< All Press Releases

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will publish a notice of availability for the Ambler Mining District Industrial Access Road Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in the Federal Register on March 27, 2020. The EIS addresses federal authorizations related to a right-of-way (ROW) application from the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) for an industrial access road connecting the Dalton Highway to the Ambler mineral belt in the Kobuk Valley. The purpose of the proposed road is to facilitate resource development and economic opportunities for Alaska.

In 1980, Congress recognized the importance of the Ambler mining district and the need for transportation access to the area and provided for that access in the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA).  The State of Alaska began to identify and evaluate overland routes in 2009 and assigned the project to AIDEA in 2013.  AIDEA’s proposed 211-mile route for the road to allow for mining exploration and development crosses 25 miles of BLM land.  AIDEA estimates that in addition to employment and expenditures related to road construction, development of the mining district could result in 68,000 jobs, $5 billion in wages and over $1.3 billion in state and local revenues over the life of the mines.

“The Final EIS is the culmination of almost three years of community meetings, tribal consultations, public input, and federal and state agency cooperation,” said BLM Alaska State Director Chad Padgett. “My staff traveled to more than 20 communities in the project area to solicit input and gather traditional knowledge. Those efforts contributed to this comprehensive analysis that will help pave the way for Alaska to responsibly develop its natural resources and create jobs.”

The need for federal action results from the requirement under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act for the BLM to consider AIDEA’s ROW application for industrial surface transportation access across BLM-managed public lands to the Ambler mining district. The purpose of the BLM action is to issue a ROW grant that provides for technically and economically practical and feasible year-round industrial surface transportation access in support of mining exploration and development; and construction, operation, and maintenance of facilities associated with that access. The BLM must decide whether a ROW will be granted and, if so, the terms and conditions that will be imposed.

The BLM is the lead federal agency for this EIS. In addition to NEPA, the BLM is leading the analysis under ANILCA Section 810, National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) Section 106, and Essential Fish

Habitat under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. ANILCA Section 810 requires evaluation of the project’s effects on subsistence resources and access to those resources where the project will use federal public land. NHPA Section 106 requires consideration of the project’s effects on historic properties and applies to the entire route, regardless of land status. The Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act is the primary law governing marine fisheries management in federal waters, and Essential Fish Habitat is defined under that Act as waters and substrate necessary to fish for spawning, breeding, feeding, or growth to maturity.  Cooperating agencies include the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Coast Guard who will use the EIS as a basis for their own federal authorization decisions.

The BLM has identified a preferred alternative in the EIS that aligns with the route proposed by AIDEA.  The Final EIS includes a suite of mitigation measures that could be adopted in the Record of Decision and subsequent Right of Way. The BLM will prepare a Record of Decision, which may be published no earlier than 30 days after this notice of availability.

The Final EIS will be available on the Ambler Road planning site.