OPINION: Disappointed in Sullivan pushing Ambler Road

Two bull caribou of the Western Arctic Caribou Herd swimming across the Kobuk River during fall 2011 migration in Kobuk Valley National Park. The Ambler Access Project, a proposed 211-mile industrial road, would cross habitat used by the herd, which is one of the largest in North America. (Photo by Kyle Joly/National Park Service)

My region just got some really good news: The federal Bureau of Land Management heard us. Finally, we showed them that Ambler Road is a bad idea for the Northwest Arctic and 66 Native communities in all. Since the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement came out in April, every moment out in the country has been a little more special. Like, we fought for this land and we won. Every caribou that crossed the Kobuk River, every specklebelly making its way home to us, every clean ice pan headed downriver, are all protected from the Ambler Road.

And with the announcement of the official decision, I sure want to be out here celebrating. It feels so good to be heard by BLM, and even by the President. It’s kind of unbelievable.

But sadly, my very own senator, Sen. Dan Sullivan, has something else in mind for me and my village. In June, Sen. Sullivan added a few lines to the National Defense Authorization Act that, if passed, would force the BLM to choose a route and permit the Ambler Road in 30 days.

Sen. Sullivan, are you listening? For two years now, almost 700 of us in the region have been fighting the road. Plus, according to a NANA survey, a majority of our region is against it. To say that this road will not impact Native land is beyond senseless. The Ambler Road and mines would literally tear up our land. And the devastating impacts on our land, water and culture would be countless. This road would change our region forever.

To say that the Ambler Road and mines are a matter of national security, of making us more independent, is just ignorant. The mining companies that are talking about mining in the Upper Kobuk admit that any minerals dragged out of (Native) land would be shipped straight to China for processing. So if you’re paying attention, you know that Ambler Road would do more for China than for my region. And I would hope that my senator would be paying attention.

I can’t imagine how my elders feel, those who have been working to protect native land for decades. Back in the 1970s, Shungnak elders signed their own resolution against the road. And I’m proud to follow in their footsteps today. It already feels like I’ve been fighting the road for a long time, but it seems like we’ll be fighting for a lifetime.

Clarence Putyuk Wood-Griepentrog is Iñupiaq from Ambler. He is a commercial fisherman in the Kotzebue Sound commercial fishery in the summertime and is a hunter and trapper on the Upper Kobuk River year-round.

The views expressed here are the writer’s and are not necessarily endorsed by the Anchorage Daily News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)adn.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Read our full guidelines for letters and commentaries here.