Federal Court Rules Against One Suit Opposing Izembek Land Swap And Road Project

As aa federal project would swap for public, protected land within Izembek National Wildlife Refuge to allow road through that refuge to connect two Alaska communities, the conservation group Defenders of Wildlife had pursued legal action to block the project (another suit put forward by Native Alaskan groups and the Center for Biological Diversity did get an injunction to put a temporary blockage of the project). But a federal appeals court ruling rejected the Defenders of Wildlife lawsuit. Here’s more from the Anchorage Daily News:

The decision by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is a victory for the federal government, as well as the Dunleavy administration and the King Cove Corp., an Alaska Native village corporation. …

That full project is in legal limbo after conservation groups and three Alaska tribes recently won a separate case to stop it, in a federal district court. 

The proposed road segment, though it’s also within the refuge, is located on land owned by the village corporation. 

Just a few days ago, Defenders of Wildlife’s Nicole Whittington-Evans, senior director for the Alaska and Northwest programs, wrote an op-ed about the importance of preventing the project:

Izembek is one of the last habitats of its kind. With some of the world’s largest and healthiest eelgrass beds, the refuge attracts dozens of species of migratory waterfowl each year, birds that are vital subsistence resources for the Native peoples of the Alaska Peninsula, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and the Arctic. Brown bears shelter in its quiet, secluded valleys. All five species of Pacific salmon spawn in Izembek’s clean, cold waters. Even walrus, reacting to a shifting climate, now haul ashore in Izembek by the thousands.

Proponents argue that a road between King Cove and Cold Bay would enable King Cove residents to access the Cold Bay airport for medical evacuations in inclement weather.

Tens of millions of federal and state taxpayer dollars, however, have already been spent addressing these needs, including a marine transportation link for a hovercraft vessel that once successfully delivered all medical evacuations between King Cove and Cold Bay before being decommissioned and sold.