Certainly, the AFN and other Native groups had gained significant political clout in Alaska during the 1960s. And, thanks in part to Walter Hickel’s high-profile confirmation hearings, the cause of Native land claims had considerable support at the national level. But it was the even greater political clout of the oil companies champing at the bit to transport oil out of Prudhoe Bay that finally cut through the legislative morass and pushed two similar bills out of the House and Senate. At their core was a settlement of 40 million acres of land in fee simple and almost $1 billion.28
