Oil Production
Although oil was discovered at Prudhoe Bay in the 1960s, oil production fully began in the 1 970s after the construction of the Trans-Alaska pipeline. Oil development currently provides the North Slope Borough with most of its operating revenue. In 1999, more than 97 percent of the borough's revenue came from property taxes on oilfield equipment. Oil continues to play a major role in the economic future of the North Slope Borough. Industry has invested as much as $20 billion in the development of current oil fields. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), as well as the National Petroleum Reserve (NPR), both of which are located within borough boundaries, hold the promise of tremendous new oil and gas discoveries.

Native Corporation
Under ANCSA, regional and village Native corporations were created and entitled to land and cash as a settlement of the Native aboriginal land claims. As profit making entities, these corporations helped develop the private sector and create hundreds of jobs.

The Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC) enrolled approximately 3,700 Iñupiat shareholders in 1971. Today ASRC is a diversified corporation with major holdings in land, natural resources, oil and gas engineering, construction, communications, and other activities. It owns nearly 5 million acres of surface and subsurface lands on the North Slope. including 92,000 acres within parts of ANWR.

Ukpeagvik Iñupiat Corporation (UIC) is the Barrow Village Corporation. UIC has emerged as one of the most successful village corporations in the state and is a major employer in Barrow. The company operates a hotel, construction company, engineering firm and several joint ventures.

North Slope Borough
The North Slope Borough (NSB) was incor-porated as a first-class borough in 1972. It is now a home-rule borough. Much of the credit for the borough's formative years goes to the late Eben Hopson, a widely respected Iñupiaq elder, visionary and statesman, who defined the primary goal as providing residents with the same basic services enjoyed by other Americans.

This goal has been difficult and expensive to attain - especially since there were no regional services before the borough's incorporation.

The new municipality had to develop public safety and fire protection programs, a school district, search and rescue, sewage and solid waste disposal, planning and zoning, health and social service programs. Providing these on-going services and the physical infrastructure to support them has been, and continues to be, an enormously expensive proposition for the borough.

The North Slope Borough is presently the largest employer in the region. To maintain its wide range of services, the borough employs more than 40 percent of all working residents. When the School District and Ilisagvik College are included, borough employees account for the 56 percent of the region's employed labor force.