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Proponents say the road would connect a remote town with an airport used for medical evacuations. Opponents say it would cause irreparable harm to wildlife and Alaska Native tribes.
By Maxine Joselow
The Trump administration is poised to approve a deal that would allow a contentious road to be built through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, a vast wild area in southwestern Alaska, according to internal Interior Department documents reviewed by The New York Times.
The agreement, which is not yet final, is the latest twist in a decades-long fight over the road that has reverberated across Alaska and the nation’s capital. The first Trump administration approved a similar deal in 2019, but the Biden administration canceled it in 2023, saying Trump officials failed to consider the effects of road construction on wildlife and Alaska Native communities.
