Biden administration blocks proposed Ambler Road, moves to protect 28 million acres in Alaska from drilling and miningA river snakes outside Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve in Alaska in 2022. A portion of Ambler Road would run through the park, a significant wilderness area. MUST CREDIT: Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post
In a final environmental impact statement released Friday, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management outlined several options for managing 28 million acres of public property across Alaska. The “preferred alternative” calls for retaining protections for these lands that the Trump administration had proposed revoking.
The fate of these areas has fostered a fierce debate for more than a half-century. In 1971, Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, which directed Interior to transfer millions of acres of land to Alaska Native corporations and villages. But Section 17 of the law allowed Interior to decide whether to permanently protect some other areas, commonly known as D1 lands.
At least 183 Alaska Native villages are within 50 miles of D1 lands. Many of these villages had urged the Biden administration to retain the protections, saying these areas are essential to their cultures and subsistence lifestyles. “We can eat a lot of salmon, but we can’t eat gold,” said Eugene Paul, chairman of the Bering Sea-Interior Tribal Commission, which represents more than two dozen local tribes.
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