For many years, a Native family suspected a major oil company was shortchanging them for using a strategic piece of North Slope land to pump billions of dollars worth of oil.
The company, BP, as well as the federal agency that oversees Indian land holdings, had long rejected the claims of the heirs of Andrew Oenga, an Inupiat who held the 40-acre allotment on the edge of the rich Prudhoe Bay oil field.
Recently, however, the family struck what could be a costly blow against BP.
A federal judge in September ruled BP, using a drill site on Oenga's land, had been pumping oil from a Prudhoe-area oil pool known as Lisburne in violation of its lease.
As a result of the ruling, the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs reversed its prior position and on Jan. 8 sent BP a stern letter:
"BP and its contractual partners are hereby directed to immediately cease utilizing the leased premises to produce oil or gas" from Lisburne, the letter says.
In a written reply to the BIA on Friday, BP attorney Joe Perkins said the Lisburne wells were shut down last October, after the judge's ruling, and the wells won't be restarted without a court order or the consent of Oenga's heirs.
The Oenga family and their attorney are smiling now.
When the oil companies started their negations with the native people of Alaska they took full advantage of the naivete and language barrier that existed and crafted deals, which on paper looked perfectly reasonable, but in fact were almost as repugnant as the story of Manhattan being purchased from the Canarsee Delawares for a handful of beads by the Dutch settlers.
How much SHOULD the family of Andrew Oenga have received for this valuable real estate?
While the family has received perhaps $1 million in rent over the years, the real payoff should have been something on the order of $80 million, according to their lawyer's calculations.
Mr. Oenga spoke NO English and relied on an interpreter to help him negotiate a fair deal. One has to wonder, who paid for that interpreter.
I truly believe that this is the year that the plight of the Alaska native people is revealed to the world at large.
For those of you who have been following the story of the Emmonak crisis you are already better informed then most of the world. But you just wait. Dennis Zaki has landed in Bethel, and in this first e-mail to the Alaska progressive bloggers provided the following information.
Just got settled in here in Bethel. Blowing snow and freezing.
Just made it in before they closed the airport.
I may stay here until Tuesday then on to Emmonak.
I have a couple of interviews already lined up for tomorrow.
Just left the Bethel grocery store.
Milk - 9.89 a gallon.
A gallon of liquid Tide - 29.79.
16oz bottle of Mug rootbeer - $2.65
Subway foot long $10.89
Bland hotel room for one tired traveller - $168
Bethel is a hub city in rural Alaska. In other words a place where people from other cities and villages travel to for medical needs, dental care, and to catch a plane to Anchorage or Fairbanks. It is probably as close to a city as you can get in that area. So you have to know that if the prices for food are this high in Bethel they will be even higher in Emmonak and the other villages.
When Dennis arrives back with his footage of these villages we will make sure that the visitors to our blogs get a chance to see exactly what life is like out there in the REAL Alaska. And believe me you will be shocked. I am confident that Dennis will be able to sell some of his amazing footage to larger media outlets as well and that this story will go national. It is well past time that the world was made aware of how marginalized and oppressed these amazing people have become since the "Gussak's" came and changed their world forever.
Until then I hope you will join me in sending Dennis Zaki our prayers and wishes for a fruitful and safe trip to the villages of rural Alaska and back.
That is sad, I knew it would be overpriced but I had no idea it would be that much.
ReplyDeleteIt's not only sad it is criminal I would think. I know the shipping is pricey but geeze it can't be that much can it??
I always worry when I consider giving some of my wretchedly small paycheck in service to others that my donation will be syphoned off somehow to "administrative costs" or to the salary of the COO of a non-profit corporation.
ReplyDeleteNot THIS time. This time I responded immediately and even by a twist of fate I was able to talk to Nick Tucker directly by phone. It was an incredibly enlightening experience for me. I am personally invested now in the plight of Emmonak, even though I live in Washington state, and while my two contributions so far have been small (unfortunately by necessity), I feel I have a big stake in the outcome. I will follow Dennis Zaki's journey with great interest and with a sense of sharing his discoveries along with him.
Thank you, Gryphen, for your blog and the service you yourself provide to those of us who wonder how we can do some good even with little paychecks.
I have a feeling I know what Sarah Palin is going to talk about in her satellite interview with Glenn Beck on FauxNEWS at 5 PM.
ReplyDeleteI'll bet she's going to have a blockbuster announcement about how she's personally overseen the rescue effort directed towards the Emmonak village, how she's mobilized the citizens of Alaska, how she's brought this to the attention of the Wasilla Bible Church and they've led the way for so many church-based charitable groups...yada, yada, yada.
And Glenn Beck will lap it up. No questions like, "Have you talked with these folks, Sarah?" or "How did this come to your attention?"
And no one -- PARTICULARLY no one at FauxNEWS -- will be discussing the interview objectively or with a counter-POV.
There won't be anyone there who knows better.
I know, I'm a little cynical -- not just skeptical, CYNICAL. The Sarah Palin I came to know during the national election campaign is the one I expect to do such things.