Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation - Anthony E. Edwardsen, President & CEO

Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation (commonly known as UIC) was created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1972 to serve the social and economic interests of the Inupiat people from the community of Barrow, Alaska – the northernmost community in the United States.

I want to clarify that UIC is the village corporation of Barrow, one of eight villages in the Arctic Slope Region. 

UIC is currently active in supporting the oil and gas industry in Alaska.  Our family of companies employs 1,400 people worldwide with 750 of these employees in Alaska.  UIC provides scientific support, engineering, construction, logistics, marine transportation services, and regulatory consulting and compliance for the oil and gas industry.

Our member enrollment, approximately 2,574 shareholders, hold enormous regard for the Arctic Ocean and we also understand the value to our people of economic opportunity provided by oil and gas development.   We seek to balance responsible exploration and development with our customary and traditional subsistence way of life. 

One example of the balance we seek can be found in the successful bowhead whale hunts conducted by the villages of the North Slope during the past several seasons.  These hunts occurred in the some of the same areas in which Shell and other operators have conducted seismic and site clearance survey work.  Both the Beaufort and Chukchi villages were able to meet their quotas for whaling without conflict with the industry.  Opportunities for communication between whaling crews and industry were made possible by the use of marine mammal observers onboard industry vessels and by the operation of Communication and Call Centers in the villages.  These mitigation strategies resulted in successful hunts as well as success for industry in gathering data that is critical to exploration drilling.

UIC supports oil and gas development, both onshore and offshore.  In light of this, I want to share a recent policy statement from our Board of Directors:

In our interactions with the oil and gas industry, we will leverage our position to benefit the Ukpeaġvik Iñupiat Corporation Family of Companies, its shareholders, and the community.  We acknowledge the inevitability of exploration and development by the oil and gas industry and we will support exploration and development activities as long as they are done in a way that ensures:

• Protection and preservation of the Inupiat culture and subsistence lifestyle
• Economic benefit for our community
• Employment for our shareholders and their families, and
• Contract opportunities for our companies

UIC shares the interests of the North Slope Borough, as our coastal district governing body, to create a strong and growing industrial sector in the Alaskan Arctic.  We strive to develop long-term, meaningful employment opportunities for our shareholders and their descendants.  Responsible oil and gas development in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas provides these diverse employment opportunities for our people.

However, UIC also shares an interest with the North Slope Borough in protecting our Inupiat heritage and traditional way of life through local participation in project planning and implementation, including all OCS proposed activity in our region. 

We believe industry should integrate local and Traditional Knowledge with scientific knowledge to support environmentally sound and culturally sensitive activities in the Arctic.

We believe that when industry partners with the local people to share and apply this Traditional Knowledge, it will lead to preservation of our land, our resources, and our way of life.

UIC recognizes that finding balance between the goals of economic opportunity and preserving our way of life will require compromise, diligence, creative thinking, and open communications.

In addition to employment opportunities, UIC believes there should be a provision for coastal producing states to share in federal oil and gas revenues generated on the adjacent OCS.  Specifically, UIC recommends federal OCS revenues generated in Alaska should be allocated to the communities within reasonable distance to development.   These communities serve as the platforms for onshore and offshore lease activities, and must develop resources and infrastructure to support industrial development while managing potential effects of that development on the people and environment.