Ambler Road Alaska

[Clarktar]

Figured sharing some information was the least I could do.

BHA Podcast & Blast, Ep. 168: Paving Paradise: Alaska’s Ambler Road

Backcountry Hunters & Anglers is the voice for our wild public lands, waters and wildlife.

www.backcountryhunters.org

Home Page - Hunters & Anglers for the Brooks Range

huntfishbrooksrange.com

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[Clarktar]

Back up

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[Larry Bartlett]

Hey Clarktar, thanks for posting these events. I haven't heard how last night's turnout was yet but Monday night at the UAF Pub went really well. There were roughly 35 people attending. I gave a 30-min "values and stakes" of the Brooks Range and highlighted strong reasons why the Ambler Road should be a non-starter.

The BLM's final public input period ends Dec 22 (next friday) regarding the Ambler Road / Central Yukon Resource Management Plan. If you care about roads and open-pit mine development in the Brooks Range I highly encourage everyone to make their beliefs public record in this process, whether through testimony or petitions against the current ways ahead.

Parting thoughts about the facts of the Ambler Road push:

1. Moderately low volume / High valued minerals and metals are deep underground and are estimated to have only 10-13 years worth of mining potential.

2. The road will be a PRIVATE industrial road without public access, period. This proposed road is different than the Haul Rd in that federal funds won't be used to build it, so it'll stay private for industrial mining use only.

3. The cost-to-build estimate in 2019 was $1.9 Billion, which since COVID inflations one can only imagine real and true costs to build.

4. The mining companies are Canada/Australian owned, not Alaskan owned businesses. The exception is the native corporation lands near the end of the road (Nana Corp), which is partnered with the mining conglomerate to DBA Ambler Metals.

5. Ores extracted from as few as 4 open-pit mines (9 targeted open-pit mine sites) will be selected once the road is approved and the raw ore is planned to be shipped out of Alaska by truck, rail and sea to be sold to Asia (likely China and Korea) for refinement, and if and when the US wants to re-own the minerals and metals extracted by Canada and Australian miners we'll have to buy the resources back from Asian refineries IF they agree to sell them back to us (no guarantees). Lose lose lose. The only moneys benefiting Alaska will be the few hundred jobs created to support the 10-15 year development and 10-year reclamation. After that, we'll have lost >200-miles of wilderness appeal and 30 years of access to currently pristine intact ecosystem from the Haul Road west to Kobuk/Ambler.

6. Ambler Road will cross >20 public rivers and streams (some National Wild and Scenic rivers) and have 2,900 culverts to maintain. Anyone with ecological knowledge knows 100 culverts are a huge problem for fisheries in easy to reach and affordable to maintain areas, but 2,900 culverts in a remote landscape without proper and constant management could have catastrophic impacts to fish migrations and water control.

7. In all known scenarios for mining there will First be claims, then approval/permitting, and only then are roads created to reach these sites. The Ambler Road is proposed from back to front, since without the road being first, claims are useless to miners in this remote region.

8. There are no 100% successful (without catastrophic violations) with any Arctic Open Pit Mines in the world, and zero successful templates to guide these two eager companies, which begs the questions of 1) What percentage of catastrophic failures will occur with not ONE but >4 open pit mines in this arduously rugged Arctic landscape; 2) who will actually have to foot the bill for reclamation of these disasters? History has proven that mining companies nearly always pay the fine vs pay for cleanup with these sorts of events; and 3) If extractable resources aren't ample enough for robust ROIs and disaster maintenance, how can Alaska justify any action to promote this road?

I can't give you a single reason to support this proposed development.

Your voices matter. Go on record and stop this project. BLM's CYRMP process has alternatives to this proposal which provide a different future for the Brooks Range.

LB

 

[Bull_n_heat]

Thank you guys for putting this info up. Good chances to weigh in and good thoughts

 

[Rowsdower]

Thanks for the info! Signed the petition also.

 

[nnmarcher]

Thank you @Clarktar for raising awareness and the links! Thank you @Larry Bartlett for the more in-depth information too, I appreciate your insight.

 

[Clarktar]

Thank you @Clarktar for raising awareness and the links! Thank you @Larry Bartlett for the more in-depth information too, I appreciate your insight.

Thanks.

Looks like I posted this in announcements somehow instead of General. @Ryan Avery can this be moved to the general category?

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[PNWGATOR]

@Ryan Avery It‘d be great to get Larry on the RockCast podcast to share this message with listeners to increase awareness and action.

