Anger in Alaska

Ever since 1906, when Conservationist-President Teddy Roosevelt imposed a ban on coal mining in Alaska to help preserve its natural grandeur, many Alaskans have harbored a deep resentment against the "meddling outsider"--especially the Federal Government in Washington, D.C., and "anti-development" conservationists. The recent oil-pipeline controversy, in particular, has turned resentment into outright antagonism and given new impetus to a budding secessionist movement.

Focal point of Alaskans' frustrations has been the San Francisco-based Sierra Club, which is the state's most successful conservation group. Although the club was not a party to the suit that has held up construction of the pipeline for four years, its aggressive attitude and legal success in southeastern Alaska have caused it, according to Sierra Staffer Jack Hession, "to catch the flak for everybody." Among its recent achievements: forcing logging companies to file environmental impact statements before they can cut trees in remote areas of the Tongass National Forest, delaying construction of several highways, and halting plans for a huge pulp and saw mill near Juneau.

Although environmentalists in the "Lower 48" states view these moves as victories, many Alaskans interviewed by TIME Correspondent David DeVoss call them disasters. In a state where unemployment averages 9.6% and the cost of living is 37% higher than in the rest of the U.S., less value is attached to saving virgin forests or bleak tundra. Newspapers bulge with oil company ads touting development, and cars from Juneau to Anchorage sport "Sierra Go Home" bumper stickers. Pro-industry coloring books, buttons and pamphlets appear in grocery stores and churches. "Our only mistake," admits Dave Murdey, 52, vice president of Ketchikan Pulp Company, "was not starting our propaganda war sooner. There's a place for Sierra Club--hell, we used to pour motor oil into the water every time we cleaned a boat's engine. We need rules, but we also need responsibility."

Anti-Sierra sentiment is strongest along the North Slope, where oil wells remain capped. "People down south worry more about the ice than they do about the people up here," complains Vic Vickery, 35, an assistant drilling superintendent for British Petroleum. "We can't even have a gun here to protect ourselves against bears. We had four grizzlies come in the other day and we had to chase 'em off with a fork lift."

Others agree that conservationist demands often seem unreasonable in an Alaskan context. "As long as they stuck to protecting the environment, the Sierra Club was a very worthwhile organization," says Chuck Evans, vice president of the First National Bank of Anchorage. "But when they start attacking progress and profit, they're out of their realm." One bumper sticker puts it more crudely: "Let the bastards freeze in the dark."

Particularly infuriating to Alaskans have been the occasional exaggerations made by some environmentalists--most often in the pipeline controversy. "A lot of the publicity Sierra puts out simply isn't true," says Charles Gass, 39, a Tongass National Forest Service ranger. "According to the Sierra Club, clear-cutting is supposed to hurt the soil, but by allowing sunlight to help decay forest litter, you add humus to the soil." The club privately admits it is worried by the hostility. "Maybe we overplayed our hand," concedes one Anchorage member. "If so, it could result in a real disaster."

One remarkable result of the backlash is a widespread movement for independence, led by feisty Fairbanks Real Estate Developer Joe Vogler, 60. The Committee for Alaskan Independence has gathered 11,000 signatures since February and expects thousands more. Vogler reasons that Alaska has more in common with such independent developing nations as Zambia, El Salvador and Tanzania than with the U.S. "We are a colony, geographically removed," says Vogler. "We're a different people with different circumstances, and we're tired of being treated like a warehouse and a vacation preserve."

Secessionists already have plans for coining money, leasing land to the U.S. for military bases, and applying to the U.N. for development funds. Federal officials in Alaska can find nothing illegal in Vogler's scheme, and proponents estimate that secession is fiscally feasible with income from taxes and oil royalties. "Washington bureaucrats and Lower 48 conservationists have run this state long enough," says Vogler. "It's time Alaska's residents took control. With our resources, how could we fail?"

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