9/11

• Main Author: Dunaway, Finis
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: University of North Carolina Press 2021
• Subjects: Arctic; Gwich’in
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.5149/northcarolina/9781469661100.003.0021

This chapter considers the repercussions of the 9/11 terrorist attacks for the Arctic Refuge debate. It begins on Capitol Hill, as Lenny Kohm along with several Gwich’in representatives—including Lorraine Netro, Kenny Smith, and Joe Tetlichi—were meeting with a U.S. Senator just as planes struck the World Trade Center. The chapter places 9/11 within the changing political dynamics of the time, including the election of George W. Bush in 2000 and the Republican push to drill in the Arctic Refuge, often with the claim that this development would free the United States from dependence on the volatile Middle East. The chapter ends by introducing a new character, the photographer Subhankar Banerjee, whose unlikely career as an activist is profiled in the next chapter.