Alaska Inter-Tribal Council : Advocating for Alaska Tribal Governments

Current Events

We will try to keep this page updated with articles relating to the mission of Alaska Inter-Tribal Council. If you find anything you would like included, please send us an email

Monday, 17 May 2010
• Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski plans to block regulations of Climate Change inducing polution
• The United Nations is warning that in 40 years fish will cease to exist in the Oceans.

Saturday, 15 May 2010
• Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski Blocked a Move to Raise Oil Spill Liability Payments: Many communities stand to be impacted by the environmental destruction caused by accidental oil spills.

Wednesday, 12 May 2010
• From Economist Dean Baker at Beat the Press: "The Deficit Problem Is Not “We, the People,” It is “You, the Incompetent Elite”.
  The deficit hawks tell us we can’t fix our health care system. What they actually mean is that they don’t want to confront the powerful interest groups that cause the United States to pay two or three times as much per person – with no obvious benefit – as people in other wealthy countries.
• Well-blowout preventer had numerous problems. A House energy-panel investigation found that the blowout preventer that failed to stop an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico had a dead battery in its control pod, leaks in its hydraulic system, a "useless" test version of a key component and a cutting tool that wasn't strong enough to shear through steel joints in the well pipe and stop the flow of oil.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010
• LA FOURCHE PARISH, La. Long-suffering tribe fears oil may strike final blow, The native Houma people, who have long relied on fishing and trapping in the marshlands of Louisiana, are threatened by the incoming oil slick from the "Gulf Oil Spill".

Friday, March 5th 2010
• MEXICO CITY, - Amidst allegations that Canadian mining companies operating in Latin America have been complicit in the murders and harassment of activists, several positive developments in Canada are seen as a source of hope that firms may begin to be held accountable on human rights and environmental questions.

Thursday, February 4th 2010
• Nicaragua’s titling of native lands marks crucial step for indigenous rights. An independent United Nations human rights expert has praised the Nicaraguan Government for giving the indigenous Awas Tingni community the title to its traditional lands, marking the culmination of a decades-long struggle by the group to gain recognition and protection of its ancestral territory.

Thursday, January 21th 2010
• After many great social improvements in Bolivia, President Evo Morales is to be inaugurated as spiritual as well as political leader of Bolivia. You can keep track of developments in Bolivia at the Bolivia Rising Blog

Sunday, January 17th 2010
• Venezuela Sends Needed Gasoline and Diesel to Haiti. In response to severe gasoline shortages that have plagued Haiti in the wake of the devastating earthquake that struck the island nation on January 12, President Hugo Chavez announced that Venezuela would provide Haiti with all the gasoline and diesel that it needs.

Saturday, January 16th 2010
• 2 Alaska native villages appeal water discharge permit at Teck's Red Dog mine. "This new permit is a license to pollute," said Enoch Adams of Kivalina.

Friday, January 15th 2010
• Secretary Locke declares a commercial fishing disaster for communities along the Yukon river.

Monday, January 11th 2010
• An article explains how Somali Pirates have improved the fishing by scaring off commercial poachers.

Wednsday, December 23rd 2009
• An article from The Guardian explains how China hijacked the Copenhagen Summit and used its allies to blame the west and condemn many tribes and nations to extinction.

Friday, December 18th 2009
• Latest news with the Caribou conspiracy in Tikigaq. Our Inupiaq Brothers & Sisters in Greenland News have done a front page article in Siku News

Friday, December 18th 2009
• A leaked early version of the Copenhagen Cop 15 Agreement can be read here

Thursday, December 17th 2009
• Friend of the Alaskan Tribes Evo Morales spoke to Democracy Now in Copenhagen
• Sioux Tribe fails to block IRS auction of reservation land "For decades, the land was lived upon and used by members of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe," according to the lawsuit, which maintains that "a plethora of federal laws" protect such land and that it should not be sold."

