Two steps that could make resource extraction in Alaska more sustainable

Including Alaska Natives and establishing a fund to stabilize Arctic infrastructure could make oil drilling less disruptive.

Think back to 2015. The price of oil is just above $30 per barrel, down from over $100 per barrel just a few months earlier. Resource extraction-dependent countries across the world, such as Venezuela, are feeling the pain. But so is the Arctic. Specifically, the state of Alaska, where oil and gas revenues comprised 90 percent of the state’s discretionary budget, and funded annual dividend checks to Alaska residents. When oil prices plummeted in 2015, the state could barely cover a third of its budget, and many of the state’s most vulnerable residents, including Alaska Natives, were the hardest hit.