We're Back in Court for the Proposed Ambler Road
Today, ten groups, including Alaska Wildlife Alliance, filed an amended and supplemental complaint against Ambler Road, represented by Trustees for Alaska.
The complaint challenges the Trump administration’s 2025 decision to reinstate the unlawful permits for the proposed Ambler Road. The 200-mile industrial gravel road would cut through the Gates of the Arctic National Preserve, cutting through one of the longest wildlife migration paths in the world, and cross nearly 3,000 rivers and streams. The road would fragment caribou habitat and interrupt traditional Alaska Native ways of life, diminishing food security, subsistence activities, and water quality.
“The Ambler Road isn't just a path of gravel; it is an industrial knife through the heart of the Brooks Range and the migratory paths of thousands of caribou. The plan involves thousands of river and stream crossings, risking irreversible pollution to the watersheds that fuel our state’s fisheries. We cannot allow the short-term profits of foreign mining companies to sacrifice the long-term survival of Alaska’s most iconic wildlife and the people who depend on them.” Nicole Schmitt, AWA Executive Director
The groups, represented by Trustees, have spent years fighting the proposed Ambler road in court. We originally sued the Trump administration in 2020 for illegally approving the road. The Department of the Interior asked the court to allow it to address several legal errors and prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement. The lawsuit was paused during that process.
In 2024, the Bureau of Land Management determined that the impacts the proposed Ambler road would have on communities, food resources, and the land would be too significant, and denied the requested right-of-way across Bureau lands. Despite those concerns, the Trump administration reinstated the permits in October 2025.
Our supplemental complaint argues that the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, and the Army Corps of Engineers acted beyond their legal authority and broke numerous laws, including the Alaska National Interest Lands Claims Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. It also raises an argument that President Trump acted beyond the bounds of the law in directing the agencies to reapprove the project.
Read the full press release below.
