Letting Alaska Swap State Land With the Feds to Build an Emergency Access Road Through a Wildlife Refuge to an Isolated Town (H.R. 218)
Do you support or oppose this bill?
What is H.R. 218?
(Updated March 22, 2018)
This bill would declare that if the state of Alaska offers to provide the Dept. of the Interior with 43,093 acres of state-owned land, the Interior would in exchange give the state 206 acres of federal land within the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge and 131 acres of federal land in the Izembek Wilderness to construct a single-lane gravel road. The 10-mile road would link the town of King Cove, which is otherwise only accessible by air or sea, to the town of Cold Bay which has a runway that can better accommodate medical evacuation planes and helicopters.
The values of the federal and state lands to be exchanged would be equal, and appraisals would be conducted in accordance with nationally recognized standards. This legislation would also specify the route of the road corridor, and state that its construction wouldn’t be considered a major federal action requiring environmental impact review.
Argument in favor
To ensure the safety of the people who live in isolated King Cove when air evacuations aren’t possible because of weather a 10-mile, single-lane gravel should be built on the federal wildlife and wilderness areas between King Cove and the nearby town of Cold Bay.
Argument opposed
There are other ways to evacuate people experiencing medical emergencies that don’t involve building a road that irreparably damages a federal wildlife refuge. If air evacuations in bad weather are dangerous, build a new airport or get an ice capable ship to go to King Cove.
Impact
Residents of King Cove, Alaska; the state of Alaska; and the Dept. of the Interior.
Cost of H.R. 218
The CBO estimates that enacting this bill would cost less than $500,000.
Additional Info
In-Depth: Sponsoring Rep. Don Young (R-AK) introduced this bill to facilitate a land-swap between the state of Alaska and Dept. of the Interior that allows a road to be built through a federal wildlife refuge to the isolated town of King Cove:
“When I watch lives die of my Alaska Natives, because someone has an ecosystem that will not be affected by this road at all — it is wrong. The idea that the area is going to be disturbed is nonsense. It’s pure B.S. that comes out of these interest groups — these environmental groups. There’s 150 miles of road on this refuge already. There are 11 lodges there that hunt birds on this refuge. We’re talking about an 11-mile road that’s nowhere near the lagoon or eelgrass. This is going to save lives. Now, the day that this Congress will take and love a goose, that’s not going to be harmed, over a human life — shame on you. I’m not going to tolerate that.”
Several Democrats expressed opposition to this bill in its committee report on the grounds that “non-road alternatives” like an ice capable ship, or building a new airport or heliport are available and as a result the wildlife refuge shouldn’t be disturbed:
“Building a road through the middle of congressionally designated wilderness is without precedent and unwarranted. Increased human and mechanical presence from the construction and ongoing use of the road will erode the wilderness values of the area and do lasting ecological damage to the unique, undisturbed wildlife habitat.”
This legislation was passed by the House Natural Resources Committee on a 23-14 vote, gaining the support of one Democrat.
Of Note: The Obama administration refused to allow the construction of the road to King Cove, whose 800 residents say they need it to ensure they can be medically evacuated because their nearest airport is dangerous to fly into for much of the year because of mountains and winds. The Dept. of the Interior recently granted Alaska’s state transportation department to survey the area that would be given to the state under this bill to determine the best place to build the road.
Media:
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Sponsoring Rep. Don Young (R-AK) Press Release
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CBO Cost Estimate
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Alaska Journal
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Alaska Public Media
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Law 360
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Washington Times
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Alaska Dispatch News (Context)
Summary by Eric Revell
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