Ambler Road Would Harm 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. In June the Biden Administration revoked BLM permits, blocking construction of the road.

Tell Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries that this amendment is disingenuous and should be removed from the NDAA.

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Dear {contact_data~salutation}, ,

I’m writing to you today to urge you to remove any language about the Ambler Road from the National Defense Authorization Act. 
Recently, Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan introduced a rider to the NDAA that, if passed, would require the Department of Interior to select and permit a route for the Ambler Road within 30 days. This is all just weeks after the Bureau of Land Management published a robust analysis that 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. 
In Sen. Sullivan’s remarks, he stated that permitting and building the Ambler Road would not affect Alaska Native lands. However, 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 and Athabascans, who have stewarded and lived in harmony with 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 the Kobuk River. 
Sen. Sullivan also claims that the Ambler Road is a matter of national security, but even the mining companies admit that any minerals removed from the Ambler Mining District would be shipped directly to China for processing. 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 the food security and way of life for Indigenous cultures.
We ask that you act quickly to remove the Ambler Road rider from the NDAA. Thank you for your time and consideration of these comments.

Sincerely,

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