OPINION: Ambler Road is an unfulfilled promise to Alaska

I became a senator one month after President Jimmy Carter signed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) in 1980, and over the next three decades, I was involved in the law’s implementation, both as a senator and later as Alaska’s governor.

As I write this now, nearly 45 years after ANILCA became law, I am discouraged that we are still fighting battles that should have been resolved as soon as the ink dried on this law. A case in point is the Ambler Road, which is unambiguously authorized by the law: “Congress finds that there is a need for surface access across the Western (Kobuk River) unit of the Gates of the Arctic National Preserve from the Ambler Mining District to the Alaska Pipeline Haul Road and the Secretary shall permit such access in accordance with the provisions of this subsection.”

“Shall permit” is pretty unambiguous. The law instructs the Secretaries of Transportation and the Interior to provide an economic and environmental analysis to determine “the most desirable route for the right of way” within 21 months of ANILCA’s passage and that this document shall not be subject to a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review or judicial review. All of this has been done.

Yet the Biden administration has once again bowed to the pressures from Lower 48 environmental groups, which see our state as a giant park where all resource production should be off-limits. How our State’s economy survives is not a question that they’re burdened with. The fight over access to the Tongass National Forest is another example of this mentality. In each case, the strategy is to prevent or limit access to resources.

As for the Ambler Road, the Biden administration is requiring a NEPA review for access over a 30-mile stretch of BLM-managed, state-selected land. That land has been “withdrawn” by the Secretary of Interior since the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was enacted in 1971 and should have been conveyed to the state long ago.

Let me be clear: This is not a fight over one road and access in Alaska. It’s about fulfilling the promises that the U.S. Congress and president made to Alaska that are enshrined in our nation’s laws – promises that have been repeatedly broken by politicians in Washington.

Infrastructure projects such as the Ambler Road create jobs, revenue and economic growth across Alaska. These jobs, both direct and indirect, hold enormous potential to improve the lives of all Alaskans, including Alaska Natives who need nearby economic opportunity in order to stay in their villages and continue to practice the subsistence lifestyles that have sustained them for countless generations.

Last year, the mining industry contributed $1.1 billion in goods and services to more than 450 Alaska businesses, while generating $51 million in local tax revenues and $136 million in state revenues to help fund essential services such as schools, roads and public safety. Alaska Native regional and village corporations received $235 million in royalty payments in 2023.

It is especially important to Alaska that new mining projects come online as soon as possible, given the pending closure of the Red Dog mine at the end of the decade, which will deprive rural communities of jobs and significant revenues they have depended on for decades.

Ambler’s economic benefits would extend far beyond the north. Ore will be trucked along the road to Fairbanks, where it will be carried south by rail to the Port of Alaska in Anchorage. This will produce additional revenues for rail operators and will help stimulate investments and facilitate the transport of goods along the rail route.

Ambler mining will additionally increase port activity as minerals are shipped for processing or delivery to domestic or international markets. That will open the door for even more economic opportunities in Anchorage and elsewhere in the state.

Alaska needs to fight for its rights on the Ambler issue and its rights for access throughout the state. It is outrageous that with our mineral wealth, the state has only five large-scale metal mines.

I’m encouraged to see that the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) and the state are preparing litigation to fulfill the mandate of ANILCA regarding the Ambler Road. They should get on with it. I’m also glad to see our congressional delegation standing up to the Biden administration over Ambler.

Alaska needs the federal government to get to yes on the Ambler Road as quickly as possible and finally fulfill the promises made to our state long ago. Alaska also needs the federal government to treat Alaska as a sovereign state, brought into the union on an equal footing, which is entitled to enjoy all of the promises of resource and economic development made at statehood and the commitments to access to achieve that resource and economic development made in ANILCA.

Frank Murkowski is a former U.S. senator and governor of Alaska.

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