Trade groups are incensed; many Alaska Natives feel ignored; DC delegation and governor vow to fight what is seen as a "politically motivated" ruling.

Politically motivated, Illegal, hypocritical, irresponsible, unacceptable, and disgusting; this is how Alaska business leaders, policymakers, and Natives are characterizing the Biden administration's denial of permits to build a road that would link the critical mineral-rich Ambler Mining District to North American markets.

Mike Dunleavy

"To hinder access to our responsibly managed resources and then force America to import minerals from countries with questionable environmental practices is not just ironic – it's irresponsible and unacceptable," Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy said in response to U.S. Bureau of Land Management's denial to reauthorize previously approved federal permits needed for the Ambler Road.

On the same day as it announced its decision not to reauthorize a previously permitted road that would deliver Alaskan metals into America's supply chain, BLM rolled out the finalization of a rule that puts 13 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A) on the North Slope off limits to oil and gas production.

This double announcement that severely impacts resource development in Northwest Alaska solicited a strong response from Alaska's senators.

"The Biden administration is deliberately undertaking policies to punish Americans and undermine our strengths while continuing to help our adversaries," said Sen. Dan Sullivan. "Shutting down two of the world's most important energy and critical mineral developments in our country sends this message to the dictators in Iran, China and Russia: 'We won't use our resources to strengthen America, but we'll become more dependent on yours.'"

Sen. Lisa Murkowski said any short-term political gains President Biden hopes to get from shutting down the Ambler Road and half of the NPR-A comes at the long-term expense of Alaskans and the nation.

"At this point, the Biden administration is undermining the rule of law, ignoring the voices of Alaska Natives, and punishing Alaska despite our strong environmental record," she said.

Incensed by illegal decision

In its April 19 announcement, BLM confirmed leaks to news agencies earlier in the week that it had selected the "no action" alternative to the final supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) for the proposed Ambler Road.

No action is basically a denial of permits that says that the federal agency has decided not to authorize the project applied for or any of the alternatives that were considered during the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) permitting process.

"The 'no action' alternative, if finalized in a record of decision, would mean that AIDEA (Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority) would not receive a right-of-way to build the road across BLM-managed public lands," BLM penned in an April 19 statement.

Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority

Many considered the no action alternative for the Ambler Road as a non-starter due to a denial of authorizations to build the road being in direct conflict with Ambler Mining District access guarantees that Congress wrote into the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) in 1980.

"Congress finds that there is a need for access for surface transportation purposes 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." –Section 201 (4) of ANILCA.

BLM and the National Park Service originally approved the permits in 2020 for a 211-mile road linking the Ambler Mining District to Alaska's highway system that would have met the requirements of this congressional mandate.

Under the Biden administration, however, the federal land manager pulled the permits for further review.

BLM cited a lack of adequate consultation with Alaska tribes and evaluation of potential impacts the road might have on subsistence uses as its reasons for reevaluating the previously issued authorizations.

Two years after pulling the Ambler Road permits, the agency has decided not to approve the access guaranteed under ANILCA.

Leila Kimbrell

This move was met with a highly charged response.

"We are incensed that the Biden administration has blatantly ignored Congress' mandate in ANILCA that access 'shall' be provided to the Ambler district in Alaska and is once again blocking Alaska's right to develop its resources," said Resource Development Council for Alaska Executive Director Leila Kimbrell. "While this obstructionist stance may curry favor with Outside environmentalists, this hurts Alaskans by denying thousands of jobs for this region and the economic uplift associated with developing new infrastructure that an access road would provide, as well as development of minerals crucial for reliable energy and national security."

Alaska Natives feel ignored

Many of the Alaska Native Tribes and Villages closest to the proposed Ambler Road feel that their voices were drowned out by outside interests during BLM's decision-making process on the Ambler Road.

"I worry though that our voices are getting drowned out by people outside the region who don't understand the struggles of my community," said Miles Cleveland, president of Ambler, a village at the western end of the Ambler Road.

These struggles include some of the nation's highest costs for goods, including fuel and supplies needed to maintain a subsistence lifestyle, coupled with very few economic opportunities.

The Ambler Road is seen by many as a lifeline that would allow residents to stay in the region and practice their subsistence lifestyle.

"We need this road to feed our families and allow for more affordable goods to be transported to our community, as well as to provide jobs and investment for our village," said PJ Simon, first chief of Allakaket, a village about 45 miles south of the proposed road. "I want to see my young tribal members out in the forest hunting and fishing while earning a paycheck. This will keep our culture strong in a changing world."

This view toward future generations is also why councils for the villages of Hughes and Ruby passed resolutions of strong support for the Ambler Road.

"This resolution embodies our dedication to responsible resource development and securing a prosperous future for our younger and coming generations," said Hughes Village Chief Thelma Nicholia.