Thursday, December 10th 2009
• AITC Executive Council Member Faith Gemmil led a march to the US Embassy in Copenhagen to protest the United States Energy Industry

Tuesday, December 8th 2009
• Gwitchin Elder Sarah James is in Copenhagen for the climate change summit. Her message was heard on the International National Program "Democracy Now"

Tuesday, November 24th 2009
• United States Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has announced oil and gas leases for the interior region will be sold.
• The EPA has granted $160,000 too the Alaska Department of Conservation to help facilitate government to government consultation This money will likely flow to the ANCSA corporations as the state fails to recognize and respect the sovereign Tribal governments.
• An article on celebrating Native American Heritage Day
• Venezuela continues to prepare for war with Columbia

Monday, November 23rd 2009
• Waste water treatment issues have recently been brought up as a national issue, with pressure growing for increased federal funding for upgrading wastewater treatment systems nationwide. As Alaska's Tribal people will know Anchorage's wastewater treatment system is out of date and pouring millions of gallons of toxic chemicals into the Cook Inlet

Tuesday, November 18th 2009
• Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Tuesday stressed the importance of involving women in the process of tackling the challenges of global climate change.

Tuesday, November 17th 2009
• Venezuelan Ambassador Bernardo Alvarez a close friend of the Alaskan Tribes has an article on the Columbia Military bases published in The Hill

November 2nd 2009
• Alaska Tribes look to Venezuela for International Voice published in Alaska Dispatch

Friday, October 30th 2009
• Venezuelan Diplomat Promises Fuel for Alaska Alaska Public Radio Network (APRN Link)

Tuesday, October 27th 2009
• Article on Venezuelan Ambassadors visit from the censored news.
• Alaska is a Disaster Rob Rosenfeld Article in Indian Country Today

Monday, October 26th 2009
• Alaska Dispatch article on Anchorage's primitive waste water treatment system Anchorage has failed to update it's waste water treatment system and is pouring toxic materials into Cook Inlet causing harm to the local wildlife.

Thursday, October 22th 2009
• Interior proposes massive habitat protections for Polar Bear Obama administration today proposed protecting more than 200,000 square miles in Alaska as critical habitat for the polar bear...

Tuesday, October 20th 2009
• UAF professor has grant pulled after expressing controversial views "I've been very critical of bad practices and the irresponsible behavior of the oil industry for years in Alaska," Professor Steiner said.

Monday, October 19th 2009
• The Seventh Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) Summit concluded on Saturday in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean signed a final declaration that supports the legitimate government of Honduras, creates a new regional currency and calls for respect for Mother Earth.
  

Thursday, October 15th 2009
• NOAA Head Says Offshore Oil Plans Should be Reined In

Tuesday, September 15th 2009
• Lawsuit challenges tribal status (UPDATE: Judge tosses case)
• Activists drape Niagara Falls with banner to protest tar-sands oil
• Shell Halts Mining as Activists Protest Oil Sands.

Friday, September 11th 2009
• German Ships Blaze Arctic Trail. New shipping routes have the potential to drastically effect the Northwest Passage.

Thursday, September 10th 2009
• The legal battle between indigenous communities in Ecuador and oil giant Chevron is a fight sixteen years in the making.

Friday, August 28th 2009
• Global Exchange has a full report from their delegation to Honduras Online. This report is highly suggested reading.

Thursday, July 30th 2009
• A Coalition has "Corporate War on Alaska's Salmon"
• The IRS has outlined their planned allocation for Tribal Economic Development Bonds
• The United States Court of Appeals has held up leases for Offshore Oil and Gas leases in the Chukchi Sea
• A world wide group of Indigenous Peoples threatened by Climate Change, held a global summit this past week in San Francisco.
• An Alaskan Cruise ship has struck a Whale
• The Economist has an excellent article on the Chilean farmed Salmon industry.
• Enough Yukon King Salmon have made it to Canada to fulfill treaty agreements for the first time in 6 years
• The worlds largest caterer has banned 69 species of fish from threatened or damaging fisheries. The group plans to continue serving both Alaskan Salmon and Pollack.

Tuesday, July 21st 2009
• The Bolivia Confederation to Indigenous Peoples has voted to back Evo Morales
• Canada is threatening to complain to the WTO over the European Union ban on imported Seal products. Canadian Chefs are now increasingly featuring Seal to support the Canadian Seal Hunters.
• The Alaska Daily News has photos of the flooding in Russian Mission earlier this fall.

