Interior eviscerates a fragile wildlife refuge in Alaska behind closed doors during shutdown

Out of public view during the government shutdown today, officials of the U.S. Department of the Interior and Alaska’s King Cove Corporation signed an agreement authorizing a land exchange and construction of a needless road through Alaska’s Izembek National Wildlife Refuge and its designated wilderness area. Construction of the road, which prioritizes narrow commercial interests over conservation, would set a dangerous precedent endangering refuges and wilderness areas across the nation, and undermine multiple bedrock environmental and conservation laws including the Wilderness Act, National Environmental Policy Act, National Wildlife Refuge Improvement Act and Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.Under previous administrations, the federal government has repeatedly studied the issue and determined that the road would cause irreparable harm to the wildlife refuge, that it should not be built, and that viable non-road transportation solutions exist.