United States

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AC member since 1996

Active Polar Icebreakers

Coordinates

Washington, D.C.: 38.9072° N, 77.0369° W
Juneau, AK: 58.3019° N, 134.4197° W

Population

United States: 329.1 million
Alaska: 736,000

Land Area

United States: 9.857 million km2
Alaska: 1.718 million km2

Coastline

1,706 km

Environment
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The United States is an Arctic nation and privy to northern regional governance and policy decisions through its 49th state, Alaska. Purchased from the Russian Empire in 1867 for $7.2 million USD, the Territory of Alaska entered into statehood in 1959. As part of the continental, but not contiguous United States, Alaska is bordered by the Canadian Yukon Territory to the east and the Canadian province of British Columbia to the southeast. To the north lie the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas and the southern waters of the Arctic Ocean. To the west and south lie the Pacific Ocean, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait. Altogether, Alaska has more than 34,000 miles of coastline. Though it is the largest state in the union, it is the least densely populated, with over half of all residents living in two cities – Anchorage and Fairbanks.

Although research like the Arctic Human Development Report considers all of Alaska to be Arctic, Arctic Alaska commonly includes the North Slope Borough, the Northwest Arctic Borough, and the Nome Census area. Larger towns include Prudhoe Bay, Barrow, Kotzebue, Nome, and Galena. The average annual high and low for Barrow are -8.2 °C (17.2 °F) and -14 °C (6.4 °F), respectively. There are very few roads in the Alaskan Arctic, and many rural communities can only be accessed by aircraft or snowmobile in good weather. Northern Alaska largely consists of tundra covering mountain ranges, permafrost, and coastal plains that provide habitat to bears, wolves, Dall sheep, muskoxen, reindeer, and many birds. The Gates of the Arctic National Park and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, both of which are fully and partially protected by federal law, help to preserve Alaska’s natural landscapes.

Alaska has been host to a number of high political and media profile environmental issues over the past five decades concerning tensions between natural resource extraction and environmental protection. The debate to permit drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) has been an ongoing controversy since 1977. ANWR, a 19,300,000 acre refuge, is the largest protected wilderness in the US. ANWR’s Coastal Plain, also known as the “1002 Area” is rich in petroleum and natural gas deposits, though the amount of economically recoverable oil is debated. The key issue of oil exploration in the Refuge is the potential disturbance to wildlife, particularly the Porcupine Caribou that calve on the Coastal Plain and migrate through the Refuge from Alaska to Canada each year. In 2015, President Obama proposed to declare an additional 5 million acres of the Refuge as a wilderness area, which would put a total of 12.8 million acres of the refuge permanently off-limits to drilling or other development. In December 2017, a Republican-led Congress voted to lift the 40-year-old ban on energy development in ANWR. The decision came through a provision embedded within a larger tax bill mandating that the US Department of the Interior hold lease sales in the “1002 area.” The Department of the Interior has stated that it will move forward with ANWR lease sales in 2019, though legal battles are expected.

The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill has left a long, dark legacy on the narrative of oil exploration and environmental protection in the Arctic. On March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker struck Prince William Sound’s Bligh Reef and spilled approximately 10.8 million gallons (37,000 metric tonnes) of crude oil over the next several days. The response was particularly difficult because Prince William Sound’s remote location is only accessible by helicopter, plane, or boat. The immediate effects of the spill include as many as 250,000 seabirds, at least 2,800 sea otters, 22 orcas, and an unknown number of fish deaths. Though most wildlife has recovered from the spill as of 2020, orca whales have yet to reach pre-spill levels, and an estimated 16,000 to 21,000 gallons of oil remain on beaches. Still today, there is significant concern over Arctic oil spills from activist groups, local communities, and environmentalists at large, as seen most recently by protests against Shell’s now terminated Arctic drilling campaign.

Pebble Mine, on public land in the Bristol Bay area of southwest Alaska, has been among the largest environmental concerns in Alaska in recent years. The proposed copper, gold, and molybdenum mine would be the largest open-pit mine in North America at two miles wide and over 2,000 feet deep. If developed, the mine poses serious risks of contaminating the watershed, salmon, and other fisheries with mine-generated pollutants such as heavy metals and acid mine drainage. In 2014, the EPA openly questioned the future of the salmon habitat should the mine open and proposed restrictions that would effectively prohibit the project from moving forward. This was followed by the Obama Administration’s decision to initiate a 404(c) action under the Federal Clean Water Act, authorizing the EPA “to prohibit, restrict, or deny the discharge of dredged or fill material at defined sites in waters of the United States… whenever it determines, after notice and opportunity for public hearing, that use of such sites for disposal would have an unacceptable adverse impact on one or more of various resources, including fishers.” Although this action has stalled the mine and caused the development to lose several investors, the US Army Corps of Engineers has gone against the 404(c) decision and begun an Environmental Impact Assessment for the mine’s development. In November 2018, Alaska voters will decide the balance between resource development and salmon habitat protections. Ballot Measure 1, Salmon Habitat Protections and Permits Initiative would implement new requirements and processes for permit applications, reviews, and granting of permits for any project affecting bodies of water related to anadromous fish — virtually killing the economic viability of Pebble Mine.

