The right-of-way was originally approved under former President Donald Trump but was suspended by the Biden administration last year. The Interior Ministry said it had found “serious deficiencies” in previous environmental investigations and ordered further analysis.
The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management said in a news release that a draft version of its analysis found 66 communities where subsistence-style livelihood activities could be affected, compared to 27 in a previous analysis released in 2020. He said the increase came from the community. The agency added that nearly half could face serious impacts due to the roads. The review also updated the potential impacts of the Caribou and Fish Trail.
“The presence of roads changes the habitat because it affects the behavior of wild animals and it divides the migration route used by hunters, affecting their access to the habitat.” ” says the supplemental review.
Additionally, all road options will be different, with some proposals having a greater impact than others, while others will disrupt wildlife habitat due to vehicle noise and displace caribou and other animals. It was also found that there is a possibility of changing movement. Caribou are already under pressure from other developments and climate change, and this road could affect birthing and survival rates, the analysis said.
The agency’s Alaska state director said the review includes stronger input from consultation with Alaska Native organizations. “Continued public input and engagement on this draft plan is critical to ensuring that our analysis captures the potential impacts of the proposed road,” Director Steve Cohn said in a statement .
Although not final, the findings raise further questions about the project, which many environmental groups oppose and some government officials are concerned about. The administration plans to release its final analysis and then announce a final decision sometime next spring.
Executives at mining venture Ambler Metals will review the findings, the company said in a statement. The project said there was an “urgent” need to supply domestic minerals that could support clean energy technologies to address U.S. national security and climate change.
“We are confident that Ambler Metals and our partners will be able to address any issues raised,” CEO Ramzi Fawaz said in a statement. “This project has been needlessly mired in federal bureaucracy for years, and we urge the Department of the Interior to avoid further delays.”
The new review also angered mining advocates because it factored in the potential impacts of public use of the road, even though the current proposal would not close the corridor to the public. Some members of the public expressed concern that the road might one day be opened to the wider public, and the analysis concluded: “Public use and trespass are reasonably anticipated” and must be taken into account.
The plan is supported by some local residents, but opposed by others, and blocking it has become one of the top priorities of national park advocacy groups. To reach the mine site, the road had to cross 11 major rivers and hundreds of streams, disrupting pristine tundra and caribou migration routes. It will also cross 42 miles of Gate of the Arctic National Park and Preserve and be located near Kobuk Valley National Park.
“It’s good to see the Biden administration carefully considering the real costs of this bad idea,” Alex Johnson, Arctic and Interior Alaska campaign director at the National Parks Conservation Association, said in a statement.
“The international mining companies behind this project have yet to prove that there are significant minerals in this area in viable quantities to justify the economics of the project, let alone the last on Earth.” Let alone permanently alter one of our remaining wild landscapes.”