Release Date: April 19, 2024
Media Contact: Emily Thompson, 202-758-3936
Coalition Applauds “No Action” Decision on Ambler Road Proposal
Today, the Department of the Interior announced that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has released its final supplemental environmental analysis for the Ambler Road project, which was proposed by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) and would span over 210 miles of significant wildlife habitat and pristine waters that are vital for subsistence along the iconic Brooks Range in north central Alaska. The BLM identified “No Action” as its preferred alternative, finding that each of the other alternatives would significantly and irrevocably impact resources, including those supporting important subsistence uses, in ways that cannot be adequately mitigated. The “No Action” alternative, if finalized in a Record of Decision, would mean that AIDEA would not receive a right-of-way to build the road across BLM-managed public lands.
Phil Francis, Chair of the Executive Council of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, issued the following statement:
“The Coalition applauds the Biden Administration’s selection of the No Action alternative on the Ambler Mining District Industrial Access Road Project (Ambler Road). No action means no road, which is the most appropriate decision in this case. Our organization, along with many other conservation groups, has been actively engaged in this issue since 2018 when initial scoping for the project began. We have submitted comments at every opportunity expressing grave concerns about the extensive impacts to subsistence, wildlife, vegetation, permafrost conditions, and water resources that would result from constructing such a year-round industrial haul road is such a pristine location.
This decision is a victory for Gates of the Arctic National Preserve, one of the National Park System’s flagship wilderness parks, and for local subsistence users and rural residents who depend upon the area’s fish and wildlife that would have been most impacted by the development of the industrial road.”
# # # # #