Ambler Road Harms Northwest Alaska’s Ways of Life

Grizzly bear along the Kobuk River shoreline, photo take by Seth Kantner — Grizzly bear along the shores of the Kobuk River, AK | Seth Kantner

The free-flowing Kobuk River lies north of the Arctic Circle in Alaska, at the northern edge of the boreal forest that flanks the Brooks Range. The river meanders through the homelands of the Indigenous Iñupiat who continue to live from their ancestral lands as they have for millennia. The river’s abundant fish and wildlife provide spiritual, cultural, and nutritional sustenance to Iñupiaq communities along its banks.

With no road connections or industrial development, the river offers a rare glimpse into an almost primordial North American landscape. The proposed Ambler Road and associated mining development would cause irreparable harm to the Kobuk’s water quality, fish, and wildlife, threatening communities all along the river. The Biden Administration must revoke all permits allowing construction of the road.

The Biden Administration must revoke all permits allowing construction of the road.

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Dear Public Lands Official,

I’m writing to you today to urge you to publish the Record of Decision and revoke all Ambler Road permits, protecting the Kobuk River watershed in northern Alaska.

The BLM’s updated analysis is robust and makes clear that the Ambler Road would damage water quality and wildlife habitat, and threaten the subsistence way of life of 66 Iñupiaq and Athabascan communities. The No Action Alternative is the right decision given BLM’s analysis that “any of the action alternatives would significantly impact resources, including important subsistence resources and uses, in ways that cannot be adequately mitigated”.

Despite these known harms and significant local opposition, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) continues to advance efforts to build and maintain a $1.4+ billion, 211-mile mining access road into one of the largest remaining wild and roadless areas in the United States.

The spawning and rearing habitats for sheefish and salmon, as well as migration routes and wintering grounds of the Western Arctic Caribou Herd are firmly in the crosshairs of this project. These species are vital to the food security and culture of the Iñupiat, who have been excellent stewards of this land for countless generations. The Ambler Road would cause irreparable harm to the health and subsistence way of life of the people along the road route and downstream on the Kobuk River.

The devastating impacts of building the Ambler Road are not worth the short-term gain of anticipated minerals from unproven and yet-to-be permitted mines. This is not a road to a clean energy transition, but instead a road to speculation, which should not be built at the expense of our nation’s remaining wild and pristine places, and at the food security and way of life for Indigenous cultures.

We ask the BLM, Department of Interior, and President Biden to complete the NEPA process by publishing the Record of Decision. All Ambler Road permits should be revoked to protect this spectacular part of rural Alaska. Thank you for your time and consideration of these comments.

Sincerely,

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