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Protect the Koyukuk River

Protect the Koyukuk River
TCC and the tribes insist on a new decision process that looks proactively and holistically at the impacts of the Ambler road and associated activities.

The Ambler Road Project is a proposal for a 211-mile industrial access road and is intended to facilitate the development of at least four large-scale mines and potentially hundreds of smaller mines across the region.  It would cross 11 major river systems and thousands of smaller rivers, streams, and wetlands-these waterways are highways for our subsistence lifestyle.  The road would require about 48 bridges and nearly 3,000 culverts.

 

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The Ambler Road will pierce the heart of the hunting and fishing lands that our people have depended on for thousands of years.  In Interior Alaska, we are fortunate to have largely retained our subsistence lifestyle which includes the science, religion and social aspects of dependence on hunting and fishing to feed our families. Our way of life is currently at risk because of the Ambler road project and the tribal leaders from Evansville, Huslia, Alatna, Allakaket, and Tanana have not been properly consulted or respected as tribal sovereign leaders. 

We will not accept a project that poses a fundamental threat to our traditional way of life.  The government decision process for the proposed Amber road was fatally flawed. Under the current permits, our traditional homelands will be harmed by the proposed road and associated activities, which in turn will threaten our traditional way of life, including our hunting and fishing resources and activities.  We insist on a new decision process that looks proactively and holistically at the impacts of the road and associated activities. Only after a robust process can we, or the government decision-makers, make an informed decision about whether and how such a road, and associated mining, should or could be pursued. 

“Our Ambler Road subsistence committee experience is in line with our experience in the entire Ambler Road process so far.  If you oppose or have concerns about the road, you are bulldozed to the side.  The road presents a fundamental threat to our way of life, and the tribes of the Koyukuk region will not stand silent.  The only responsible course here is for the United States to toss out the Ambler Road decisions.  If the road proponents want the road, the process should be started over from step one, on a truly level playing field that allows for meaningful tribal involvement.” 

Chief/Chairman Brian Ridley
Tanana Chiefs Conference
(January 22, 2022)

Request to Federal Agencies

TCC and the tribes of the Interior request the federal agencies initiate a Supplement Environmental Impact Statement which will require adequate project design information and baseline data, broader range of alternatives (especially routes west of mineral areas), and a consideration of the Ambler Road and Arctic Mine together as “connected actions.”

Reopen National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA)§106 historic property review

  • Undertake comprehensive cultural resource inventory before a new decision is made
  • Robust and meaningful Tribal consultation before a new decision is made

Reopen Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) §810 subsistence review

  • Undertake comprehensive subsistence evaluation before a new decision is made
  • Robust and meaningful Tribal consultation before a new decision is made

 Reopen Clean Water Act §404 permitting

Halt implementation of permits, authorizations, and rights-of-way until new subsistence, historic property, and environmental reviews have been completed

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