The Biden administration is reeling back federal permission for the proposed Ambler road, a project that would support large-scale mining in Northwest Alaska.
The proposed access road would make a sharp western turn off the Dalton Highway about 260 miles from Fairbanks, then would stretch 211 miles in the Brooks Range, with 26 miles crossing national park land. in the Gates of the Arctic National Park.
In a court filing Tuesday, the administration agreed with road opponents that the environmental analyses of the project are flawed. The Interior Department wants to reconsider the federal right-of-way permits that the Trump administration granted.
Alaska’s congressional delegation blasted the decision. Sen. Lisa Murkowski called the move a setback for the project and proponents like her say their fight is not over.
22AmblerWrap1: “This project is too important to us in the state, to the people in the region, and really to the country for the resource,” :09
The Ambler mining district is believed to contain large amounts of good-quality copper and other minerals important to an economy of electric car and cell-phone users.
State Sen. Donny Olson, a Democrat who represents the region, said his constituents want the road and the mining it will support. But it is opposed by the Tanana Chiefs Conference, among other groups. TCC has sued the Army Corps of Engineers and the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, AIDEA, over rights of way across Tribal lands and subsistence hunting and fishing protections.
RELATED: Proposed Ambler project underscores promise and peril of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act