From the Alaska Democratic Party’s official newsletter, the official policy of Democrats in Alaska is to oppose the King Cove Road because Republicans favor it, and Republicans only favor it only for the purpose of using it as a model for opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s coastal plain for oil development. We quote the newsletter:
“The King Cove Road which would run through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge has been a flashpoint between conservatives and progressives with the unlikely small village of King Cove caught in the middle of the fight. The battle for the road is to create easier access for this small isolated community to a better airport in case of medical emergencies, conservatives argue.
“You would not be wrong to be cynical about this. Why should conservatives suddenly care about a Native village in the remotest part of the state? And why should they suddenly care about accessibility to health care, for that matter? Does it sound out of character, perhaps? Wouldn’t you expect to hear something like, “They should just move to Anchorage?” or “They just want free stuff!” or “Living there is a choice.”
“You’re about to have an aha moment.
“…the move will surely serve as a model for future challenges to federal wilderness protection, America’s highest standard of public land conservation. The vast majority of Izembek has been designated as a wilderness area for decades.”
“There’s a reason they don’t refer to it as the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge road, just like they don’t call it the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Nobody wants to mess up a refuge, but “King Cove Road” and “ANWR” sound perfectly construction-worthy.
“This is not to say that the people of King Cove don’t have a genuine interest in being able to more easily access medical care, but let’s not go thinking that empathy and healthcare access for a small Native community is the real motivator for Republicans here. It’s alllll about resource extraction and creating precedent for blasting through any protected wilderness area they want.”
The coastal plain of ANWR, called Section 1002, has long been designated for oil and gas development in 1.5 million acres of the over 19.6 million acres of ANWR. It is the only area that is subject to energy development and has an estimated 4.3 to 11.8 billion barrels of recoverable oil.
The writer is clearly twisted. Did she write it on 4:20?
Why don’t you try writing as much as Suzanne does in a day, plus doing the editorial, running this site and doing the investigation, then let us read your work, Joel.
Only a consumer of daily dope takes a cheap shot like that. Democrats always blame others for the things they do themselves. Have another strong toke, Joey. Your reading comprehension stopped at the first comma of the first sentence of the first paragraph. About 3rd or 4th grade level. Maybe less.
Dalton Highway, Alyeska pipeline, or Pruhdoe Bay. All are proof it can be done. SMH…
It’s just natives. Who cares if they live or die? Just vote when told to.
This is your future, Alaska
Just WOW! These people are actually sooooooo stupid and evil they can’t see they just admitted they don’t care about the health of Alaskan Natives!!! To quote my old Pastor (now deceased), best friend and a great man, Bob Enyart, “Stupid doesn’t make you sin but sin makes you stupid.”
This is so disgusting! Does the writer not know that US Senator Dan Sullivan and Governor Mike Dunleavy are married to First peoples? So Republicans are to have no sympathies and concerns for Native people what have lived in that area for far longer than than the so-called democrats who are so concerned for everyone that they immediately put the economy into a tailspin so that working people cannot afford gas and groceries. The writer who wrote this piece of drivel that Suzanne is quoting should be banished to the lower 48, where she can join those in misery in a blue state, any blue state. Do any of these democrats in Alaska have the remotest idea of what they have done to the country? Do they care?
Put yourself in their shoes, give the citizens a break, oath breakers. Can you imagine having the power and doing evil. It’s not a democrat or a republican, it’s oath integrity or an oath breaker. I am the poorest man in the nation and my education may lack ALL. But I know right from wrong and I could do better. And this is so so wrong. Give the citizens a road. So help you GOD you swore oath takers your contact is with GOD for the citizens remember.
They obviously do not understand ANILCA Title 11. The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, title 11 is the permitting process used to construct on an Alaska Refuge or Wilderness. Something that would be forbidden in the lower 48.
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For the masses, ANILCA title 11 allows for the construction of transportation and utility corridors through Alaskan Refuges and Wildernesses. Designate an area as Wilderness with a capital W, and do not even think about construction. But, in Alaska, ANILCA allows construction IF you can demonstrate the purpose and need cannot be met any other way.
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There are several moving parts in getting an ANILCA Title 11 application approved, and it can fail at any point. The King Cove road did not make it through the application process, if I understand correctly, because there are alternative ways to get into the village that do not require disturbing the Refuge. (I could be wrong on that front.)
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However, drilling along the coast of ANWR will likely not require an ANILCA Title 11 application. Meaning the King Cove road is not a template for making it happen. It is, in fact, the wrong way to go about it.
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And… that is why you nee to take everything you read, all position papers, all columns with the proverbial grain of salt.
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Finally.
I find it amazing that the leftists are not shouting from the rooftops about how the village of King Cove is oppressed, and big Government needs to step in and help those poor people.
Just a fundraising scheme for libs. They just don’t care.
Where does the writer get “suddenly “ from? This has been an issue for years. Sounds a paranoid to me.
There will be no road if the locals had to pay the tens of millions of dollars it would cost to build and maintain.
Meanwhile, those ‘locals’ are paying just as much as you are for your road…And, your road does them no damn good at all…..
Going to have to disagree with you there Bob.
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The majority of road funding comes from taxes on gasoline and diesel. There is also vehicle registration fees, and tolls/overroad taxes for trucks. The more miles you drive, the more you pay.
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The community of King Cove does not have anywhere near enough cars, roads, or transportation to pay anywhere near the same for the roads. But… thanks for playing anyway.
Ah there it is! Silly democrats.
Wow. This has gotten way out of hand.
