Second Purchase

When Secretary of State William H. Seward bought Alaska from Russia in 1867, his critics quickly asked: Who wants 375 million acres of "icebergia," good only for a few "wretched fish"--even at $7.2 million, or 2-c- an acre? The answer is now plain: everyone. Most Alaskans see the state as a treasure house of minerals, including the huge North Slope oil reserves on the edge of the Beaufort Sea. Ardent conservationists yearn to protect as much as possible of America's last great wilderness. But standing in the way of fulfilling anyone's wishes was a knotty legal hitch.

What Seward purchased was not land, but only the right to tax and administer it. Ownership remained in the hands of Alaska's Eskimos, Aleuts and Indians, who now number some 55,000. Starting in 1959, they pressed their ancient claims. Last week, after years of sporadic haggling, Congress passed a bill to resolve the issue. If the natives approve it, which is considered likely, the bill may be signed into law by President Nixon this week.

Generous Settlement. Under the bill's complex terms, the natives will receive title to 40 million acres throughout the state. To settle the rest of their claims, they will be paid $962.5 million --$500 million from mining royalties and $462.5 million from federal appropriations over eleven years. Twelve regional and 220 village corporations will invest the money to pay dividends to the natives and start a series of social programs.

As one critic sees it, the settlement amounts to "the second purchase of Alaska." It nonetheless seems fair on two counts. In Alaska, rural natives need what seems like exorbitant space merely to subsist. Moreover, Congress was clearly trying to compensate for past inequities that it has inflicted on America's aborigines.

Different Bonanza. Conservationists are generally happy with the bill. One provision allows Interior Secretary Rogers Morton to select 80 million acres of some of the loveliest land in the world for national parks, forests and wildlife refuges. For the state, the bill spells out a bonanza of a different kind. Alaska has already set aside for state development 26 million acres, including some on the North Slope. The bill now frees state officials to choose another 77 million acres, and they are sure to favor areas that are rich in natural resources.

Most important to Alaska's economy, the bill in effect removes a barrier to the proposed $2 billion trans-Alaska oil pipeline from the North Slope fields to the ice-free port of Valdez. The oil companies have been desperate to get on with the job; costs of waiting have been estimated at $400,000 per day. The big question now is whether the 789-mile-long pipeline can be built with sufficient safeguards to protect Alaska's environment.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.