Climate change sharpens fight over Alaska mining road

AP reports that renewed federal support for Alaska’s long-debated Ambler Access Road is reopening deep divisions in northwest Alaska, where Indigenous communities, environmental advocates and supporters of mining development are weighing economic hopes against ecological and cultural risks.

• The Ambler Access Road is a proposed 211-mile industrial road intended to link the Dalton Highway to the Ambler Mining District, an area believed to hold significant deposits of copper, zinc and other minerals considered strategically important.

• The route would cross remote wilderness, including lands near Gates of the Arctic National Park, and pass over hundreds of rivers and streams in a region already heavily affected by climate change.

• Indigenous Inupiaq communities are divided. Some residents see the road as a potential lifeline for jobs, lower living costs and economic survival in villages with limited employment opportunities.

• Others fear the project would damage fragile ecosystems, disrupt caribou migrations and salmon runs and undermine subsistence hunting and fishing that remain central to cultural identity and food security.

• AP reports that climate change is already reshaping the region, with warming occurring several times faster than the global average, caribou populations declining sharply and changing freeze-thaw cycles affecting fish habitat.

• The project was previously blocked following environmental reviews but has gained renewed momentum after federal approvals were reinstated, prompting fresh legal challenges from tribes and environmental groups.

• Supporters argue the road is necessary to access domestic mineral supplies and reduce reliance on foreign sources, while critics warn the long-term environmental and cultural costs could be irreversible.