WASHINGTON—In a swift move signaling a break from Biden-era energy and mining development, President Trump yesterday approved the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority’s (AIDEA) appeal to advance the long-stalled Ambler Road Project. The action overturned the Biden administration’s 2024 rejection of the project and reignites familiar controversy over balancing U.S.-based mineral production with environmental objections.
The 211-mile industrial road, first proposed fifteen years ago by AIDEA to connect the Dalton Highway to the remote Ambler Mining District in northwest Alaska, promises to unlock vast deposits of copper, zinc, cobalt, gallium, and other critical minerals essential for national security and green energy technologies. Without U.S.-based mines, many argue, domestic demand for minerals becomes overly dependent on foreign supply chains, which only add to global environmental woes. Dubbed one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper-zinc belts, the district holds over 1,700 active mining claims; but its isolation—accessible only by air or winter ice roads—has long hindered development. Proponents, including Alaska’s mining industry, argue the road is vital for domestic manufacturing, projecting 2,730 construction jobs, $1.1 billion in state revenues from taxes and royalties, and a boost to rural economies battered by high costs and limited opportunities.
Yet the project’s history is marred by protracted legal battles and deep divisions. Since AIDEA’s initial right-of-way application in 2018, environmental groups and several Native communities have fought it, citing irreversible harm to caribou migration routes, salmon streams, and sacred lands in the Brooks Range. The proposed route skirts the southern edge of Gates of the Arctic National Park and crosses sensitive wetlands that support subsistence activities for northern villagers who rely on hunting and fishing. In May 2024, NANA Regional Corporation, representing Northwest Alaska’s Iñupiat shareholders, severed ties with the project, citing issues with AIDEA’s management and warning of cultural harm. Earthworks and the Sierra Club warned against a “disastrous industrial corridor” that could fragment wildlife habitats and pollute rivers, urging President Biden to reject it—a plea he heeded in April 2024 by halting the issuance of federal permits.
Trump’s decision, framed as a cornerstone of his “energy dominance agenda,” directs the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reissue permits, deeming the road to be “in the public interest” with no viable alternatives. It builds on executive actions taken since his January 2025 inauguration: an order unleashing Alaska’s resources; streamlined permitting that reduced approval times; a March mandate to accelerate critical mineral production; an April Section 232 order to review import risks; and a June memo curbing bureaucratic overlap.
Reactions poured in swiftly. Alaska Republicans and miners celebrated, with Gov. Mike Dunleavy calling it “a win for working families.” Congressman Nick Begich, who has consistently favored the project, referred to the Ambler Mining District as “a strategic asset for Alaska and an important pathway to critical mineral development in the United States.” He described President Trump’s decision to grant AIDEA’s appeal as “a historic day for Alaska’s self-determination and will get Ambler access back on track.”
NANA reiterated opposition, vowing legal challenges, while Cooper Freeman, Alaska Director for the Center for Biological Diversity, echoed the sentiments of the Sierra Club and others: “This private mining road” he said in a written statement to MRAK, “would threaten millions of wild acres in the Arctic, and ramming this project through is a slap in the face to everyone who’s spoken out about its harms. The caribou herds migrating through this wilderness can’t take any more obstacles.”
Accompanying the Ambler Road action was an announcement that the U.S. government would make a $35.6 million investment in Trilogy Metals, securing a 10% stake plus warrants for 7.5% more, to fund exploration in the district. Trilogy, a key player, hailed it as a “game-changer” for U.S. competitiveness against China.
A Fact Sheet from the White House announcement can be seen here.
As permitting enters a fast-track phase, the Ambler Road project reflects a growing dilemma: How will America harness mineral riches without eroding the heart of our wilderness? With litigation sure to follow, this question will require both sides of the issue to make their best case to the state and to the nation.
Pebble Mine is next!!
Trump killed pebble.
For a while. That was then. This is now. I would tend to agree with Marc. Cheers –
I’m OK with the road, but I’d also be wary of anything coming from the White House called a “Fact Sheet” nowadays. And why are traditionally free-and-unfetterered-market Capitalist Republicans now taking stakes in so many US businesses? Isn’t that more of a Socialist thing?
Hans,
The trans continental railroad was a “socialist thing in that the Federal Government paid the Railroad men to build it , along with vast land grants… indeed Hans, the Dalton Highway, the one I helped build 51 years ago, also was a DOT project.
Hans, kindly elaborate on your “fact sheet” comment. I am having trouble understanding what exactly you mean. To be clear, Trump has been hitting on all 12 cylinders since assuming office, a sea change from the last 4 years of President Cabbage Head. Unless you love seedy corruption, of course. President Auto-Pen was incredible in that dept.
