A ConocoPhillips development seven miles away, on the edge of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, has been a godsend for this village of run-down prefab houses, roaring snowmobiles and old whaling boats near the Colville River Delta.
While other Alaska Natives were struggling last year with soaring fuel prices and had trouble affording food, about 170 Nuiqsut families collected dividends of nearly $30,000 each from the native Kuukpik Corp., which owns land on which the project was built.
Nearly everyone in the village of 400 also collected $1,523 last month from Arctic Slope Regional Corp., which represents Alaska Natives across the North Slope.
(That is on top of the $2,069 Permanent Fund dividend check distributed to all Alaskans last year as their share of the state's invested oil wealth. The government also sweetened the deal with a $1,200 bonus to help compensate for high fuel prices.)
In exchange for the village's blessing to expand its Alpine project, ConocoPhillips has promised to build a road connecting Nuiqsut to the oil site and nearby hunting grounds.
The company also is extending a natural gas pipeline to Nuiqsut, one of the few villages in Alaska that will have gas heat, and is paying $250,000 in compensation for any impacts to hunting and fishing.
"We recognized that development is occurring and that there are benefits to be had," Kuukpik Chief Executive Lanston Chinn said.
"The reality was . . . if oil and gas development is going to proceed, what do we want out of it?"
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kim.murphy@latimes.com
