Take-back time: Biden-Harris suspend Ambler Road permit

By
Suzanne Downing
-
30

What the federal government gives, the federal government can take away.

Several days before permanently locking up another 28 million acres of Alaska — the size of the state of Mississippi — the Biden-Harris Administration quietly yanked the permit for the Ambler Road.

The permit had been granted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority to fulfill the federal government’s legal obligation to provide access to state-owned lands that were set aside for mining in the southern Brooks Range, in the Northwest Arctic Borough.

The Northwest Arctic Borough is home to about 7,200 people, and the per-capita income is roughly $21,000 annually.

The Biden-Harris Administration suspended the water and wetlands permit needed to fill a narrow corridor for the 211-mile roadbed that would allow trucks to go to and from the mining site and the Dalton Highway.

The permit cancellation came six weeks after the Bureau of Land Management had rejected the entire project, when the Biden-Harris Administration picked the “no build” option. By doing so, the federal government broke several federal laws that give Alaska the right to access the area.

“The Biden-Harris administration is actively ignoring a law that has been on the books for over 40 years, mandating the Secretary of Interior to grant permits for the Ambler Road, despite its political appointees being sworn to uphold the laws of the United States,” said the Institute for Energy Research. “The latest action by the Army Corps of Engineers follows an unlawful action by the Department of Interior a month earlier regarding the same project. Despite the Biden-Harris Administration’s net-zero climate policies, which call for more minerals for “green energy” manufacture, it has stopped or delayed mine development for critical minerals in other parts of Alaska and other U.S. states.”

In June, PJ Simon, First Chief of Allakaket, said, “This decision shows a total lack of respect for tribes and our way of life. We need jobs, we need affordable gas, and we need the road. Blocking this access keeps us trapped in poverty and disregards the voices of those who
support the project.”

The Ambler Mining District is landlocked, surrounded by Native Corporation and federal land. Without a right-of-way, the state’s efforts to create an economy for the area appear to be dead, although litigation will surely be the next step for AIDEA and the State of Alaska.

“It’s another example of the ‘no on everything’ coming from the Biden-Harris Administration,” said Nick Begich, candidate for Congress. “Our state can’t just take this constant abuse from the colonial overlords in D.C. I will fight for Alaska, and I’ll never stop.”

Rep. Mary Peltola issued no statement about the cancellation of the already-granted permit.

AIDEA is also fighting the permit cancellation. It sent a letter to the Corps stating multiple objections to the decision.

“Not only do the permits not address the same geographic areas, but further, the BLM and the USACE right-of-way permits are not legally intertwined,” AIDEA said in its letter to the Army Corps of Engineers. “First, the USACE is bound to follow federal laws, rules and regulations. Key among these is the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, Pub. L. 96-487. ANILCA provides the owner of parcels surrounded by Department of Interior lands with a mandatory right of access over DOI lands as the agency determines are ‘adequate to secure’ the ‘reasonable use and enjoyment’ of the surrounded parcel, subject to DOI’s ‘rules and regulations applicable to access over public lands.’”

Breaking bad: Biden-Harris slay Ambler mining project, and all new oil and gas in Arctic, Beaufort

30 COMMENTS

  2. Biden does what He does best. Break any and all laws and violate the constitution as if it were written on toilet paper.

    • Moot point. Countless calls to her office are NEVER returned or answered because they fall on deaf ears.
      They HAVE no answers to the important questions so she is like Kamala…just kackle away as the serfs b**ch about her.
      I dont hear people crying except the Democrats crying like 12 year olds when Greta Thunberg loses her mind on stage in front of them so they all start acting out like her and all you get is children crying about NOTHING!

  6. I’m currently bombarded by Peltola campaign ads saying she’s for working Alaskans. But she’s not the only one to blame. Where is Murkowski? Sullivan? Dunleavy? Alaska is under attack and they all remain silent.

    • Did you expect them to actually stand up and do something?

      Princess is a Democrat, Swampy Dan only pops up when he thinks he can win on an issue, and the Cowardly Lion hides under a desk.