The Amber Road project is envisioned as a toll road, with no public access, and the cost of construction, operation and maintenance would be paid for via fees levied on “industrial users (e.g. Miners and mining companies/corporations both foreign and domestic).
One caveat, if the mining companies/corporations involved were unable to pay, go bankrupt, or just pull up stakes and leave, then Alaska would be left with the financial burden of the road. Roll the dice.
While the road may start out as private, it won’t stay that way. It will quickly get public traffic and come under control of the State for upkeep, maintenance and expansion, similar to what the logging roads started out as and became over time. Only discussion is how fast it is opened to the general public.
Roads and other transportation infrastructure are never burdens. They are enablers of economic expansion and pay for themselves many times over their operational lifetimes. Cheers –
The caribou herds migrating through this wilderness can’t take any more obstacles.” Yeah right! It’s a road not the Alaska pipeline, Which btw the Caribou adapted just fine.
Have you ever looked at a caribou study? They are infinitely more spooked by vehicles than pipelines, and they show real hesitation (days in some instances) for passing under a pipeline.
and despite all of that, the caribou populations increased…
The argument that this development will destroys the wildlife has been proved wrong by the many many years the pipeline has been flowing oil from the north slope to Valdez. It does not interfere with the Caribou or the wildlife in some ways It seems to help them and protect them from the harsh winds of the north. This is an unbelievably large state that has very little development on its lands. We need projects like this to give our children and our children’s children’s jobs so that they will stay in our state and work and prosper.
“NANA reiterated opposition.” NANA should ask its people.
I think Alaskans will support this more if there are some royalties kicked back to the PFD to bolster it. Any mineral or oil development should include this.
I agree, Ambler is a resource giveaway, Alaska gets nothing.
Royalties are paid to the state and money from mining goes into the Permanent Fund.
Incorrect, Net royalty’s comes after expenses and with state oversight, there goes the money and regulation, a measly 3%.
You know, I take exception to your bending over backwards for foreigners at the would be expense of Alaskan’s, were you even born here? Are you going to live in Alaska all your life?
If the state received a percent of the money for the use of the Ambler road at 25% of the net, then we can have a discussion.
And by the way Steve, how are they going to power the mine and if diesel or natural gas, will Alaskans get they’er fare share of that money?
I wish Wally Hickel were Governor, he would make sure Alaska gets its fare share.
You start by saying I am incorrect and then say nothing at all that disproves what I’ve said. Please take a breath and try again, if you mistakenly believe I am incorrect then explain it instead of admitting what I said was in fact true. Your completely baseless and incorrect ad hominem attacks that aren’t worth discussing. Your post is nothing but nonsense.
I get it, you demand more and more from the private sector all while demanding you get more and government paid for by those who actually produce.
This discussion, this road, has precious little to do with how the mine powers itself or how you figure the state gets it’scut from natural gas or diesel. The fact you bring it up here is yet another example of how unable you are to discuss the matters at hand and must resort to attempting to change the subject in your failed attempt to change the subject.
Hopefully you don’t start rambling on about how the mines here will be 100 times the size of the largest open pit mine ever developed and how it will be the world’s first open pit dredge….we’ve been down that road before.
May as well go all the way to the coast.
That would get us to Kotzebue and Red Dog.
There is no such thing as wilderness.
Everywhere, even AK’s No. Slope of all places, had humans living there.
The inhabitants of this wilderness are against this road & the people it will bring to the area.
But not all are against this, some people (especially younger) want jobs.
But when they get a good job they move away because they have money & the villages shrink.
Elders out there want their subsistence area intact, plus they don’t want the young generation to move away.
Nulato had 350 people when I was there in the 90s, now it has 240 people.
Why? Young people take a 2 hour plane ride to FBX and get good paying slope/ union jobs.
Then they rent apts. and buy cars.
PS: Sierra Club was behind Carter’s D-2 lands bill, the Fed land grab that took 66% of AK.
And, at the time, SC wanted all villages & people removed from “their wilderness”
True story.
Well, regardless of how you feel about the Ambler Road, at least the President picked a (foreign) mining company to be a winner. Seems a little Marxist to me, but who cares about the free market when Trump is buying companies with the U.S. Treasury. Thank goodness Brandon didn’t do this with Siemens for wind turbines.
Using Public Tax $$$$ to subsidize a private road is not in the public interest
Debate ended in 1980 when ANILCA passed into law. Or are we able to just ignore other provisions of that law as well?