The Ambler Access Road project is a proposed 211-mile gravel road that would connect a mining district in west-central Alaska to the Dalton Highway that runs through the middle of the state. The operations in the mining district could provide a steady domestic supply of copper, zinc, lead, gold, silver and cobalt, which are strategic elements needed for manufacturing wind turbines, solar panels, transmission lines, and electric vehicle batteries.
Former President Donald Trump had approved the permit to build the road in 2020, but after Biden was elected, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland ordered a new analysis, arguing that the Trump-era studies had been inadequate.
In a bipartisan effort, Alaska’s Congressional delegation supports the project. In December, Republican Senators Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski, along with the state’s Democratic Representative Mary Sattler Peltola, sent a letter to Haaland urging the analysis be conducted quickly and the road project re-approved.
The delegates noted in the letter that the Interior Department voluntarily pursued the review of the Trump administration’s environmental impact statement for the road on the same day Biden held a summit stressing the need for critical minerals.
"It is remarkable that during these dangerous times, the Biden Administration continues to focus on sanctioning Alaska and Alaskans while lifting sanctions on terrorist regimes like Iran," Sullivan said in a statement emailed to Just The News.