Today the Bureau of Land Management completed the next stage in the review process for the proposed road to Ambler, a publicly funded private mining road that would cut through the heart of Alaska’s northernmost mountain range.
This release comes in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic, when people are concerned about their own and their communities' health and futures. Agencies should pause public processes until the crisis has passed, not move forward with business as usual…
Despite the health crisis, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) this week introduced a resolution to move $35 million of funds that should be used to directly support Alaska’s small businesses to the Arctic Industrial Development Fund to be spent on the proposed Ambler road. AIDEA is exploiting the pandemic to fund a mining project outside the appropriate legislative process to benefit a huge corporate interests rather than to focus on and assist Alaskans.