Alaska’s Arctic, like the rest of the region, is facing warming at twice the rate of the rest of the globe. Higher temperatures create dangerous ice conditions; decrease the quantity and quality of annual snowfall; change weather patterns; and shift landscapes as permafrost thaws—all of which seriously undermine ecosystem and wildlife integrity.

This page was updated on 1 August 2022. If we have missed anything, please contact info@thearcticinstitute.org.

Over 736,000 people live in the State of Alaska. With one of the highest fertility rates in the Arctic, Alaska has one of the youngest and fastest growing populations of the region. Alaska’s median age is 34 years, with 39% of Alaska Natives under the age of 20. The population is projected to increase by 28% to 915,211 by 2035. This is not only from above-replacement fertility levels, but also from migration to the state. 61% of Alaska residents were born outside of Alaska, including 7% who were born abroad. Internally, over 20% of the population moved in 2009, making it one of the most mobile states in America. Much of this internal migration was from rural villages to urban areas below the Arctic Circle; the most populous of such cities are Anchorage and Fairbanks, where about 55% of the state’s population live. The past century has seen a general trend towards urbanization in America’s Arctic. In 1920, only 6%of the population was urban. Today, about two-thirds of the state resides in cities. This is also true for Alaska Natives, over 36,000 of whom live in Anchorage alone.

Alaska Natives make up 14.3% of the population of the State of Alaska. Tribes are generally divided into six major groupings: Unangan (Aleut), Sugpiaq (Alutiiq), Yupik (Central Yup’ik and Siberian Yupik), Iñupiaq (Northwest Alaskan Inuit), Athabaskans (Interior Indians) and Tlingit and Haida (Southeast Coastal Indians). Of these, the Yup’ik, Athabaskans, and Inupiaq have traditional homelands above the Arctic Circle, with the Yup’ik and Inupiaq spreading across the Russian and Canadian borders, respectively. These groups are hunter-gatherers, and continue to rely heavily on subsistence hunting and fishing of walrus, seal, whale, polar bears, caribou, and fish. The hunting of Bowhead whales benefits all members of an Inupiaq community, as the meat and blubber is allocated to all members according to a traditional formula. In communities with limited access to affordable fruits and vegetables, the consumption of whale and other vitamin rich raw meats provides important nutrition.

Throughout history, the US’ governing of Alaska was characterized by little tolerance toward Indigenous belief systems, communities, and languages. Indigenous communities were disenfranchised and mistreated, and often used as geopolitical assets during World War II and the Cold War. While 1959 marked the statehood of Alaska, for Indigenous peoples of the American Arctic the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Act (ANCSA) in 1971 was economically, socially, and politically revolutionary. Signed into law on December 8, 1971 by President Richard Nixon, ANCSA was, and still is, the largest one-time land claims settlement in U.S. history. In 1966, the transfer of all lands in the public domain were frozen pending a settlement of Native land claims; then, in 1970, the Athapaskan Indians won an injunction against building a pipeline across their lands, catalyzing a chain reaction to settle all claims before Alaska’s oil could be developed. ANCSA extinguished all previously held Native claims in Alaska, and in return conveyed nearly a billion dollars and 44 million acres of land – the most tribal lands out of all US states – to 12 geographic regions of common heritage and interests. The sovereign status conferred on Native American reservations in the contiguous US does not exist in the Alaska context; instead, land provided by ANCSA is owned by Native-run corporations, with the intent being that all would benefit from resources on any given parcel of land. Twelve regional Native corporations, which encompass 229 tribal groups, own most tribal land and their subsurface mineral rights, and as such rank as the largest private businesses in Alaska.

Alaska Native history and rights have been significantly impacted by its implementation. Native Alaskan culture is thriving today in centers, schools, and community groups, though the century-long colonial rule of the Alaska Territory has resulted in serious inequality, intergenerational trauma, and socio-economic challenges still today. While there has been a general reduction in the proportion of speakers of most Native languages in Alaska due to discriminatory federal policies, there are concerted efforts at language preservation across the state.

Alaska faces a number of public health issues, including alcoholism and suicide that can also be linked to historical trauma and adverse childhood experiences Alaska has one of the highest per capita alcohol consumption rates in the nation, and a rate of alcohol dependence and abuse that is twice that of the national average. Between 1990 and 1993, 66.6% of all deaths in rural Alaska were alcohol-related. Alaska’s suicide rate of 23 for every 100,000 people in 2013 was the second highest in the United States. For Alaska Native men between 15 and 24, the rate is 169 suicides per 100,000—14 times the US national rate. Cited reasons for such drastic numbers include historical trauma, mental illness, unemployment, cultural loss, and spiritual distress.

