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The Arctic Refuge; The Last Frontier

The Akaka Bill for Native Hawaiian sovereignty could reach the Senate floor this year - at the cost of oil drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge.

by Jack Kelly

(Writer Jack Kelly, a regular contributor to Hawai'i Island Journal, is also Hawai'i Field Consultant for the Alaska Wilderness League as well as Chairman of the Hawai'i State Chapter of Sierra Club, both active members of the Alaska Coalition. He recently helped organize a speaking tour to Hawai'i by Native Alaskan opponents of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.)

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Senator Akaka's push to implement the "Native Hawaiian Recognition Bill," now known as the Akaka/Stevens Bill, has similarly called on the Hawai'i delegation's close ties to Alaska.

The Akaka/Stevens bill would begin the process for Native Hawaiians to be recognized by the U.S. government as an indigenous people. It would establish the beginnings of a framework for Native Hawaiian governance. That government would then be empowered to negotiate with the United States and the State of Hawai'i over the disposition of Native Hawaiian assets. But some Native Hawaiians fear that the Akaka Bill will lead to a Hawaiian model reminiscent of Alaska's native corporations.

Established in 1971 as means of settling Native Alaskan land claims, the corporations manage huge tracts of "native" land for profit - sometimes to the detriment of subsistence villages and often to the profit of oil companies and of politicians, including Stevens.

Among other allegations, Neubauer and Cooper note that Stevens has a very close relationship with Arctic Slope Regional Corp., the Inupiat "owned" corporation the manages the trust obligations given to it by the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). Arctic Slope is the sole tenant of a building owned by Stevens, paying $6 million a year in rent on a twenty-year lease. Arctic Slope stands to gain immensely if exploration is allowed in the refuge.

"Arctic Slope is no ordinary tenant," claim Neubauer and Cooper. "A $1-billion-a-year business, it is the largest Alaskan-owned company in the state. More important, the company - along with 12 other regional Native corporations - was created through legislation the senator took the lead in drafting. And it has prospered through his continuing efforts in the Senate."

Although Senate Indian Affairs Committee Chairman John McCain, (R-Ariz.) recently came out in clear opposition to the Akaka/Stevens Bill, Frank Oliveri of the Honolulu Advertiser's Washington Bureau reported on January 12 that there will be hearings early this year and a Senate vote on federal recognition of Native Hawaiians.

"The clarifying comments from McCain's office came after a meeting between McCain and Inouye late Monday (January 10) when the committee chairman's position was discussed," reported Oliveri, who also noted, "Late last year, Inouye and Akaka secured promises from Senator's Frist, Kyl and Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., then chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, that the bill would get its day on the Senate floor before Aug. 7, 2005.

Oliveri reported that last October Kyl and Domenici pledged on the Senate floor to, "ensure that the Akaka bill would be considered by this body.... In return, Inouye and Akaka promised not to push for the bill's passage as a rider on a massive spending bill late last year and also to support 32 bills pending in the energy committee. Those bills from Domenici's committee passed by voice vote Oct. 10, 2004."

Senator McCain's deft sidestep on this issue keeps that deal intact.
There seems to be little question about the ties between the two Democratic Senators' allegiance in regards to energy-related bills, specifically any bill to open drilling in the Arctic Refuge, and Republican Stevens' support of the Akaka/ Stevens initiative.

"On Monday, January 10, 2005 the Interior Department began advertising for a program analyst to staff the federal office of Native Hawaiian Relations within the U.S. Interior Department," reported Oliveri. "The office - approved by the Senate last year - is expected to oversee the legal relationship between Native Hawaiians and the U.S. government. The move is an important first step in the recognition process."

The Journal first reported on the relationship between the Alaska native corporations and the Akaka Bill in "Natives, Senators and Oil" by Keala Ann Kelly (HIJ 10/16/03.) That story is archived at www.hawaiiislandjournal.com.

hawaiiislandjournal.com

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.