Political Quotes

“I wonder if I could enter into a colloquy with my friend from Connecticut. The Senator from Alaska would inquire whether the Senator from Connecticut has ever been invited up to the area by the Native people of Alaska and the residents of Kaktovik who are in a position where they have 95,000 acres of their own land. They have the village of Kaktovik, and they don't even have the authority to drill for natural gas to heat their homes. I noted in the presentation from the Senator there was no reference to the interest of the people who live in the area. And for his edification, we have pictures of those communities and those children and the hopes and aspirations of those individual Alaskans who are looking for a better way of life, looking for alternative jobs, better health standards, and better education, and it seems to me that we ought to have some concern for their livelihood. They support opening this area. Yet all the emphasis seems to be on the environmental issues associated with ANWR. It appears in almost every presentation we have heard on the other side of this issue that the needs of the people are overlooked. This is a picture of the town hall in Kaktovik. We have children on a snow machine and a bicycle. The point of these pictures is that there are real people living there. There is very little consideration given to their wishes or views. These are the kids going to school. You notice that they are Eskimo children.”