The Interior Department transferred 1.4 million acres of public land Wednesday to the state of Alaska, including areas that could be used to host the Ambler mining road and LNG projects.
Conveyance of the lands, which are north of the Yukon River and along the Dalton Utility Corridor, fulfills executive orders that President Donald Trump signed last year to boost resource production in the state, as well as the Alaska Statehood Act, according to the Bureau of Land Management.
“This decisive action puts Alaska at the forefront of American Energy Dominance,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement. “President Trump is delivering on his commitment to unleash Alaska’s vast resources—advancing the Alaska Liquefied Natural Gas project, the Ambler Road, and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline—to strengthen our economy, bolster national security, and drive down costs for American families.”
The land transfer arrives on the heels of Interior rescinding protections in February for more than 2 million acres of public land in Alaska on either side of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. State leaders for years have argued those lands, which have been in protected status since the 1970s, should be used for energy and mining development. Almost a dozen environmental groups are now challenging that decision in court.
Trump last year also said he supported construction of the 211-mile gravel Ambler Road, which would cut through large swaths of wilderness to connect the undeveloped mining district to the Dalton Highway. The project was blocked under the Biden administration and continues to face legal challenges.
When asked about the land transfer, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, or AIDEA, a state-owned corporation that holds permits for the road and is leading construction, said it “already has federal rights-of-way across all federal land needed to reach to Ambler mines.”
Even so, GOP Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy in a statement applauded Interior’s move.
“This milestone represents a leap forward in advancing Alaska’s ability to responsibly develop its resources and advance economic opportunity across Alaska,” he said. “We appreciate our partnership and collaboration with President Trump that made this transfer possible, and we look forward to putting this corridor to work for the benefit of all Alaskans. President Trump delivered when other presidents did not.”
But conservation groups blasted Interior and said the transfer would make large swaths of federal land vulnerable to the mining road and the LNG project.
“Handing this incredible stretch of federal public lands over to the state puts the communities, fish and wildlife who live there in danger,” said Rebecca Noblin, an Alaska senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Alaska officials envision bulldozing the area for a private industrial mining road and the LNG pipeline boondoggle. We’re fighting this transfer of our federal public lands in court and we’ll keep standing up for Alaska’s wild places.”
Jim Adams, senior Alaska director of National Parks Conservation Association, accused the agency of trying to “dispose” of public lands while advancing the Ambler mining road.
“This transfer is a result of the administration’s recent revocation of PLO 5150, which includes priceless public lands and their waterways, wildlife and subsistence values to the state of Alaska, including the corridor slated for the proposed Ambler mining road,” said Adams. “This transfer also imposes the entire eastern side of Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve to state management practices that devalue park wildlife and the needs of rural residents.”
