The Aleutians East Borough plans to join the legal battle over a land exchange that would allow construction of a controversial road between King Cove and Cold Bay.
In January, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke signed a land exchange agreement with the King Cove Corporation that would allow for a road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.
Assembly members voted unanimously last week to intervene on the side of the federal government in the lawsuit environmental groups brought against the Interior Department to stop the road.
The Borough approved spending $61,875 to hire a law firm to help them join the case.
That money will also help four other local entities trying to intervene on behalf of the federal government, the King Cove Corporation, The City of King Cove, the Agdaagux Tribe and the Native Village of Belkofski.
Zoe Sobel is a reporter with Alaska's Energy Desk based in Unalaska. As a high schooler in Portland, Maine, Zoë Sobel got her first taste of public radio at NPR’s easternmost station. From there, she moved to Boston where she studied at Wellesley College and worked at WBUR, covering sports for Only A Game and the trial of convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