Wednesday, July 1st 2009
• Attacks by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, a militant indigenous peoples movement, have drastically cut Shell's Nigerian Oil Production and raised oil prices. In response to the situation, a report has blamed Shell for "Environmental and Humanitarian damage" in the Niger Delta Region. Shell has replaced their CEO, in part to deal with the situation in Nigeria, yet many are still skeptical that appointing a new CEO will do anything to improve the situation. Despite Shell making an estimated $600 Billion from Nigeria's oil, the article states:
  

  "The cumulative effect of 50 years of oil exploration, extraction and spills is that many people in the Niger Delta have to drink, cook with, and wash in polluted water; they have to eat contaminated fish – if they are lucky enough to still be able to find fish – and farm on spoiled land. After oil spills the air reeks of pollutants. Many have been driven into poverty, and because they can't make Shell accountable for its actions there is enormous distrust between the group and local people."

  The Nigerian Government in response to the crisis has offered amnesty to a jailed rebel leader. The Alaskan Inter Tribal Council supports the sovereignty of Indigenous Peoples and their rights to control the development of their ancestral lands. AITC has frequently and consistently supported Tribes hoping to fight development they feel would be harmful to their traditional ways of living.
  

• State Troopers are on their way to Marshall to investigate subsistence fisherman due to the reports that they exercised their inherent fishing rights. Meanwhile the state is announcing the closure of numerous Mat-Su Valley streams, while a battle is brewing over proposed changes to the size of gillnets along the lower Yukon
• The Village of Galena is working with Toshiba to build a nuclear power plant on the Yukon. Alaska Inter Tribal Council opposes Nuclear power in Alaska and urges concerned readers to email Galena with your comments.
• The population of Long Tailed Ducks looks to be declining
• A cheap fast food chain will be promoting what they claim to be "wild" and "sustainable" Alaskan pollock.
• An Emmonak Villager is demanding apology from Sarah Palin
• The US Department of Agriculture has begun belatedly announcing state Rural Development Directors
• The University of New Hampshire has published a study on rural worker's non traditional hours

  
  

Tuesday, June 30th 2009
• A group of fisherman from the village of Marshall have exersized their subsistence rights and fished for Kings in the Yukon the state's closure of the fishery.
• Sarah Palin is being accused of lying about the subsistence fishing situation in Emmonak. Her rural advisor, Palin and her rural advisor John Moller claim that "half of the people in Emmonak have met subsistence needs." Despite contrary evidence coming from people talking to those in Emmonak. The highlight is from Denis Zaki, (via AKMuckraker:
  

  Half of Emmonak residents do NOT have their subsistance quota, and according to nearly all of the residents I've spoken to, they have no idea if they can get their quota. Tribal leaders are angry at this false statement by John Moller.

  The Governor has released a video they claim supports Governor Palin's statement. However, People have already begun to a notice many flaws in the Governor's evidence. AITC will continue to follow and post any updates as part of our advocacy for Tribe's rights to subsistence.

• Exxon Mobile will pay $470 million in interest on the Valdez Oil Spill judgment.
• The Supreme Court has rejected Chevron's appeal to decide weather the oil company can be held responsible in a $27 million law suit in Ecuador for environmental restoration. Four Senators have asked for the US to remain uninvolved.

  
  

Monday, June 29th 2009
• Commercial Fisherman in Emmonak are getting the opportunity to fish for chum salmon
• A Military Coup D'Etat has taken place in Honduras toppling President Zelaya who is currently exiled in Costa Rica. The Civic Council of Indigenous and Popular Organizations has condemned the coup. along with many other world leaders. For further information check out Al Giordano's coverage or these potential scenarios from boz. On a brighter not both Felix Salmon and Matt Yglesias discuss how Latin American Coup's are becoming increasingly rare.
• The New York Times has an article discussing the Enviornmental Risks of Arctic Shipping.
• The International Whaling Commission meeting ended without any progress. Many are deeply unhappy.

