ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION – NO HARD COPY TO FOLLOW
November 2, 2026
Ambler Metals LLC
2550 Denali Street, Unit 1605
Anchorage, AK 99503
in**@**********ls.com
Subject: Comments on Arctic Mine Development Project
To Whom It May Concern:
The Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks (Coalition) is comprised of more than 5,400 members and supporters, including retired, former, and current National Park Service (NPS) employees or volunteers who collectively represent more than 50,000 years of national park management and stewardship experience. The Coalition studies, educates, speaks, and acts for the preservation of America’s National Park System.
The proposed Arctic mine project at the end of the proposed Ambler Road is likely to be a disaster for the Western Arctic Caribou Herd, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, and the Alaska Native communities in the region.
We urge the Army Corps to evaluate the full scope and cumulative impacts of the proposed Arctic mine project, including the associated proposed Ambler industrial road. The Western Arctic Caribou Herd is essential to the subsistence, food security and lifeways of the people of the region. Industrial development and road construction would cut through caribou migration routes, threatening habitat connectivity and access to traditional hunting grounds, placing already vulnerable food systems at further risk. If the Arctic mine and associated Ambler Road advanced, trucks filled with ore would travel through Gates of the Arctic daily, threatening the park’s wild nature.
The environmental review must include the impacts of roads, infrastructure and related development on caribou populations, subsistence practices and Indigenous self-determination. Meaningful consultation with affected communities and the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge must be central to this process.
The Arctic Mine and the associated Ambler industrial mining road is not an issue of national security. Despite misleading claims, mining reports do not show that the Ambler District contains economic amounts of critical minerals that would justify building the 211-mile-long Ambler industrial road. The most abundant mineral in the Ambler District is copper, which is plentiful among the US and trading partners. Building the road to access mining claims on state and private lands would do nothing to secure domestic supply chains or contribute to federal revenues.
We urge the Corps to ensure the full project scope is evaluated, and that Indigenous food security, irreplaceable national park ecosystems and the long-term survival of the Western ArcticbCaribou herd are prioritized. In closing, we appreciate the opportunity to provide comment to the scoping of the Arctic Mine.
Sincerely,
Cheryl Schreier
Chair of the Executive Council
Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks
Email: Ed****@********ps.org
Mail: 2 Massachusetts Ave NE, Unit 77436, Washington, DC 20013
Web: www.protectnps.org
Phone: (202) 819-8622