Interior Department OKs survey for Alaska wilderness road
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A proposed road through a national wildlife refuge in Alaska, rejected by President Barack Obama, is getting new life in the Donald Trump administration.
Alaska Gov. Bill Walker, an independent, announced Monday that the U.S. Interior Department has granted Alaska permission to survey wilderness within Izembek National Wildlife Refuge for a possible road between two rural communities, King Cove and Cold Bay, near the tip of the Alaska Peninsula.
The refuge portion of the road would be about 12 miles (19.3 kilometres) long.
Flights into King Cove are notoriously unpredictable because of strong winds and mountains. Izembek, an internationally recognized haven for migratory waterfowl, stands between King Cove and Cold Bay, which has an all-weather airport.