  
  

Wednesday, June 24th 2009
• United States Senator Claire McCaskill has called for an investigation into ANCSA corporation profits. As the head of the Senate's Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight, she has called for hearings to begin in advance of July 16th. Please contact her office with your concerns at this link.
• James Stotts from Barrow, has been appointed to Chairman of the Inuit Circumpolar Council.
• North Pacific Fishery Management Council will for the first time take input from Alaska Native communities.
• There continues to be support at the International Whaling Commission for Alaskan Subsistence Whale Hunts. The conference is currently taking place in Madeira, Portugal.

  
  

• Protests are being discussed in response to the strict limits placed on fishing for Yukon King Salmon
• President Obama has reinstated $50 million in funding for salmon recovery.
• 2,000 Coho Salmon have been killed in a , Canadian chemical spill.

Tuesday, June 23rd 2009
We've been busy working on an EECBG Grant Application to help provide some funds to help create more efficient energy systems for the Tribes that have signed up. None the less we've found quite a few good things to share this weekend.
• Whales have been all over the news lately, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has decided to extend reform talks that began a year ago. The Japanese are looking to gain commercial quotas for coastal villages with a history of whaling. Denmark (representing Greenland) is looking to resume hunting Humpback Whales
• Staying on the topic of Whale, NPR released a video of Sperm Whales stealing black cod from long lines near Sitka.
• The Supreme Court has rulled to allow A Mine to dump slurry into a lake near Juneau. The Alaska Inter-Tribal Council disagrees with the ruling, as we have long supported clean water in
• The recent conflict in Peru (which is excellently explained in this article) has left the countries president Alan Garcia feeling intense political pressure. Many groups are complaining that despite the event being "the worst crisis of Garcia's presidency" it's failing to get the attention it deserves.
• An Indigenous Govenor has been assassinated in Columbia.
• The Great Lakes will be receiving increased funding for the cleaning of contaminated sediments.
• The Bureau of Land Management has begun transferring lands to Native Village Corporations.
• A bill for $50 Million Funding Salmon recovery has been blocked by leaders in the House of Representatives.
• A Letter: Yukon fishermen suffer, pollock industry goes unpunished

Thursday, June 18th 2009
Although we've been pre-occupied the last couple of days watching events in Iran, the following links have been catching our interest.
• Alaska Communities to receive surplus computers from the US Senate
• Alaska experiences the largest year over year decline in GDP of any state
• Early Walrus Count Results for the Berring and Chukchi seas are being reported
• A new virus being found in Kachemak Bay Sea Otters
• Denmark is requesting over 50 Humpback Whales for subsistence whaling by the indigenous people of Greenland
• This year's Canadian seal hunt ends with record low numbers

Wednesday, June 17th 2009

• Exxon Mobil has been ordered by a Federal Appeals Judge to pay interest on the money the Supreme Court ordered them to pay a year ago. Unfortunately, there is word this might not be the last appeal by Exxon Mobil, with their spokesman allegedly having said the company "will review the opinion before commenting further.”
• There have been a couple of articles about the village of Point Lay recently caught their first whale in over years. AITC would like to congratulate Point Lay on the successful hunt.
• The Department of Education has given $3.5 million in 14 grants to Indigenous Schools
• The Peruvian government looks set to revoke a law allowing the development of land held by Peru's indigenous peoples.
• Indigenous people in Bangladesh are fighting to stop settlers from stealing their traditional lands.
• In Columbia Indigenous authorities plan to remove settlers growing coca on their ancestral lands

Thursday, June 11th 2009
• Peruvian Officials Suspend Development of Indigenous Lands.
  Earlier this week Alaska Inter Tribal Council signed a statement supporting. the indigenous peoples of Peru in their protests of the proposed industrial development of their lands. We are happy to announce that as of today, the Peruvian Congress has suspended the decrees which opened the indigenous lands to development. We are extremely happy to report this news.
• The House of Representatives is considering a bill that would allow Native Hawaiians to form their own governments.
• Charity gives Computers to Indigenous Children in Australia

Wednesday, June 10th 2009
• Nunat.net Project In the Tundra Drums
• Art C. Ivanoff Letter in the Dutch Harbor Fisherman
  Concerning Native Representation on North Pacific Fisheries Management Council
• Yukon Flooding Report From Eagle
  Pictures Included
• Kenai Borough Plans Funding for Beluga Research