Legislation introduced in the House and Senate in mid-July would provide for an exchange of federal and non-federal land in Alaska to allow construction of an 11-mile road for transport of King Cove residents to medevac flights at Cold Bay.
The identical bills, S.3204 and H.R. 5777, drew immediate support from tribal and community leaders in King Cove, an Aleutians East Borough city of some 938 people, that lies 18 miles southeast of Cold Bay and 620 miles southwest of Anchorage.
The predominantly Aleut community is home to Peter Pan Seafoods’ largest processing facility, which processes salmon, crab and groundfish delivered to King Cove by harvesters.
The community has been trying for years to get a road connection completed between King Cove and the all-weather airport at Cold Bay, so that King Cove residents can be safely evacuated to Anchorage in medical emergencies.
King Cove is accessible only by sea and air.
In stormy weather, when it’s too dangerous for small aircraft to land at King Cove, the only way people can be evacuated to Cold Bay is by fishing vessels that can take up to three hours on high seas to reach Cold Bay.
S.3204, introduced in the Senate by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and H.R. 5777, introduced in the House by Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, would authorize an equal value land exchange between the state of Alaska and federal government for a 206-acre land road corridor, that would take up about 0.06 percent of the 315,000-acre Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, to facilitate an 11-mile, one-lane, non-commercial road segment to link to existing roads on both sides of the refuge.
Murkowski, as chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, held an oversight hearing on King Cove’s continuing lack of reliable emergency medical transportation in April.
The years long battle for the road is rooted in environmentalists’ concerns about a portion of the one-lane emergency road through Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, which contains critical habitat for migrating waterfowl.
In 2009, Congress overwhelmingly approved legislation authorizing a land exchange for King Cove, allowing the short road to pass through a small part of the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, Murkowski said. That land exchange would have resulted in 56,000 acres of state and tribal lands being added to federal acreage in Alaska in exchange for a 206-acre road corridor through the refuge. President Obama signed the legislation into law, but the exchange was blocked by the Interior Department on Dec. 23, 2013.
King Cove’s airstrip is closed by bad weather more than 100 days a year on average. Nearly 40 percent of the flights not canceled are interrupted by wind and turbulence, fog, rain or snow squalls. The Cold Bay airport, by comparison, is closed an average of 10 days a year.
In June 2014, King Cove tribes, the King Cove Corp., the city of King Cove and Aleutians East Borough sued Jewell and other federal officials over rejection of the road. Then the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies approved legislation by Murkowski directing Interior to do an equal-value land transfer to allow for construction of the connecting road, but the language would not included in the final year-end budget deal.
On Sept. 8, 2015, U.S. District Court Judge H. Russel Holand ruled that Jewell’s decision to block the road was decision did not violate federal law, and that if King Cove wanted the road, Congress would have to change the law.
“Congress recognized that a road from King Cove to Cold Bay would foster public health and safety and would present environmental concerns,” Holland wrote. “Rather than make the hard choice between public health and safety and the environment itself, Congress left that decision to the Secretary” after an environmental review, the judge wrote.
“Given the sensitive nature of the portion of the Izembek Wildlife Refuge which the road would cross, the National Environmental Policy Act requirement for approval of the proposed road probably doomed the project.
“Perhaps Congress will now think better of its decision to encumber the King Cove Road project with a NEPA requirement,” he said, in dismissing the case.
While environmentalists contend that the road would have adverse affects on habitat critical to migrating waterfowl, hunting waterfowl in that national wildlife refuge is actually promoted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
In its guide to hunting in national wildlife refuges, online at www.fws.gov, the agency says that while Izembek is world famous for its brown bear hunting, “it also offers some of the best hunting for much smaller game: waterfowl and ptarmigan.
“The refuge provides habitat for an incredible variety of duck and goose species. Most of the Pacific’s black brant spends the summer here, and this is probably the best location to hunt these small, dark geese,” the guide says.
“Unusual duck species like eider, harlequin and Barrow’s goldeneye can be found here in great numbers. More common ducks like mallard and pintail are also common. Hardy waterfowlers can find spectacular hunting in the fall, particularly at the 150-square mile Izembek Lagoon. Here, shallow, brackish water covers one of the world’s largest beds of eelgrass, creating a rich feeding and resting area for hundreds of thousands of waterfowl.
Many waterfowl hunters will spend the mornings and evenings pursuing waterfowl, and search the refuge for ptarmigan during the day. Good numbers of this upland bird species can be found on the refuge year-round. With its mix of species and spectacular wilderness setting, Izembek offers one of the most unique duck hunting experiences in the world,” the guide says.
