Damon Winter/The New York Times

On Thursday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar had a meeting with the only people outside the gulf region whose waters had been opened to offshore oil exploration. He was in Barrow, Alaska, the capital of the North Slope Borough, where people have the same conflicted feelings about the oil industry as residents of the gulf states do. The energy industry centered in Prudhoe Bay is the economic engine of the North Slope, helping preserve the Inupiat culture, but it also presents a potential threat to that culture. Mayor Edward Itta of the North Slope Borough e-mailed answers to our questions about these conflicts. (The transcript of the exchange has been edited and condensed.)

Q.

How did the Deepwater Horizon explosion in April and yesterday’s explosion on a different gulf offshore platform change your thinking about the merits of offshore oil exploration in the Chukchi Sea?

A.

Those two explosions in the Gulf of Mexico didn’t change my mind about offshore oil exploration. They just made me more worried. I’ve never thought it was a good idea to drill for oil and gas in an ocean where we’ve been coexisting with migrating bowhead whales and other marine mammals for thousands of years. But when both Republican and Democratic administrations in Washington favor drilling off this coast, we’ve got to get realistic. To me, that means recognizing that it’s probably going to happen, and then demanding a regulatory framework that will truly protect these waters.

I’ve got a list of very reasonable requirements to minimize the risks — things like doing baseline science before the drilling begins, so we can measure any changes as development proceeds. If you don’t have a baseline, how will you know if the ocean is being stressed as time goes on? We also need a Coast Guard presence up here. This is the only ocean that has no one watching over the ship traffic. Those are just two of our concerns. You see, this ocean is still a frontier, and I want to make sure we have the right precautions in place at the front end.

Q.

Has the industry or the government demonstrated to your satisfaction that they would have adequate response capability in the event of spills or other accidents?

A.

No. We need real-world demonstrations of oil spill response techniques, so we can see how well they work in ice-infested waters, or during the months of darkness we have up here.

Q.

How much does the borough’s budget depend on oil revenues from Prudhoe Bay or elsewhere in Alaska?

A.

We depend heavily on property tax revenues from onshore infrastructure. That’s why we’ve always favored onshore development. We work in partnership with industry onshore. Offshore activity will be mostly in federal waters where we will see little benefit, but we’ll still be expected to absorb all the development impacts.

Q.

How could a spill affect bowhead whaling?

A.

Nobody knows how a spill would affect our traditional bowhead whaling. The whales migrate the entire length of the coast every spring, then they migrate back to the North Pacific in the fall. They feed on krill and other tiny organisms as they go. You can imagine what might happen if the water were contaminated with a large amount of oil.

Q.

Is there a division in the community between those who favor drilling strongly and those who are strongly opposed?

A.

There is a range of opinions among our people about the wisdom of offshore drilling. We need economic activity up here to help provide jobs and incomes. Some of our Native corporations provide services to the industry, so they have a bottom-line concern. But I think we all share a concern about the cultural bottom line, which is that our fate as Inupiat is directly tied to the health of the bowhead whale population. So whatever happens, it better not harm the bowheads or you won’t find many supporters up here.

Q.

What impact did Secretary Salazar’s visit have on this debate?

A.

It showed he understands the importance of finding solutions that respond to the nation’s need for energy, but also preserve the ability of this ancient culture to keep on. I don’t think Americans want to risk one of the nation’s most vibrant indigenous cultures. Secretary Salazar came up here shopping for ideas and also to let us know that he’s not going to overlook us. We haven’t always gotten that message in the past.