Bureau of Land Management schedules Ambler road decision for late 2023

In a court filing last week, the agency said a decision would come in the fourth quarter of 2023.

By Nathaniel Herz, Alaska Beacon November 22, 2022
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Caribou from the Western Arctic Caribou Herd prepare to swim across the Noatak River, heading south on their fall migration.(Mike Thompson / National Park Service)

The federal Bureau of Land Management said in a court filing last week that it will issue its final decision on Alaska Industrial and Economic Development Authority’s proposed Ambler road project in the fourth quarter of 2023.

The Trump administration had previously approved the controversial, 200-mile road, which would run through Gates of the Arctic National Park and access a major mining district in the Kobuk River watershed.

But the Biden administration, under pressure from some of the tribal groups opposed to the road, is drafting a supplemental environmental impact statement and studying preliminary comments to see if it needs to consider alternatives, it said in Tuesday’s federal court brief.

This piece was first published in Northern Journal, a newsletter published by journalist Nathaniel Herz, and subsequently published at Alaska Beacon. It is republished here under a Creative Commons license. Subscribe to the North Journal at this link.

This article has been fact-checked by Arctic Today and Polar Research and Policy Initiative, with the support of the EMIF managed by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

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