The winters in Alaska are not what they used to be. All across Alaska, people are reporting distinct changes in the weather, and the anecdotal evidence is backed by science. While Alaska suffers the first effects of climate change, the oil industry is trying to extend operations into the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge – an issue which on which Alaskans are divided. This week, Earth Report visits the largest state in the USA, where the threats and opportunities posed by the oil industry are thrown into the sharpest possible relief.

Cashing In

The oil industry in Alaska generates about US$50 million every year and the Alaskan people are, on average, America's wealthiest citizens. 80% of their income comes from oil and gas. The oil has brought jobs and wealth; last year every Alaskan citizen received a dividend of over US$1800 from the oil profits. But many want more - better local amenities, better education for the children, better healthcare…

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)

North America's largest oil field is at Prudhoe Bay on the North coast of Alaska. 95% of this area has been licenced for exploration. President Bush supports a plan to open up the last 5%; the coastal plains which make up Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

The ANWR is 7.7 million hectares in size and has been nicknamed 'America's Serengeti' for its diverse wildlife. The 600,000 hectares of coastal plain is referred to as the biological heart of the wildlife refuge by conservationists, and has been protected since 1960. Oil companies call it 'Area 1002' - this is where they wish to drill.

The coastal plain is not only the nation’s most important polar bear denning habitat; it is also home to wolves, musk oxen, grizzly bears and millions of migratory birds. In addition, it is a critical calving ground for the largest caribou herd in North America.

Arctic Power

Also supporting the plan is Arctic Power - a lobbying group funded by the oil industry and local interests. Even though the US Senate recently voted against the President's plans, Arctic Power still maintains the development is 'inevitable'.

The US currently imports over 60% of their oil from foreign sources. A favourite argument of the pro-drilling lobby is that the US should become self-sufficient in oil. This argument has become especially vocal after the events of September 11th.

Only 256 people actually live in the ANWR. These Inupiat native people living in the coastal village of Kaktovik subsist on caribou, seals, musk ox and whales. A local government survey revealed that 80% of the population are in favour of the oil industry's plans to expand drilling into the ANWR. The oil is benefiting their community. It pays for local amenities. The Inupiat believe it will create more jobs for their young people and bring in money to pay for better teachers and better healthcare.

The Caribou Question

The Gwich’in Indians of Arctic Village three hundred kilometres south on the edge of the ANWR are campaigning to protect the wildlife refuge from oil development. The Gwich’in people's lifestyle is very much connected to the caribou which they hunt for food and clothing. Every year 130,000 caribou converge on the coastal plains to give birth to their calves. This is exactly where the oil companies want to drill.

The coastal plains are uniquely important to calf survival because pregnant caribou require an area with few predators and good foraging possibilities. If oil operations were to displace the herd, they would be forced into areas where they would have lower calf survival and higher death rates. A decrease in caribou directly impacts on the lifestyle of the Gwich'in Indians.

The oil lobbyists concede oil operations may cause a shift in the habitat of the  caribou herd, but claim that there is no scientific evidence that the herd is going to be hurt. Oil lobby promotional videos present caribou grazing happily next to pipelines. Even so, a US Geological Survey mapmaker who drew a map showing clearly that the area proposed for new drilling coincides with the area where the caribou have their calves soon found himself out of a job…

Warming Up

All over Alaska people report major changes in the climate, directly affecting their lifestyle. The weather is getting milder, lakes are drying up, and the wildlife is disappearing. Traditional ways of life are challenged.

Warmer temperatures are causing the Arctic permafrost to melt. Permafrost is permanently frozen ground up to a kilometre thick. About 80% of Alaska is built on it. The last time it melted was before the last ice age. But over the last thirty years this icy layer has warmed by about one and a half degrees centigrade, causing havoc as the ground beneath the main Alaskan city of Fairbanks melts. Permafrost is ideal terrain on which to build, but rising temperatures are turning it into a soft slurry-like material. The results are subsidence, collapsing buildings and 'roller-coaster' roads. New houses now come with adjustable legs. Repairing permafrost damage is costing Alaskans about $35 million dollars a year.

Snowball Effect

Anecdotal evidence and changing lifestyles are backed up by scientists at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks.

Professor Gunter Weller, a climate change scientists, explains why global warming is hitting higher latitudes harder: as the climate warms, the melting of snow, ice and permafrost creates greater heat, which in turn melts more snow.

According to the Alaska Climate Research Centre, temperatures are rising about ten times more quickly than the rest of the world - since the 1960s, the winter average has risen by 4 degrees centigrade.

Professor Gunter Weller fears that unless we review our dependence on fossil fuel the climate situation will only get worse.

On Thin Ice

Warmer temperatures are also affecting the Inupiat living in the village of Shishmaref. Living on a small island off Alaska’s west coast, they are locked in by sea ice for seven months of the year. Their lifestyle isn't just adapted to, but truly depends on the Arctic cold. Hunting, for instance, can only take place when the sea ice is thick and solid.

Climate scientists calculate that global warming has melted the sea ice by up to 40% since the 1960s. The ice freezes later in the years, and when it does its not as thick as it used to. This is making it harder and more dangerous for the Inupiat to hunt for seals, walrus and other animals - the main source of food in the winter months.

With less sea ice to protect it, the village is becoming more and more vulnerable to the increasingly violent weather - a direct result of climate change. Storms are getting more frequent, winds are getting stronger, large waves are eroding the shoreline and water getting higher. Over the last forty years the villagers estimate they have lost about 1500 feet of land. More storms are expected and the village is now making plans to relocate inland to higher ground.

Any Alternatives?

But is pumping more and more oil really the only option ?

Professor Gunter Weller believes one strategy would be to get the US automobile industry to produce more energy efficient vehicles. Sport Utility Vehicles or SUVs are popular with Americans but they spew out 30% more carbon monoxide and 75% more nitrogen oxides than ordinary cars, and they waste 33% more petrol than ordinary cars. More energy efficient SUVs would save as much energy in three years as new oil fields in the ANWR would ever produce, according to Weller. (Arctic Power, however, claim that the ANWR could produce up to 1.5 million barrels a day for up to 30 years.) Globally, cars, and transport in general, account for more than 20% of the world's carbon dioxide emissions - and that proportion is growing rapidly.

Some villages, including Arctic Village, are investigating cleaner energy options, such as solar power. Solar power is not only less expensive than diesel fuel, it is also completely non-polluting.

Killing Kyoto

The US government does not share the concern over climate change. Under President Bush, the US  pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement to reduce the effects of climate change by decreasing dependency on fossil fuels. Amongst other things it proposes to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 5% from the 1990 level by 2008-12.

While the US government turns its back on environmental problems even within its own borders, the average US citizen continues to cause the emission of twice as much carbon dioxide as the average European.