Interior Secretary Sally Jewell on Monday rejected a proposed land swap with the state of Alaska to build a road through a remote Alaska national wildlife refuge that shelters millions of migratory waterfowl.
The contentious decision on whether to build a one-lane gravel road to provide those in a remote village with medical evacuation access to an all-weather airport came after four years of analysis, including a visit late last summer by Jewell to Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. Jewell made the trek to the refuge near the tip of the Alaska Peninsula shortly after she replaced Ken Salazar.
Jewell’s decision affirms a rejection of the proposal last February by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Salazar.
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, threatened to hold up Jewell’s nomination if the rejection wasn’t reconsidered. Environmental groups submitted thousands of comments opposing the road.
The community of King Cove (population 963), backed by Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell and the state’s congressional delegation, pressured Jewell to approve a land exchange that would allow construction of the road through Izembek, a strip of land between lagoons including the 150-square-mile Izembek Lagoon.
Jewell said even though the proposed swap would bring in more acres of land into the refuge system, the department’s analysis indicated it could not compensate for the unique values of existing refuge lands or the anticipated effects a road would have on the refuge.
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