About 70 people turned out for an at times emotional Bureau of Land Management meeting in Kotzebue earlier this month. Many shared concerns over the controversial Ambler Road project, a proposed 211-mile industrial road that would branch off west from the Dalton Highway.
The meeting is part of several public hearings and tribal consultations during the permitting process. The BLM is tasked with reviewing and evaluating public comments and the environmental impacts of the project.
Roswell Lincoln Schaeffer was one of two dozen people who spoke out against the project. He was also critical of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, the state-owned development corporation that wants to build the project.
“I was born and raised here, and I lived here in Kotzebue for 76 years,” Schaeffer said. “It's my understanding that any road that AIDEA supports cannot be made an exclusive, industrial road. It's the State of Alaska and it will go to court and that road will be open very quickly.”
Although the road would not be open to the general public by design, recent permitting documents state that public use and trespass are expected to occur. The draft supplemental environmental impact statement states that “it is reasonably foreseeable that the road would become open to public access in the future.”
Schaeffer was concerned about outside hunters who could use the road for hunting caribou, an important subsistence resource for the region. Schaeffer said he spoke for others who shared similar concerns.
Others who spoke at the meeting said they were concerned about potential exploitation from mining companies, about violence against women at man camps, and about how development would impact the mostly untouched ecosystems the road would pass through.
Some questioned claims of economic benefits from the road and resulting mining development.
“We see this as a road to speculation and that the claims from project proponents are not based in sound science or economics,” said Anchorage resident Alex Johnson, who works with the National Parks Conservation Association. “Third-party economic assessments have determined that this project would cost the state of Alaska over $2 billion and would require 30 years of continuous mining activity just to break even.”
Kotzebue resident Brittany Sweeney is a member of Protect the Kobuk, a local grassroots organization opposed to the road.
“I believe it's important to remember that subsistence is an economy and it feeds people's spirits as well as their stomachs,” Sweeney said. “Why should we risk the subsistence economy that we do have?”
Sweeney said the culture in the Upper Kobuk region, which has a distinctive language dialect and harvesting practices, is too precious to risk. She believes toxins from the mines would affect Kotzebue as many salmon and sheefish spawn upriver.
Others opposed to the project said there wasn't clear communication about the project, and permitting documents were inaccessible.
Only one person voiced support for the Ambler Road. Jeff San Juan is AIDEA’s program manager for the project. San Juan was critical of the permitting process, accusing the Bureau of Land Management of using scare tactics and including “speculative and editorial content” about the project’s potential environmental harms.
The release of the draft environmental impact statement for the Ambler Road in late October triggered a 60-day public comment period which ended on Dec. 22. The public can view the document and participate by going to the BLM’s website.
