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The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - December 17, 2024
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has sent a list of priorities to help ensure Alaska can take advantage of every opportunity to explore and develop its tremendous resources.
Donald Trump
A sample of copper-cobalt mineralization from the Bornite deposit at the west end of the proposed road to the Ambler Mining District.
The proposed Ambler Road would extend 211 miles west from the Dalton Highway.
The cover of a brochure made by Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan's office outlining 67 federal actions imposed by the Biden administration to lock up resource development and land use in Alaska.
Reversing the Biden administration's decision to revoke permits required to build a road to the Ambler Mining District is high on a list of Alaska priorities that Gov. Mike Dunleavy sent to President-elect Donald Trump and his transition team.
The 28-page "Alaska Priorities for Federal Transition" report sent to the incoming presidential team details immediate and long-term actions to reverse what the Dunleavy administration characterizes as a "four-year assault on Alaska's statehood and economy" by the Biden administration.
The report also highlights "how unlocking Alaska's minerals, oil and natural gas, and other natural resources will benefit both the state and national economy."
Donald Trump
Considering that just two days after securing enough votes to win a second term, Trump took the time to send a video message to Alaskans vowing that his administration will "ensure Alaska can take advantage of every opportunity to explore and develop its tremendous resources" the president-elect was likely looking forward to receiving a report from Gov. Dunleavy that details what needs to be done to make that happen.
"During my second term, we will continue the fight for Alaska like never before," he said during a 90-second video that touched on ANWR, the proposed 800-mile-long natural gas pipeline from Alaska's North Slope, reopening the Tongass National Forest, and maximizing Alaska's mining potential – all on the list of priorities Dunleavy sent the incoming president.
"Your election will hail in a new era of optimism and opportunity, and Alaska stands ready to and is eager to work with you to repair this damage wrought by the previous administration, and to set both Alaska and America on a course to prosperity," the governor penned in a cover letter of the Alaska priorities report.
The new era of opportunity envisioned by Dunleavy includes building a road that will link the Ambler Mining District to America's critical minerals supply chain.
A sample of copper-cobalt mineralization from the Bornite deposit at the west end of the proposed road to the Ambler Mining District.
"The Ambler Mining District has extensive deposits of critical minerals and could be a secure, reliable U.S. supply-chain resource, essential for our Nation's tech-focused economy, green energy products, and military effectiveness," the Dunleavy administration wrote in the Alaska priorities plan.
During Trump's first term in office, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service issued a joint record of decision granting a right of way to build the Ambler Road across two relatively short segments of federal lands along the 211-mile route from the Dalton Highway to the Ambler Mining District. Under the Biden administration, however, BLM reversed its previous approval that would have allowed the road to cross roughly 25 miles of federal land adjacent to the Dalton Highway.
The denial of Ambler Road permits was seen as a breach of a 44-year-old contract between Washington, DC and Alaska.
During the 1980 passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), a sweeping law that placed more than 100 million acres in protected areas such as national parks and wilderness areas, Congress recognized the need for the Ambler Road and included a guarantee of its approval.
"Congress finds that there is a need for access for surface transportation purposes across the Western (Kobuk River) unit of the Gates of the Arctic National Preserve (from the Ambler Mining District to the Alaska Pipeline Haul Road) and the Secretary shall permit such access in accordance with the provisions of this subsection." –Section 201 (4) of ANILCA.
The 2020 Ambler Road approval met the requirements of this congressional mandate.
Under the Biden administration, however, BLM pulled the permits for further review and, after completing that review, issued a record of decision (ROD) not to reissue the permits required for the Ambler Road.
"This denial is a violation of ANILCA," the Dunleavy administration penned in its Alaska priorities report. "The new Trump Administration should rescind the unlawful Biden Administration ROD and issue a new decision restoring the right-of-way permits previously granted to the State."
The proposed Ambler Road would extend 211 miles west from the Dalton Highway.
The Ambler Road is one of five areas related to developing Alaska's natural resources that made headway under Trump's first administration but were reversed while Biden was in office. The other Alaska natural resource development initiatives approved by Trump and undone by Biden are:
• Leases for petroleum exploration in ANWR east of the current oil and gas production on Alaska's North Slope.
• A plan to open up portions of the 23-million-acre area National Petroleum Reserve on the west side of Alaska's North Slope for development.
• A rule to allow road building in the Tongass National Forest for mining, timber, and community access.
• A rule that would exempt Alaska from policies restricting development of wetlands until 1% of the state's wetlands had been developed.
Dunleavy is also requesting that the new Trump administration end Biden's "Deep State" overreach in Alaska. In particular, his administration is asking the incoming president to:
The cover of a brochure made by Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan's office outlining 67 federal actions imposed by the Biden administration to lock up resource development and land use in Alaska.
• Reverse more than 60 Biden agency actions targeting the lock-up of Alaska lands.
• Reverse Biden Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act; considered to be weaponized actions used to lock up oil, gas, and mineral resources in the name of climate change.
• Reverse Biden agency actions dividing Alaskans over fish, wildlife, and state authority.
In addition to reversing the actions taken so far, Dunleavy included a blanket request for the incoming Trump administration to reverse any moves by Biden to restrict resource development in Alaska during his last days in office.
Dunleavy is requesting that the Trump transitional team to take swift and decisive actions to unlock Alaska's minerals, oil and gas, and other natural resources to bolster the state and national economy.
"Alaska requests a single Executive Order, issued on the first day of President Trump's second term, that puts the agencies to work rectifying these issues and creates a cabinet-level task force and six sub-cabinet positions to ensure efficient and effective implementation, and a continued dialogue with the State to keep Alaskans involved in their own future," the Dunleavy administration penned in the Alaska priorities report.
The governor said he is looking forward to working with President Trump to make Alaska and America great again.
"By doing so, we can all benefit from Alaska's abundant opportunities, which your grandfather recognized when he headed north," Dunleavy wrote in his letter to Trump.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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