UPDATE
Oct 6, 2025 6:30 PM CDT
President Trump has approved a new 211-mile road through Alaska wilderness that will give mining companies access to deposits of copper, gold, zinc, and rare earth minerals. The president signed an order Monday to reverse the Biden administration's cancellation of permits for the controversial project, the Alaska Beacon reports. "It's an economic gold mine, so to speak," Trump said. "I signed this years ago, and Biden un-signed it for me." The White House also announced that the government is taking a 10% stake in Canadian firm Trilogy Metals, one of the companies seeking to develop the remote site, reports the AP.
Sep 5, 2025 4:34 AM CDT
The House has given the green light to a controversial 211-mile industrial road slicing through untouched Alaskan wilderness, a move aimed at unlocking access to a major copper and zinc deposit. The Ambler Access Project, which would run through the foothills of Alaska's Brooks Range—including a stretch across Gates of the Arctic National Park—has been fiercely debated for years. Supporters, including many Alaska politicians, argue the road is essential for reaching the $7.5 billion copper reserve and building a mine, the New York Times reports.
The 215-210 vote fell largely along party lines, with only one Republican, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, siding with Democrats to oppose the measure. He cited the road's potential threat to the Arctic's ecological and strategic value. The resolution, pushed by GOP Rep. Nick Begich III, Alaska's sole representative in the House, uses the Congressional Review Act to roll back Biden-era limits on industrial development in Alaska, indirectly boosting the proposed road. The two-lane gravel road would cut through part of Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. It would be the first road in the nation's northernmost national park, which covers an area the size of Maryland.
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Environmental groups, Alaska Natives, and subsistence hunters remain staunchly opposed, citing risks to migrating caribou, critical salmon habitat, and the stability of permafrost, which, if thawed, could destabilize land and release greenhouse gases. "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," China Kantner of the Protect the Kobuk advocacy group tells the Times. The road would cross 11 rivers and thousands of streams. The vote rebuked a Biden-era rule that added enhanced protections to 13 million acres of land, KTUU reports.
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