Access to our Medical Industrial Complex
Fly to Los Anchorage to get yur teeth cleaned and PARTY on the street corner
Any rural Alaskan who votes Democrat thereby accepts that they are third-class residents – not even citizens – whose lives are of no interest to those who demonstrate through their actions that they so despise them.
May one day the scales be lifted from their eyes!
“‘but let’s not go thinking that empathy and healthcare access for a small Native community is the real motivator for Republicans here. It’s alllll about resource extraction and creating precedent for blasting through any protected wilderness area they want.’”
Well of course it’s about resource extraction. This is what these people don’t get. In the pursuit of economic/financial expansion there is a ripple effect that leads to the benefit of many. So in the process of getting easier access to the resources, this village is getting easier access to resources THEY NEED so they can improve their standard of living. It’s a win/win.
Democrats are for the working class? Don’t make me laugh.
So disallow legitimate economic opportunity to the most socially disadvantaged people of Alaska forever mentally ill, spiritually bereft comnunists. You are holding your line not for the natives to be imperiled into poverty forever but to get your own sellout inclusive ticket to the WEF Ball and an invite to Oxford. So nice.
The point is that removing land from Wilderness status sets a precedent for further incursions. Its a big deal
Who wants Alaska in wilderness status? WEF? UN? I don’t.
It is also something that has happened numerous times in the past, and will continue to happen into the future. Generally, when a development project of any kind requires Wilderness, there is a land swap, returning an equivalently productive amount of land to the Wilderness, but that is not always the case.
I guess if you’re a Dem writing a newsletter to Dems, you can say outrageous things like that with a straight face. The newsletter asks why would conservatives suddenly care about accessibility to health care? Do Alaska Democrats honestly assume it’s some kind of God-given fact that conservatives don’t care about access to health care? The newsletter says that we say things like “They should just move to Anchorage?” or “Living there is a choice.” My gosh people are horrid! And they’ll say anything about their enemies!
This issue is my soapbox-of-the-month! I flew fixed wing medevac for 8 years here in our great state, so I have a thorough understanding of what it takes to “access health care” in AK. Year after year, we fly to Ketchikan, park the plane, and wait for a ferry to to transport the nurses to the hospital, and bring them back with a patient. The nurses have an enormous amount of gear, so every change of vehicle is time-consuming chore.
Then I come to find out that the “Bridge to Nowhere” story that I had mostly ignored since it came out, was about building a bridge across the channel in Ketchikan! It’s literally a bridge from the airport to the hospital! How could that have ever been labelled as a bridge to nowhere?!
It’s the same thing with King Cove. It’s very hard to get into King Cove, and impossible at night. Can you imagine being hurt so badly, or being so seriously ill, that you need emergency transportation to Anchorage, and you have to get in a little boat and cross the sea to get to an airport?!
When I first heard about the road to King Cove, I thought “Oh Thank Goodness! Those people really, really need a road!” I can’t think of more important road to build! And it’s such a small, simple project. It is absolutely unconscionable to oppose the King Cove Road!
And I think the “Izembek National Wildlife Refuge” road is a great name for it!
Hmmm…. The day after the this woman was appointed as secretary of Interior, Bethel’s Public Radio was ablaze with Bethel’s Native Women Leaders, raining praise on the President for picking a Native Woman.
Mary Peltola was one of the loudest supporters.
Well Mary, since you climbed into the political arena for a Congressional run, tell us why we should trust your judgment after watching this disaster shut down 25 MILLION ACRES of ANWAR and deny a simply 25 Mile Road for a Village to have all weather airport access???
How would democrats know? just build the road and we will find out if democrats q-anon superstition was correct.
I know for sure when there is a new road it would bring a gas station or two with a mini grocer and snack venue where the local residents could drive down for a soda, hotdog, chips, and candy bar. As well it’ll provide a job for someone’s relative.
Well Jen, you obliquely revealed the true reason for the road: money. Fish business interests in particular.
At what point in time does one seriously consider the democrat party and the registered democrat an existential threat to one’s economic freedom and prosperity?
At what point in time does one seriously consider the democrat party and the registered democrat … “The Enemy Within?”
That’s been my opinion for decades
I just read that Marjorie Taylor Greene proposed Marshall (sic) law on January 17 2020 because of the ludicrous and treasonous Big Lie. That’s the enemy within. The true authoritarians, the biggest threat to personal freedom are conservatives.
A Republican vote is a vote against democracy.
“A Republican vote is a vote against democracy.”
Well, that explains about 99% of your comments on this site.
Thanks for bring this to our attention so we can better see just how crazy some are on the left and a bigger real problem is there are many out there who get this kind of garbage and believe it..!!!
“You’re about to have an aha moment.”
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No, we are having a HA(H)Aland moment.
So, I care about the “community needs” of King Cove! Sometimes I get a pleasant notion–a flash of goodwill–but that is no reason to presume upon my flawed character. As most of us are aware, there are limits to everything; public sentiment is no exception. If I can be accused of hypocrisy, it can be none other than the italicized and bold version! And if you’re one of those who are inclined to pray for “sinners,” save your breath on me: I have a personal appointment with St. Peter and will be speaking for myself.
They prefer the people there get Diversity Inclusion and Equity..DIE
Well then by definition all the Democrats care about is stopping oil production. And they will sacrifice the health and wellbeing of anyone-even their supporters- to achieve that.
Oil is the life blood of man that’s used in almost every product imaginable, not just gasoline for automobiles. Democrats don’t just hate oil, they hate life in general and are against everything that makes life operate in a free society.
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