    • “Where is Murkowski?
      We all know without a doubt she helped write Mary’s answers to the questions for her as a good “Salmon Sister would.
      Havent you noticed the scowl of a freshly caught salmon on Murky’s face?

  8. If ever the need to demonstrate to the working class of Alaska to vote Republican, it is action such as this, and this is not the only case, but it will be the one more sinister and restrictive to our development of resources. Would it be a dream to have President Trump reverses each and every restriction on placed on our State from the conception of federal confiscation literately called “Statehood” on day one. Cheers

  9. I smell desperation from this abysmal administration. Grabbing the silver as the clocks tick down. Clutching their pearls as they pray that Soros will finance the end of actual world democracy. They’ve been screaming “Democracy is at Stake” for the past twelve years, as they circumvented democracy to install a Plan B that promises to fix everything “after the election” That’s an actual quote.

    Imagine waking up today, and having an elevated heart rate because you are freaking out that you might not get four more years of this complete shitshow.! Fascinating!

    As always, Cheeto Dust is Bad!

    • The Biden Clinton Obama “Democracy” they are screaming about saving is the transformation to Communism.

  10. The Ambler Road project was promised as a part of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. My father Nick Begich wrote the bill and got it passed in 1971 when he was Alaska’s United States Congressman. The office my son Nick III is running for 53 years later. My dad supported mining. My grandfather was a miner when he first came to the United States. Dad was born and grew up in Minnesota in the heart of the “iron range”.

    Dad new the possibilities for Alaska were incredible and opening up access was critical to the economic security of every Alaskan. There are other issues that are now understood regarding private land rights that access impacts. To find the right system for Alaska should include rail lines connecting our communities. Railroads move more freight and control corridors through private land avoiding trespass issues. Build a railroad to Ambler and then consider a direct rail connection to the Canadian rail system so we can move minerals the the lower-48 states economically. Presently the Jones Act restricts shipping minerals by sea from Alaska toto US ports. It is significantly less costly for producers to ship to other counties which is what they do. We need access. We need railroads linking our communities to the rest of the country.

    We need to remind the democrats that when they controlled both the US Senate and the US House they made a promise to the people of Alaska in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. The “good faith” everyone expected has repeatedly been betrayed by the federal government, just like “every other treaty”. My dad was a man that believed in an honest government which we no longer have.

    Send my son Nick Begich III to the United States Congress to finish the job and fix this mess. Time for leadership on this and many issues. Nick III is the person for this time to complete this job. God bless all of you who are helping him!

    • A seafood company was recently found guilty of violating the Jones Act for using a railroad to ship fish across the border, border crossings are ports of entry so shipping via train does not circumvent the Jones Act.

    • Nick; Upon studying the details of Ambler, their parent owner company’s are Trilogy metals of Vancouver BC and South 32 of Perth Australia whose mining practices provide no liability and contract out to contractors and sub contractors to mine and operate ore reduction with they’er own people.
      Alaska gets next to nothing monetarily with no legal way to enforce post mine clean up as all wet open pit mines require.
      Example; Trump denied pebble Ltd Army Corp. of Engineers permits with pebble Ltd also convicted in June of 2023 for security’s fraud by lying on federal permit applications about the true intended size of that particular mine. Foreign mining company’s can’t be trusted and cannot force Native Corporation land owners to yield to road construction.
      I believe if it’s Trump or Harris, both will likely turn the foreign owned mining company’s down.
      Summarize; Resource giveaway’s are not in the best interest of the state of Alaska.

  11. Let’s start Dozing, governor. Send the troopers to protect our equipment operators and put the Feds on notice.. this is war. This road is already permitted.

  12. Unfortunately what you propose makes too much sense. This is Alaska. Based upon our lack of achievement so far, nothing will ever happen.

  13. If building a mining road is economically feasible the mining companies should build it. Building the Ambler Road with Federal $ is not in the public interest. Alaskans should remember Federal lands belong to everyone.

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