President Donald Trump reversed a Biden administration decision blocking the construction of the Ambler Road project in Alaska, in a move he said would open up critical energy and mining projects.
The US government is also taking a stake in Trilogy Metals. in conjunction with the move, a company that has mining claims in remote areas of Alaska. The US will invest $35.6 million to support mining exploration in the state’s Ambler Mining District, according to a White House fact sheet, a move that makes the federal government a 10% shareholder in Trilogy and includes warrants to purchase an additional 7.5% of the company.
“This was something that should have been long operating and making billions of dollars for our country and supplying a lot of energy and minerals and everything else,” Trump said during an event in the Oval Office.
The road project is a 211-mile road from the Dalton Highway to the remote mining district aimed at making it easier to access deposits of cooper, cobalt, gallium, germanium and other minerals. Trump’s move directs the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and US Army Corps of Engineers to reissue any necessary permits needed to build the road.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the project would be a toll road constructed from gravel to be sensitive to environmental concerns, and Trump said the effort would include the construction of two bridges.
The Interior Department blocked the construction during former President Joe Biden’s term, saying that the road impact at risk wildlife populations, including sheefish and caribou.