One of the biggest issues facing Alaskan communities today is climate change. Drastic changes in the Arctic climate have caused slumping, landslides, and severe erosion in coastal areas. With these ecological shifts, climate change is having a very real and immediate impact on communities that live in Alaska. Thinner sea ice with sudden thaws and later freezes make traditional practices of travel, hunting, harvesting, and communication between communities more dangerous and difficult. Decreased snow coverage makes hunting hazardous, forcing hunters to rely on cumbersome, colder tents instead of traditional igloos. The melting of permafrost, combined with more violent storms hitting the coastline that exacerbate erosion and flooding, puts homes, infrastructure, and livelihoods at risk. In extreme cases, such terrain devastation requires the relocation of entire communities. The marine species upon which the Inuit rely on for subsistence harvests and traditional knowledge transfer, including polar bears, walruses, ice-living seals, and many birds, are or will soon be in decline as a result of warmer temperatures and less sea ice. Some face extinction by the end of this century. Decreased access to traditional food sources force Inuit hunters to move to new, more dangerous locations that further exacerbate the travel issues resulting from climate change. These changes to traditional practises also affect the overall culture, as hunting provides spiritual and cultural affirmation, and is a key activity for passing skills, knowledge, and values from generation to generation.

Alaska is the second largest economy in the Arctic region, constituting 10.8% of GRP at 47,713 USD million PPP in 2010. The median per capita income for Alaska was 37,904 USD in 2020, with household income at 77,790 USD. The Alaskan economy is largely based on petroleum production, followed by fishing, mining, and tourism revenues. For many years, petroleum resource extraction has been an effective and crucial component in securing economic growth and productive employment for Alaska. Since the discovery of petroleum at Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope in 1968, and long beyond its peak production in 1988, oil has been the backbone of Alaska’s economy. Today, 85% of Alaska’s state budget comes from oil and mineral-related activities. The oil industry accounts for roughly one third of Alaskan jobs, and over half of the state’s entire economy.

Oil is still an important element of Alaska’s economic vitality; however, mature fields, climate change, and falling oil prices pose a major threat to its ability to support growth not only in the future, but also at present. As oil wells continue to produce less, production in Alaska has fallen to less than a quarter of what it was in the late 1980s. Globally, oil prices have fallen steeply since the final months of 2014. Alaska’s state budget for 2015 was based on oil at $105 a barrel; the actual price of oil in February 2016 was $30 a barrel. In 2019, the state’s proposed capital budget is down 90% to $150 million from nearly $2 billion in fiscal year 2013. Alaska still faced a budget deficit of $2.5 billion USD for 2019.

While Alaska’s per capita income remains significantly higher than the US average, this number is reliant on petroleum production. Alaska can levy one of the lowest tax burdens in the country because of the money brought in through petroleum production. As the economy currently stands, a reduction in petroleum production is a major threat to the wellbeing of Alaskans

Tourism is a growing industry in Alaska. It is the second largest private sector employer and accounts for one in eight jobs in the state. On average, nearly two million people visit Alaska each year to see mountains, glaciers, and wildlife. More than half of the visitors come by cruise ship, a mode share that is expected to grow. Tourism brings in more than 4.17 billion USD in annual economic impact, with 1.39 billion in labor income and 1.94 billion in economic impact. At peak season, tourism employs 47,000 workers.

With 24,000 miles of coastline and more than three million lakes and rivers, fishing constitutes another key sector of Alaska’s economy. In 2016, 5.6 billion pounds of fish were reeled in by the fishing industry for USD 9.6 billion in value, leading all states in volume and landing. Dutch Harbor, with Alaskan pollock, snow crabs, king crabs, and salmon, is the most profitable fishery in the state. Bristol Bay, home to the proposed Pebble Mine, has one of the best sockeye salmon harvests in the world, bringing in 28.6 million fish.

Mining is also a contributing sector to the economy, providing 3,232 full-time-equivalent jobs in 2016 with 2.83 billion in total reported value. Mines in Alaska include gold, silver, coal, copper, lead, and zinc. While investment in exploration has been depressed by high drilling costs and fuel expenses, worldwide interest from China, Japan, and India in Alaska’s mineral potential continues to rise.

