president's proposed 2006 budget. The House has not yet taken up the
issue, leaving drilling in Alaska far from certain.
Bush, who has made drilling in Alaska central to his energy policy, said last week that oil could be pumped "with almost no impact on land
or wildlife." Skeptics contend there is far less oil under the tundra
than supporters claim.
There are about 7,000 Gwich'in people in the United States and Canada, McDonald said, and they predominate in about a dozen of the 50
parishes in his frontier diocese.
Episcopalians have frequently been the most outspoken faith group opposed to drilling in the refuge, in part because of their connection
with the Gwich'in.
A Canadian missionary first spread the gospel among the Gwich'in in 1860 and within a decade had translated the entire Bible into the
Gwich'in language. "They are a deeply spiritual and deeply biblical
people," McDonald said.
The Gwich'in live in about 15 isolated communities along the migration paths of the 120,000-strong porcupine caribou herds. The herds
provide food and income, and drilling in northeast Alaska would disrupt
their herding and birthing grounds, McDonald said.
He argued there's an equal danger for indigenous rights for native peoples. "It's a clear case of where the environment and human rights
are both at stake," he said in an interview. "There's no hiccup of a
doubt about that."
Luci Beach, a Gwich'in and director of the Gwich'in Steering Committee, said the area is not just a pristine wilderness, but a sacred
place held in high regard in native spirituality.
"This is a blessed place we've been given -- how can we even contemplate desecrating this sacred place?" she asked.
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