This look toward the future has many in the region more concerned about what will happen to their communities if the road is not built than if it is.

"The right question to ask is not 'what happens to our communities and Tribal members if a road is built and mining occurs?' but 'what happens to our communities and Tribal members if a road is not built and no jobs or opportunity exists for our children and future generations?" Hughes Village penned in its resolution.

This reframing of the Ambler Road question was first voiced by Larry Westlake Sr., an elder from the village of Kiana, another village in the region.

Larry Westlake Sr.

"We're not just building a road; we're forging a legacy for our children, guided by the wisdom of our ancestors," said Westlake, who co-chairs a subsistence advisory committee for the proposed Ambler Road. "This project brings a promise of jobs and new opportunities for our people. It's a path we're walking with care, ensuring it reflects our values and respects the land that has sustained us for generations."

This is a primary reason why 11 of the Alaska Native Villages in the area where the Ambler Road is to be built, along with the Northwest Arctic and North Slope boroughs, supported the industrial access project.

"The BLM cites Alaska Native subsistence as a reason for its recommendation to not build the Ambler Road, but the Biden administration is clearly not listening to Alaskans, much less the Alaska Native people closest to the proposed route," said Alaska Gov. Dunleavy. "The Allakaket Village Council, the Ruby Tribal Council, and the Hughes Village Tribe are federally-recognized Tribes. But when they speak in support of the Ambler Road, to the Biden administration they become federally-ignored."

Though BLM leaned on subsistence as the impetus for reevaluating and now denying permits for the Ambler Road, many of those who would benefit from this preservation of a traditional hunting, fishing, and gathering lifestyle believe the outcome may be the opposite.

"Without jobs, training, or development, my people are on the verge of disappearing into the twilight of history," said Simon. "Government officials need to better understand the struggles of our community and allow us to develop our resources responsibly."

Politically-motivated hypocrisy

While the economic impacts of BLM's Ambler Road decision will be more acutely felt by the people living in the region, the repercussions of the permit denial will reverberate across Alaska and the nation.

It is estimated that the road and the mines it would support would generate at least $1.3 billion in tax and royalty payments to state and local governments, more than $17 billion in labor income, and create upward of 14,000 jobs.

Kati Capozzi

"The Ambler Road is not just a road; it's a lifeline for economic revival of communities throughout the Interior and northwestern Alaska, who face threats to their traditional ways of life from unemployment and skyrocketing costs of living," said Alaska Chamber CEO Kati Capozzi. "Businesses are made up of real people, and in this case, real Alaskans. This decision to prevent access to the area is a loss not just for small businesses but the employees who work for them."

This includes nearly 500 good-paying jobs for workers that would have been needed during construction.

"Alaska employs a world-class construction community that now will be left to look for other work, perhaps out-of-state," said Associated General Contractors of Alaska Executive Director Alicia Amberg. "The most frustrating part is that this decision to deny access to the area is that it is clearly politically motivated and so unnecessary."

At the national level, the denial of permits to build the Ambler Road isolates high-grade deposits of copper, zinc, cobalt, and other metals critical to America's economy, security, and clean energy ambitions.

America's critical mineral needs and reliance on oft-adversarial nations for their supply is well-understood by President Biden and his administration.

"These minerals power phones and computers, household appliances, electric vehicles and batteries, solar panels, wind turbines, and so much more," the President explained to the American people during a nationally televised 2022 roundtable on critical minerals. "Without these minerals...they simply can't function."

The President went on to explain that the U.S. is nearly 100% reliant on imports from oft-adversarial countries for many of these critical minerals.

"And when it comes to clean energy, China has spent years cornering the market on many of the materials that power the technologies that we rely on," he said. "That's why I committed us to build a clean energy supply chain stamped 'Made in America.'"

Alaska Miners Association Executive Director Deantha Skibinski points out the double standard of the President's promise of domestic clean energy supply chains and the denial of permits for a road that would make it possible for mines in the Ambler District to deliver environmentally and socially responsible Made in America metals.

"This decision exposes a glaring hypocrisy: the Biden administration has repeatedly acknowledged the need for minerals and has touted sourcing them domestically," she said. "Unfortunately, it appears the administration is content to rely on cobalt sourced through child and slave labor in Africa and China rather than supporting ethical, sustainable mineral production in Alaska."

Frankly, I am disgusted

The Ambler District has been known as a world-class source of high-grade copper, zinc, and precious metals for the better part of six decades. The rich deposits in this area, however, have remained undeveloped due to the lack of road access.

Ambler Metals

High-grade copper-zinc-silver-gold mineralization drilled at the Arctic project in the Ambler District.

Roughly 13 years ago, Trilogy Metals Inc. (then NovaCopper) began building the partnerships and resources that would support building the road guaranteed by Congress in 1980.

