Alaska Politicians Should Side with Ukraine, not Politics

By Hal Shepherd

Alaska Rep. Don Young recently stated, in response to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, “Blatant disregard for other nations’ sovereignty is a glaring example of why democracies worldwide need to establish energy independence from despotic authoritarian regimes.” In fact, Rep. Young has sponsored several bills for sanctions “to send a message of zero tolerance to Putin,” including Bringing Oligarch Accountability Through Seizure (BOATS) Act, the United States-Russian Federation Seafood Reciprocity Act, and the Prohibition on Imports of Russian Oil Act. 

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On the one hand, it’s great that the Republican Party is finally attempting to rein it in after Trump called Putin “very savvy” and labeled his aggression towards Ukraine as “genius.” Young appears to recognize that, due to the continued destabilization of world oil markets thanks to unstable strongmen like Putin, it is time to stop U.S. dependence on oil imports. He says to “protect democratic ideals and U.S. long-term interests abroad, we must throw off our dependence on energy from countries who threaten us and our allies.” Thanks to this kind of pressure from both parties in Congress, president Biden recently banned oil imports from Russia to the United States.

But that’s where Young gets side-tracked. Like the rest of the Alaska political leadership, he’s using rising oil prices and diminished supply coming from Russia due to the sanctions to pressure Biden to increase domestic oil production. According to Young, “While Russian oligarchs expend their aggression on millions of innocent Ukrainians, onerous federal restrictions are placed on Alaskan resource production” including attempting “to shut down and delay projects in Alaska such as ANWR, the Willow Project, and has recently moved to close much of the National Petroleum Reserve – Alaska.”

Similarly, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has newly inspired Alaska Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, and Governor Michael Dunleavy to re-open the state’s most pristine wilderness to drilling and even called on President Biden to call a national energy emergency in order to expedite energy resource development, especially in Alaska. Like past pains at the pump, rather than the locking up of domestic oil by President Biden, the more likely cause is the GOP’s campaign to stop any efforts to reduce America’s addiction to it.

Thanks to Alaska’s political leadership, we in this state have consistently remained overly dependent on a single source of income for almost five decades. Anyone who notices that when the price of oil goes down, the Alaskan economy tanks should understand the meaning of the current economic and environmental mess we’re currently in.

Reaching once again for easy political points in a decidedly red state for example, Young proclaims, “To replace imported oil, the United States should be looking at our resources right here at home. Alaskan oil and gas can fill the void left by turning off Russian imports.” While it is hardly a coincidence that such rhetoric comes on the heels of similar announcements from the oil and gas industry, it is irresponsible for Alaskan, and other Republican leaders to continue to demand increases in domestic oil production while at the same time doing whatever they can to prevent President Biden from reducing the nation’s carbon signature.

Such a demand is particularly awkward, coming on the heels of statements by the world’s top climate scientists that we are already seeing severe effects of climate change in the United States and that we must start reducing climate emissions if we are to avoid a global catastrophe. These dire warnings are contained in a report released by the United Nations in early March “that shows how widespread and severe the effects of human-caused global warming are becoming around the world, and how difficult it will be for societies and ecosystems to deal with this if nations do not drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

This may leave any sane person scratching their head as to why Republicans in Congress, like the Alaska Delegation, are obstructing Biden’s attempts to reduce carbon emissions and possibly prevent the collapse of civilization as we know it. The simple fact is that in their campaign to win the 2022 congressional and 2024 presidential elections, Republicans in Congress are determined to make Biden’s domestic agenda fail by obstructing any legislation he proposes, regardless of the cost.

Finally, it adds insult to injury that in his March 8 Washington Update e-mail, Rep. Young continues to spout the Delegation’s rhetoric that high “gas prices also drive up the cost of food and other necessities. Many of our friends in the Lower 48 have no idea how expensive life can be, especially in our remote communities and Alaska Native villages.” This rhetoric glosses over the fact that Alaska Native communities are the hardest hit by a warming climate. Warming is occurring at a rate three times faster in the Arctic than anywhere else on the planet. Coastal Native villages bear the brunt of that change - change which is only exacerbated by drilling in the Arctic as Young demands.

This includes the impacts on local communities from gas leaks and other toxic releases from drilling, including a recent leak that cause the evacuation of one of the North Slope’s largest oil fields. The leak, which occurred at ConocoPhillips’ Alpine oil field and was discovered on March 11, was still leaking as this article goes to print. Residents of Nuiqsut, an Inupiat village of about 490 people located about seven miles south of the oil field, have reported respiratory problems along with smelling gas at the time of the leak.

Similarly, the Environmental Protection Agency recently fined the Hilcorp company $180,500 for taking too long to inspect and repair dozens of leaks in Cook Inlet and on the North Slope. The leaks, which are among nearly 50 violations, occurred at the Beaver Creek Unit facility near Nikiski in 2019 and 2020 and included methane – a major greenhouse gas.

Finally, because of the impacts on fish and wildlife that they have relied on for millennia, the roughly 8,000 Gwich’in people, whose traditional territory is spread across remote northeastern Alaska into Canada, have been conducting a 40-year battle to prevent oil and gas drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. Contrary to Congressman Young’s claim that President Biden is stalling the process, it’s primarily thanks to the Gwich’in and other tribal who are desperate to preserve their way of life and resist colonialization that attempts to drill in the biologically rich coastal plain of ANWR have, so far, resulted in failure.

As conflict and instability abroad send oil and gas prices skyrocketing at home and the catastrophic impacts of climate change lock-in, the need to accelerate our transition to clean energy couldn’t be more apparent. It’s time for Congress to address the real crisis that is already here and will only worsen – especially for frontline communities such as Alaska Natives who are impacted first and worst by the climate crisis. Alaska’s political leaders need to concentrate on helping Ukraine and not cause distractions by promoting opportunistic strategies that continue to line the pockets of oil and gas companies and exacerbate the climate crises.