Native Americans and oil exploration

The ABC headline screams Native Americans decry Alaska exploration ruling with the article following through:

There has been an angry reaction from native Americans in Alaska to the decision by the United States Senate to open up a remote wildlife refuge to oil drilling.

"Sixty to 70 per cent of our diet comes from the land and caribou is one of the primary animals that we depend on for sustenance," he said.

"For us this is a human rights issue and it's a basic Aboriginal human rights issue."

A bit of checking reveals that "Eskimos" are supportive of oil exploration in the area:

A January 2000 survey of 68 Kaktovik residents found that 78 percent favor opening ANWR while only 9 percent are opposed. The Alaska Federation of Natives, representing some 80,000 Eskimos, adopted a resolution in 1995 calling for opening ANWR as a "critically important economic opportunity for Alaska Natives."

(The survey mentioned above is here.)

The angry native Americans sound like they might be relatives of Ward Churchill. If that's the case that would actually make them angry, non-native, American-hating Americans. Screw it, start drilling already.