Ambler Metals – a joint venture partnership owned equally by Trilogy and South32 Ltd. – has consolidated a 471,796-acre package of state and Alaska Native-owned lands that cover the world-class Arctic and Bornite deposits and more than a dozen earlier-staged mineral targets in the Ambler District.

Located only about 15 miles apart, these deposits host roughly 9.1 billion pounds of copper, 3.5 billion lb of zinc, 626 million lb of lead, 88 million lb of cobalt, 737,000 ounces of gold, and 57 million oz of silver in the indicated and inferred resource categories.

Germanium and gallium, critical minerals that the U.S. depends primarily on China and Russia for its supply, are also associated with these deposits.

Valhalla Metals Inc.'s Sun project, which lies alongside the Ambler Road route, currently hosts another 295.4 million lb of copper, 994.3 million lb of zinc, 332.3 million lb of lead, 26 million oz of silver, and 85,000 oz of gold.

Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse

"For an administration that talks about the importance of a domestic supply of critical metals, the importance of secure domestic supply chains and mandates to transition to a green energy and transportation future, this decision makes no sense," said Valhalla Metals Chairman Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, a mining executive who has been instrumental in building partnerships and critical minerals deposits in the Ambler District. "Instead, they should be listening to the people who live in the Kobuk and Koyukuk regions who want jobs and who want a better and sustainable future for their children. Instead, they listen to anti-mining groups outside of Alaska."

"Frankly, I am disgusted," he added.

BLM questions funding model

AIDEA, which was created by Alaska legislators in 1967 to spur economic development and create jobs in the state, plans to build the Ambler Road and recoup its investments by charging tolls to mining companies that would use the industrial access to deliver metals to market.

BLM characterized this plan as speculative, pointing out that there are no mines currently operating or being permitted in the Ambler District.

"The funding model to build, maintain and mitigate the impacts of the road is speculative: AIDEA would finance the road through funds from investors by selling bonds, and the bonds would be paid off over time by charging annual fees to mining companies who would eventually use the Ambler Road," the federal land manager wrote in its reasoning for not authorizing permits for the road.

Considering that Ambler Metals has the Arctic mine project ready for permitting and was awaiting the road decision before starting the process, and that there is already a successful precedent for AIDEA's road building and maintenance funding model, BLM's characterization of the funding model seems to be disingenuous and aimed at casting doubt on the economic viability of the road.

The Delong Mountain Transportation System (DMTS) road and port that AIDEA built in the 1980s to support the Red Dog mine in Northwest Alaska has proven to be a success for both the world-class zinc operation and the state.

Over the nearly four decades since the DMTS road and port was built, AIDEA has recouped the $180.2 million initial investment from fees for using the Northwest Alaska mine support infrastructure, paid dividends to the state from DMTS profits, and advanced the development authority's primary mission to promote, develop, and advance economic growth in Alaska.

"Since mining began, the Red Dog Mine has provided more than 3,000 jobs and over $1.3 billion in payments to the State of Alaska and to the Northwest Arctic Borough," Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy penned in AIDEA's 2023 annual report.

Beyond the impacts on local and state economies, AIDEA believes BLM's denial of the Ambler Road permits has national implications.

"Denying access to the Ambler Mining District, which adheres to stringent environmental standards, would ironically force our nation to send jobs overseas, rely on critical minerals from China and countries [with] little or no environmental protections, while impoverishing local Alaska Native communities near the road," said Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) Executive Director Randy Ruaro.

What's next?

It is almost certain that the state of Alaska will sue the federal government over the BLM decisions regarding the Ambler Road and NPR-A.

"My administration has been fighting for Alaska's rights since day one, and we will continue to oppose these grievous instances of federal overreach through the courts," Gov. Dunleavy said.

The state has a strong case and will likely win its lawsuits, but the court route could take upwards of five years to resolve.

"They are clearly illegal," Sen. Sullivan said of the decisions during a press conference on BLM's Ambler Road and NPR-A.

It is likely the Senate will request that both BLM decisions be reviewed under the Congressional Review Act (CRA). This would require BLM to submit their rulings to both houses of Congress and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) before they may take effect.

Dan Sullivan

Sullivan believes that the CRAs to disapprove the BLM decisions would pass both chambers but would still need to be signed by the President to be enacted.

The Alaska senator sees the court of public opinion and how that plays out in the 2024 election as the best route to reinstating the permits for the Ambler Road.

"The most important thing we can do is retake the Senate, retake the White House – this is going to be the ultimate revenge here," he said.

Sen. Murkowski said she will work with Sullivan and Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola "to overturn these decisions any way we can-whether in Congress, the courts, or the next administration."

"We are going to keep fighting," Sen. Sullivan added.

Author Bio

Shane Lasley, Publisher

Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.

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