The Biden Administration is facing criticism from Alaska’s Congressional Delegation and Governor after the U.S. Department of the Interior’s court filing to reopen the Record of Decision for the Ambler Mining District Industrial Access Road project. The Ambler Road project – which began permitting during the Obama Administration – received federal approval in July 2020, but now faces months of supplemental environmental analysis.
The Ambler Road would provide access needed to responsibly develop several high-grade mineral deposits, which includes copper, cobalt, zinc, silver, gold, and other metals in Northwest Alaska. A right-of-way across federal land is guaranteed by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. The critical minerals are deemed crucial to all aspects of modern technology and national security. The Ambler project is expected to provide more than 3,000 total jobs during construction and an estimated 1,800 total jobs during operation of the road and associated mines.
Sen. Murkowski said:
“America’s lack of mineral security should be one of the Biden administration’s highest priorities, but its incoherent policies are making the problem worse. It’s stunning: on the very same day the President attempted to tout ‘progress’ on mineral development, his administration backtracked and set back this crucial project, which will enable Alaska to responsibly produce a range of needed minerals. This decision will harm Alaska, including the Alaska Natives who support and will benefit from this project. Nor could it come at a worse time: how can the Biden administration possibly watch Russia leverage Europe on natural gas, and then decide to put the United States in the exact same position on minerals? We will hold the administration to an aggressive timeline for the completion of this analysis and expect them to allow as much work on the project as possible to continue, even as that occurs.”
Sen. Dan Sullivan:
“This filing is a continuation of the Biden administration’s self-destructive policies that target Alaska families and American workers while seriously undermining our national security. As has been the case with many of this administration’s executive actions, the only winners are the far-left radical environmental groups that want to shut down all Alaska economic opportunities, and aggressive dictators like Russia’s Vladimir Putin and the Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping, both of whom can hardly believe their luck that the leader of the free world—their biggest adversary—continues to unilaterally disarm America in some of our nation’s most important areas of strength: energy, natural resources and critical minerals.”
Congressman Don Young:
“Today’s move by the Department of the Interior could not have come at a worse time. We are in the midst of a continued global supply chain crisis that has seriously constrained the availability of critical minerals. Frankly, we can and should be responsibly developing critical minerals here in Alaska instead of continuing to be reliant on adversarial nations and the whims of geopolitical faceoffs. At this very moment, Vladimir Putin and his cronies appear to have their sights set on invading Ukraine. Why, then, would President Biden reward Putin by hamstringing our economy and Alaskan mining operations by burying the proposed Ambler Road project under mountains of paperwork and bureaucracy? This is not just bad policy but also an affront to our national security. The Ambler project represents a tremendous opportunity for our state, and it has successfully undergone legally required environmental reviews, including an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). To require another EIS is a significant waste of both taxpayer dollars and employee resources.
“The Trump Administration was clear-eyed about our reliance on foreign adversaries for critical minerals, and I welcomed then-President Trump’s September 2020 Executive Order declaring a national emergency on mineral sourcing. This emergency is more serious than ever, and I could only imagine the outrage that Democrats would have, and deservedly so, if the Trump Administration took steps to weaken our economy and diminish our national security only to the benefit of nations that wish us ill. Instead, we hear silence. Secretary Haaland and I have a history of working together, and she pledged to keep an open mind about the unique issues facing our state. Her disappointing decision on Ambler Road represents more of the same tired attacks on Alaska that the Biden Administration has been carrying out for over a year. This move by President Biden and Secretary Haaland is dead wrong, harming not just Alaska, but the United States as a whole. I call on the Administration to stop emboldening our adversaries abroad by shutting down economic activity here at home.”
In addition to the Ambler Road filing, in recent days, the Democratic members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission voted to make it more difficult to build natural gas pipelines. A statement from the Alaska Congressional Delegation says that this action makes it more expensive to heat the homes of hundreds of millions of Americans, make America’s energy grid less reliable, and further empower America’s adversaries.
Governor Mike Dunleavy:
“The Biden Administration has opened yet another front in its war on Alaska. You would think President Biden would want to improve access to American sources of copper and other strategic minerals that are needed in our combined efforts to increase renewables. Instead, actions like this only serve to push development to Third World nations that don’t have the environmental ethic that Alaskans have. This pendulum swing away from the last federal administration’s approval disregards extensive environmental studies and widespread social engagement while creating instability in long-term investment.”
On Monday, it was reported that Department of the Interior has decided to pause new federal oil and gas leases and permits on all federal lands.
