Alaska corporations split on ANWR revenues

Several Alaska native corporations say revenue should be shared between them if the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve is opened to oil drilling.

The Arctic Slope Regional Corp. claims that it has exclusive claims on revenue from ANWR under an agreement with Interior Secretary James Watt during the Reagan administration, the Anchorage Daily News reported. But an earlier agreement calls for sharing of oil revenues because some corporations have greater oil and mineral resources than others.

Drilling in the refuge is still uncertain. A provision that would have opened up the refuge was removed from a budget bill in the House of Representatives because of opposition from moderate Republicans, and a compromise remains to be worked out between the House and Senate.

While delegates to last month's Alaska Native Federation convention decided not to discuss the issue in order to present a united front on drilling in the refuge, the issue is now coming up. Chris McNeil, president of the Sealaska Corp., recently called on other regions to push for the application of the original Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

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