House advances controversial road through pristine Alaskan wilderness

Thursday, September 4, 2025

Thunder Valley, a remote part of the Brooks Range in Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. Paxson Woelber, Wikimedia Commons

On Wednesday night, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to advance the Ambler Access Project—a 211-mile road that would cut through pristine Alaskan wilderness to reach a proposed copper and zinc mine.

The vote was the latest in a long-running battle over the road. The first Trump administration issued a federal permit for the project in 2020, but the Biden administration suspended it last year, saying the road would threaten wildlife and Alaska Native Tribes that rely on the area for hunting and fishing.

Not only would the road cut through Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, but it would also disrupt the migratory path of tens of thousands of caribou, and runoff from the mine could pollute key spawning grounds for salmon. Many Alaska Natives rely on caribou and salmon as key food sources.

“Caribou are kind of the biggest flashpoint because we’ve had a heck of a lot of population decline already, but we’ve also had a pretty scary lack of salmon over the last two summers,” said China Kantner, a member of Protect the Kobuk, an advocacy group of local residents opposed to the road.

According to the New York Times, the Senate is expected to pass the same resolution in the coming weeks, and President Trump has indicated he will sign it into law.

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                            Quote of the day
                        

Groundwater will become the most important natural resource in the world’s drying regions. We need to carefully protect it.”

—Jay Famiglietti, hydrologist and professor at Arizona State University, Los Angeles Times

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