Former Trilogy Metals CEO Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse’s Oct. 30 opinion piece omitted a number of important and easily verifiable facts about the proposed Ambler Road.
Building a 200-plus mile road to the Ambler Mining District in the Interior would be expensive. Some estimate the cost would be $1 billion or more. Companies interested in developing in the region could build the road, but they want the state to do it because that would reduce their permitting headaches and lower financing costs. Faced with a major fiscal crisis, Alaska does not have the money to fund such megaprojects.
The state already has spent more than $26 million on the road. While Van Nieuwenhuyse states “no state general funds (are) needed,” Alaska already is deeply in the hole on this project and continues to spend (see “Nearly out of money, Ambler road project gets cash infusion from state corporation,” Oct. 25). There is no guarantee that the mining companies won’t abandon the Ambler Mining District at some point, leaving the state with enormous costs for reclamation and road-bond repayment.
Let’s cut the state’s losses and shut down this project, the sooner the better.
— Lois Epstein
The Wilderness Society
Anchorage
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