Oil’s Future in Alaska

Oil has been surging down the Trans-Alaska Pipeline for twenty years now. But today, the flow from Prudhoe Bay is starting to slow and the oil industry is fixing its sights on a huge, yet little known piece of federal land called the National Petroleum Reserve The Reserve’s 28 million acres have gone largely unnoticed since they were set aside as a possible source of fuel for the Navy 75 years ago. Now, the federal government is considering selling oil and gas leases there. The decision could have profound impacts for the region: home to millions of migratory animals, and thousands of eskimos, whose lives are being transformed by oil revenues. Living On Earth’s Peter Thomson reports.