 

[Murphy]

Seems like an easy no to this proposed road. I've been privileged to hunt moose a couple times on one of the rivers that road would cross before they closed the nr moose up there. Would be an absolute travesty to destroy that area just to ship some minerals to a foreign country.

 

[MThuntr]

Everyone using the link via BHA should considering submitting a separate comment through the BLM with something "substantive" in their email or via a comment tab on the BLM comment space.

EplanningUi

eplanning.blm.gov

Form letters like the one BHA posted are can counted together (sometimes as a single comment) as they're just copy/paste. If you comment separately with something substantial your comment will be unique. The BLM isn't required to listen to your comment but if it contains substantive comment they need to consider it for NEPA.

 

[Larry Bartlett]

Thanks fellas. And anyone who believes that if Trilogy Metals ships Alaska resources to China that we'll easily get those resources smelted, refined and sold back to us...well, that ain't likely going to happen due to all the political pressure and retaliations we (US) have placed on Chinese exports:

China prepares to choke off America's rare metal supply

Beijing has hinted at hurting the United States with restrictions on rare earth elements.

www.newsweek.com

China tightens controls over rare earth exports, imports of key commodities

China’s Ministry of Commerce on Tuesday asked exporters of rare earth metals and oxide products to report transactions, with importers of crude oil, iron ore, copper ore concentrates and potash fertiliser also asked to report orders and shipments.

www.scmp.com

Why China Is Banning Rare Earth Metal Exports

What does it mean for the rest of the world?

www.popularmechanics.com

And try not to get fooled into believing that the open pit mines projected in the Ambler Road landscape aren't related to rare earth minerals. The process for rare earth refinement is a real hazard for toxic waste pit disasters and China leads the production of REE (and environmental disasters) because of their lack of environmental policies and enforcement.

However, while simultaneously pursuing the Ambler Road project, AEIDA and mining companies are quietly focused on the southern AK Range in the upper Chulitna River basin where REE have been found and are being pushed for extraction while being left off the radar of public awareness. There's another very large concentration of REE in the region around Ketchikan, which is also being explored for mining approval.

Alaska Rare Earth Elements Infographic | Bureau of Land Management

www.blm.gov

Reaching for 'Rare Earth'—Alaska's Critical Minerals Gain National Attention - Alaska Business Magazine

While rare earth elements can be found throughout the world, including in Alaska, most of the world’s production takes place in China, putting the supply chain for hundreds of products—as well as significant defense applications—at risk.

www.akbizmag.com

Alaska is rich in critical rare earths

Alaska is rich in rare earth, a unique group of elements that are so distinctive that most are placed in their own separate section at the bottom of the periodic table. While scientist have long realized that rare earths possessed distinctive characteristics that set them apart from their fellow...

www.miningnewsnorth.com

There's a storm brewing in our state and our opinions won't matter if these sorts of "materials-over-meat" become the winning driver. Frankly it all scares to poop right out of me.

Thank you to everyone who gets involved on any level.

LB

 

[william schmaltz]

Their next move will be from the West Susitna Access Project playbook where they will allow public access to start buying up the approval of Alaskans.

 

[mulecreek]

2. The road will be a PRIVATE industrial road without public access, period. This proposed road is different than the Haul Rd in that federal funds won't be used to build it, so it'll stay private for industrial mining use only.

A highly likely scenario following active mining use of this road is that the company that has bonded for its disturbance and reclamation would apply to the BLM that the post mine land use of the road area be changed to industrial and the road remain in its active state. The BLM will consider this and only allow it if the road demonstates an active need. If allowed it lowers the bonding obligation for the company, reduces reclamation costs for the company and provides for a fully constructed road for other uses at no cost to the state. Only obligation the state would have would be yearly maintenance.

I have used this strategy in Wyoming on BLM land where haulroads that were constructed 30-40 years earlier were used by private and public entities over that time to the point they were viewed as beneficial to others rather than just the mining company.

Before you can state unequivocally that it will not be used for public use I would inquire regarding the current post mine land use status.

 

[Larry Bartlett]

Semantics of whether the proposed road would or would not be open to the public shouldn't be and isn't the real argument. I'm 52 y/o now...proposed road takes a decade to build and stays actively closed to the public for another 20-25 years (optimistically)...that'll put me older than 85 y/o by the time any of that argument plays out. No sir. I've lived in Fairbanks for 28 years and my two kids have grown up raw adventuring in these parts, and I was here when the haul road finally opened to the masses. All roads and all mines aren't bad, but THIS road is a bad idea regardless of whether it eventually gets open to the public or whether it has beneficial values to those who might use it in the future.

