Quyanaq (“thank you”) Mr. Rex Rock Sr., for your editorial, “Alaska Wilderness League Disregards Alaskans.” For too long, outside special interest groups have used Alaska and its resources to fuel their fundraising campaigns with no regard for the interests of Alaska or Alaskans. The latest example of this is the environmentalists’ shameless distortion of Alaska’s Arctic offshore energy potential. But the harm these environmentalists cause through their campaigns is real, which is to stunt the growth of Alaska’s rural and urban economies. Alaska’s Arctic offshore energy resources can be responsibly explored and developed, and the Inupiat communities that have for thousands of years made the Arctic their home know this.
It is truly disheartening to have the future and sustainability of our North Slope villages jeopardized for the sake of fundraising campaigns by outside special interests.
Anthony Edwardsen,
President and CEO,
Ukpeagvik Iñupiat Corporation