American Arctic issues are addressed through a variety of governance mechanisms. In addition to being subject to state and federal laws, Alaska has a number of regions and boroughs with sub-state governments, including the North Slope Borough and the Northwest Arctic Borough. Although the U.S. has a constitutional obligation to interact with Indigenous tribes on a government-to-government basis, the state of Alaska does not have the same relationship with the tribes within its borders. Because of the Land Claims Act, tribal governments no longer have regulatory or taxation authority over traditional lands covered under the Settlement Act. The many levels of governance within Alaska have led to innovations in shared governance between federal, tribal, and state governments. And with the devolution of authority from national to regional governments in the United States towards Native American communities, there has been an increase of Indigenous political rights and governance authorities. Such a complex governance system has often led to tension between federal, state, and tribal authorities. This is particularly true at the local level, where more than 220 communities across Alaska may fall within the governance authority of a city, a borough, or/and a tribe, all having different political relationships with the state and federal governments.

In 2015, then-Alaska governor Bill Walker signed an Arctic policy bill into law, addressing economic and resource development, infrastructure and response capacity gaps in the Arctic region, public health, and a state-based agenda for science and research in the Arctic. The policy was created by the Alaska Arctic Policy Commission (originally the Alaska Northern Waters Task Force), which is committed to “producing a policy for Alaska’s Arctic that reflects the values of Alaskans, provides a suite of options to capitalize on the opportunities and safeguard against risk.” The Arctic Policy and Climate Change committee, out of the Governor’s office, aims to raise the profile of Arctic issues and undertake comprehensive planning.

Alaskan politicians and other Arctic advocates represent these regional issues in Congress. Alaska’s senators include Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Daniel Sullivan (R-AK). As of October 2022, Alaska’s Congressional seat is vacant after the death of Representative Don Young (R-AK-1). The House of Representatives hosts a Congressional Arctic Working Group, which is meant to inform Congress on Arctic issues, although there is no record of its activities past 2016. The Senate hosts a Senate Arctic Caucus led by Senators Murkowski and Angus King (I-ME), although it does not have a website. Generally, Senator Murkowski is known to strongly advocate for domestic Arctic issues and promote regional circumpolar cooperation abroad. She endorses the ratification of the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas to which the United States is not a party (the US is the only non-ratifying Arctic state).

The foundation of the U.S.’ Arctic posture was established in 2009 by then-President George W. Bush, known as National Security Presidential Directive 66 – Homeland Security Presidential Directive 25 (NSPD-66/HSPD-25). NSPD-66/HSPD-25 focuses on environmental protection and sustainable development, with emphasis on the role of Indigenous people and other Arctic residents as stakeholders. No executive directives have been issued since, yet subsequent presidential administrations have released federal Arctic strategies, which has ushered a significant strategic revisit of the Arctic region amongst federal executive departments as well. The U.S.’ current Arctic strategy, known as the National Strategy for the Arctic Region, was issued in October 2022 by the Biden-Harris administration. The strategy’s rhetoric balances between rising geopolitical tensions in the region with the need to foster international collaboration and governance through regional fora such as the Arctic Council. It supersedes the Obama administration’s 2013 national Arctic strategy, which was the first of its kind, and stressed national and homeland security interests, responsible stewardship, and international cooperation. It also established the White House-led Arctic Executive Steering Committee (AESC), which aimed to streamline all Arctic activities at the federal level (seen in the 2014 Implementation Plan for The National Strategy for the Arctic Region, and 2016 Implementation Framework for the National Strategy for the Arctic Region). The Trump administration ended AESC activities, although the Biden-Harris administration reestablished it in 2021.

The Department of Defense (DoD) has consistently released Arctic strategic documents since the Obama administration. The DoD’s current iteration, known as the Department of Defense Arctic Strategy, was released in 2019 under the Trump administration. It emphasizes awareness, enhancing operations, and support for the rules-based order. It supersedes the 2016 DoD Arctic strategy issued under the Obama administration, which sought to implement the Obama administration’s first-ever national Arctic strategy in 2013 (see above). The Department of the Army, Department of the Air Force, and Department of the Navy have each issued Arctic strategies as well, covering each branch of service (inclusive of the Marine Corps and Space Force). Both the Coast Guard, and the Department of Homeland Security to which it falls under, have released Arctic strategies as well. The DoD has also made federal-level moves to raise the importance of the Arctic. The Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security Studies became the DoD’s sixth regional security studies center in 2021, and the DoD created a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Arctic and Global Resilience position in 2022.

The Department of State is responsible for representing the U.S.’ Arctic interests in the Arctic Council, the latter of which was established in 1996 with the U.S. involvement as a founding member. The U.S. held the 2015-2017 Arctic Council Chairmanship, whereupon it established a Special Representative for the Arctic led by retired Coast Guard Admiral Robert J. Papp Jr. under the State Department’s Bureau of Ocean and Polar Affairs. The U.S. chairmanship’s theme was “One Arctic: Shared Opportunities, Challenges and Responsibilities” and focused on (1) improving economic and living conditions in Arctic communities; (2) Arctic ocean safety, security and stewardship; and (3) addressing the impacts of climate change. Then-President Obama was the first sitting president to visit the Arctic in his 2015 visit to Alaska.