Why I do I believe that? There are no less than FOUR open-pit mine targets that are roughly 30-45 miles apart spanning 185 miles of the 211 mile proposed road. Do your own math about that risk potential after you see what an open pit mine is and what it is not and what they leave behind. The remaining available landscape and its esoteric values will be catastrophically marred.

If you're in favor of the Ambler Road prospect, how will you swing once its graveled and mined and a toxic waste pond fails or empties like a bath tub drain through underlying permafrost cracks and reaches the Koyukuk or Kobuk river systems? It takes ONE failure to make all of us regret our earliest decisions about this road. IMO we should all agree that of the targets actively pursued for large scale mining in Alaska, the Brooks Range is THE most sensitive ecosystem at risk of irreversible damage.

If you're still in favor of the road, agree to a delay to secure a more developed and comprehensive EIS that addresses open-pit mining disasters in arctic environments AND much higher bonds to match the cost of devastation of resources in the event of environmental disaster in this specific region. That would have to be specific to all downstream rural residents and their communities, as well as migrating fish and wildlife species affected.

**** that.

 

[mulecreek]

Larry,

I have no opinion on the road or the mine. I do not have enough knowledge or experience in the area to know if this is a solid choice for where to build a road or mine. Just wanted you to know there are options to make the road useable by the public regardless of what is in the BLM document.

Personally, I love mines and all that they have contributed to this country. Love to see resources developed in our country. Never really cared where those resources were sold to but to each their own. I also know that not every mine is a good idea or that every resource needs to be mined. I have areas that are more in my wheelhouse that I will spend my time fighting or supporting. I wish you the best in your fight against this road. I am confident both sides of the argument will overstate the benefits and damage of the project.

BTW, I know exactly what an open pit mine looks like. Currently sitting at the edge of one right now. Have worked in mining my entire career, proud to say. The legacy the operations I have worked at and currently operate are something that makes me proud.

 

[Larry Bartlett]

Mule, I like your style brother. Best of future success!

 

[Larry Bartlett]

Also connected to the Ambler Road discussion is what BLM is going to decide on the 15M acre land transfer within the CYRMP itself.

Spooky Valley (part of the lands being decided with the CYRMP) is an area in the Ray Mnts south of the proposed road very near the Dalton Hwy. It is an area that has always intrigued me because of some coordinates I gleaned on an Native Corp Scout's GPS. I hired a chopper to go see it and sure enough...sterile soil in spots. Also has magnetic anomalies in the valley. Pilots and hikers have reported strange observations and instrument malfunctions. Anyway, somehow University of Alaska Fairbanks just received that gift in the form a land grant from BLM:

University of Alaska picks Philadelphia-sized section of Interior Alaska to own under new law

The university's first choice is about 100,000 acres near Spooky Valley, west of the Dalton Highway in the Ray Mountains.

alaskapublic.org

The point here is now that'll be a research station without a doubt, right? But they also have to be aware (because its public record) of the presence of REEs not far beneath the surface. So that's only about 1/3 of the land grants promised to UAF over the next couple years if stories are true.

My point is to give you one last reason to make your opinions on record and become more informed about what is part of the CYRMP and the coupled Ambler Road proposal. University and Native Corps interests are being granted...let's make sure Public Land Owners have a voice on record about our values and needs.

 

[carsonkeys]

The BLM's final public input period ends Dec 22 (next friday) regarding the Ambler Road / Central Yukon Resource Management Plan. If you care about roads and open-pit mine development in the Brooks Range I highly encourage everyone to make their beliefs public record in this process, whether through testimony or petitions against the current ways ahead.


Your voices matter. Go on record and stop this project. BLM's CYRMP process has alternatives to this proposal which provide a different future for the Brooks Range.

Larry,

Almost certainly user-error on my end, but I'm having trouble finding where I can leave a comment with BLM. The link I am able to find is from November of 2022. Would you happen to have the proper link handy?

BLM seeks public input on supplemental review of Ambler Road proposal | Bureau of Land Management

www.blm.gov

 

[lak2004]

EplanningUi

eplanning.blm.gov

 

[lak2004]

Less than 1 week left to comment!