Editing Nuiqsut, Alaska (section)

==Economy, commerce and social centers==
[[File:Nuiqsut, Alaska.JPG|thumb|right|alt=A row of homes in the center of Nuiqsut, Alaska|A row of homes in the center of Nuiqsut, Alaska]]
[[File:Nuiqsut Fire Station.JPG|thumb|right|alt=The Nuiqsut Fire Station|The Nuiqsut Fire Station]]
There is one commercial store in Nuiqsut, one mail receiving location (operated by the City of Nuiqsut not the United States Postal Service), and one church (Presbyterian).  Other areas of social activity include the city recreation center and the school. An elder's living center is also present.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}

Since 1973, Nuiqsut has an [[Alaska Native corporation]] in form of a village corporation named "Kuukpik", in which more than 600 shareholders are enrolled.

Before 2001, Nuiqsut's economy was primarily subsistence-based.  When [[ConocoPhillips]] found oil and gas at the [[Alpine, Alaska]] oil field to which and Kuukpik owns the surface rights, it negotiated a surface-use agreement. Since oil production began in 2001, Kuukpik has received a small royalty from ConocoPhillips. It was the first Native village impacted in this way.<ref name="kuukpit">{{Cite web |last=Kuukpik Corporation |date=n.d. |title=About Us – Village Corporation for Nuiqsut, Alaska |url=https://www.kuukpik.com/corporation/about-us/ |access-date=February 6, 2023 |website=www.kuukpik.com}}</ref> The [[subsurface rights]] of the Alpine field, however, are with the regional [[Arctic Slope Regional Corporation]].

Since May 2018, ConocoPhillips has officially requested to develop the so called [[Willow project]] oil field from the Bureau of Land Management. Kuukpik submitted comments to the draft [[Environmental Impact Statement]] reducing drill sites to four, shorter gravel roads and requesting protection of [[Teshekpuk Lake]] amongst other things. In March 2023, then Mayor Rosemary Ahtuangaruak opposed the project, because of impacts on caribou and subsistence lifestyle.<ref name="pbs">{{Cite news |last=Brown and Daly |date=March 13, 2023 |title=What is the controversy behind the Alaska Willow oil project? |language=en-us |work=PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/what-is-the-controversy-behind-the-alaska-willow-oil-project |access-date=March 13, 2023}}</ref>