The U.S. Department of the Interior announced on Friday that it's getting ready to offer 2.1 million acres of federally managed land to the state of Alaska.
State and federal officials say that will clear a path for energy and mineral production. But some residents are worried that the move could strip rural communities of longstanding subsistence rights.
The area of Bureau of Land Management land above the Yukon River — called the Dalton Corridor — has been under federal control for over 50 years, effectively making it harder for resource extraction companies to develop it. But the Trump administration is now revoking the public land orders that conferred those protections so the land can be transferred to the state of Alaska.
At a signing event with the Department of the Interior last week, Gov. Mike Dunleavy said the corridor — along with five million more acres of federally-managed land in Alaska — was promised in the Alaska Statehood Act of 1959.
"Alaskans, over generations, have almost given up on their work with the federal government," Dunleavy said. "The administration of President Trump and DOI under Secretary Burgum have restored that. This only gets done when you have people that want to do the right thing."
The announcement is just one piece of the Trump Administration's larger effort to reduce federal restrictions on energy development and resource extraction on public lands, as outlined in the executive order titled Unleashing American Energy. Alaska's federal delegation has responded positively to those efforts — including the Friday announcement.
State officials are also calling it a win. Alaska Department of Natural Resources Deputy Commissioner Brent Goodrum said there are countless reasons why the state wants that land.
"There are many important infrastructure resources that the state has here," he said. "The existing TAPS pipeline, and the Dalton Highway, which allows us to move goods back and forth up to the North Slope, But also, importantly, the prospect of the Alaska LNG right-of-way is located within this footprint."
But not all Alaskans are happy about the announcement. The Tanana Chiefs Conference, the Fairbanks-based Alaska Native tribal consortium, released a statement condemning the action. The statement said that federal land management rules protect important cultural sites as well as tribal members' access to hunting, trapping and fishing in the area.
In the statement, Tanana Chiefs Conference Chief Brian Ridley expressed concern that state management would mean the land would no longer be eligible for federal rural subsistence priority under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.
"This decision opens the door to development that puts our lands, animals, waters, and subsistence resources at real risk," Ridley's statement said. "For our communities, these are not remote acres on a map. These are the places where our families hunt, fish, and gather to feed our people. Protecting these resources is critical to our food security, our culture and our future."
John Gaedeke is an activist with the environmental group Defend the Brooks Range, which opposes the controversial proposed Ambler Road project. He and his family have run a wilderness lodge on the North Slope for about 50 years. He said they've been paying careful attention to any potential changes to the public land orders.
"Everyone has had to get along in the past, and we all come to the table and we discuss things," Gaedeke said. "This is basically flipping the table over and saying there will be no more discussion, only mandates, and that's concerning for everyone at every level."
The Bureau of Land Management is working with Alaska officials to identify which parcels of the Dalton Corridor best suit the state's interests. BLM Alaska State Director Kevin Pendergast offered some reassurance to rural residents who are worried about losing access to subsistence resources.
"Folks can still subsist on those lands under state law, but they will no longer have the federal rural subsistence priority," he said. "But there are quite a swath of federal public lands which will remain federal public lands adjacent to this corridor."
Pendergast said federal officials will publish the order in the Federal Register sometime this week.
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