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http://www.alaskapublic.org/2013/12/23/jewell-rejects-road-through-izembek/

There were some very negative comments on the radio today relative to the timing of the decision just two days before Christmas...

Jewell Rejects Road Through Izembek
By Annie Feidt, APRN - Anchorage | December 23, 2013 - 5:10 pm

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell won�t allow a road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.


The Interior Department delivered the news today, about four months after the secretary visited the community and the refuge.

Residents of King Cove have been asking the Interior Department for permission to build a one lane gravel road through Izembek National Wildlife refuge for decades. They want easier access to Cold Bay, which has an all weather airport.

The community offered the federal government 60,000 acres in exchange for the small amount of land needed to build the road.

Bonita Babcock, a community health aide in King Cove, spoke with Jewell when she visited the village in late summer. She says Jewell�s decision is devastating:

�She came all the way out here. She saw what we were facing and yet, she still didn�t care,� Babcock said. �It�s just a slap in the face. It�s insulting.�

Babcock says severe weather frequently shuts down air travel in and out of King Cove and the road is necessary for health and safety reasons.

The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service had previously denied the road because it would disrupt the birds that nest in the refuge and the rare eel grass beds they depend on.

Jewell traveled to King Cove in August with Senator Lisa Murkowski, who threatened to hold up Jewell�s confirmation until she agreed to a visit. She spent a day touring the community and its medical clinic and spent time in the refuge.

At a press conference in Anchorage in September, Jewell said she had a tough decision to make.

�I think that there have been efforts to talk about a tradeoff between human safety and wildlife and the reality is I think we want both so I understand the interests on both sides, it�s difficult and I don�t think that�s a reasonable tradeoff,� Jewell said.

The Interior Department wouldn�t provide someone to interview for this story. The 20 page decision says, �Construction of a road through Izembek National Wildlife Refuge would lead to significant degradation of irreplaceable ecological resources that would not be offset by the protection of other lands to be received in the exchange.�

Murkowski calls Jewell�s conclusions �heartless.� She got a call from Jewell this morning, while she was sitting in the Fred Meyer parking lot in midtown Anchorage, preparing to buy some last minute Christmas items.

Murkowski says the alternatives Jewell is proposing, like building a better dock in Cold Bay, aren�t feasible:

�I said I will sit down with you in January when I get back, but right now I can�t even listen to what you are proposing, because they are just so inadequate, given the situation and the circumstances,� Murkowski said.

Murkowski says she was especially offensive to King Cove residents to deliver the news two days before Christmas.

But a long list of environmental groups are praising the decision. They argue the road would have set a precedent and made it easier to build roads through other wilderness areas. Nicole Whittington-Evans is Alaska director of The Wilderness Society.

�She took in all sides and aspects and came to her own conclusion based on the facts of the issue and we are celebrating that this wilderness area will remain wild for years to come,� Whittington-Evans said.

Whittington-Evans says she doesn�t believe the road is the best alternative to meet the health and safety needs of King Cove residents. King Cove residents say they will never give up their fight to build a road to Cold Bay. And Senator Murkowski echoes that sentiment.


Mark Begich, Joaquin Jackson, and Heller resistance... Three huge reasons to worry about the NRA.
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Not to worry, .gov always knows whats best for the minions. Gotta protect the eelgrass, take an aspirin for that stroke and wait for the weather to improve.

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"""Nicole Whittington-Evans is Alaska director of The Wilderness Society"" NEVER EVER TRUST A CHIC WITH 3 NAMES .....NEVER..."issue city" right out the gate.


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Originally Posted by atvalaska
"""Nicole Whittington-Evans is Alaska director of The Wilderness Society"" NEVER EVER TRUST A CHIC WITH 3 NAMES .....NEVER..."issue city" right out the gate.


Yeah, she's seemed to be effective at stirring the pot on a lot of fronts during the past twenty years. I've met her a few times and actually tried to discuss issues with her. She's nice enough in a social sense, but watch out for her agenda(s).

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Originally Posted by atvalaska
"""Nicole Whittington-Evans is Alaska director of The Wilderness Society"" NEVER EVER TRUST A CHIC WITH 3 NAMES .....NEVER..."issue city" right out the gate.


I never gave it any thought before, but thinking back that's some sage advice.

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Originally Posted by atvalaska
"""Nicole Whittington-Evans is Alaska director of The Wilderness Society"" NEVER EVER TRUST A CHIC WITH 3 NAMES .....NEVER..."issue city" right out the gate.


Never place a chic in charge of anything that demands analytical thought, logic and objectivity.

It's no surprise the professional camper disapproved the road corridor. No one with two brain cells to rub together thought for a second it would get approved under this regime. After all she needed to pay off her political debt to the Marxist pig for nominating her to the position and it's now paid in full.

The opposition and financing was mostly DSMFs and govt types.

On the bright side the feral govt doesn't get their coveted, obnoxious land exchange which was about 62,000 acres of KC Corporation land in exchange for a 208 acre road right-of-way.
If I were the KCC, I'd start "mining" within eyesight of the Izembek border. I'd haul a crap load of equipment out there dig a big ass hole and let it become an eyesore to the refuge pukes.

Perhaps it's time to examine how the feral govt has NEVER upheld it's end of the Alaska Statehood Compact and maybe start considering aggressive legal action against them or push for more drastic measures such as autonomy or independence.


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Originally Posted by stevelyn
Originally Posted by atvalaska
"""Nicole Whittington-Evans is Alaska director of The Wilderness Society"" NEVER EVER TRUST A CHIC WITH 3 NAMES .....NEVER..."issue city" right out the gate.


Never place a chic in charge of anything that demands analytical though and objectivity.

It's no surprise the professional camper disapproved the road corridor. No one with two brain cells to rub together thought for a second it would get approved under this regime. After all she needed to pay off her political debt to the Marxist pig for nominating her to the position and it's now paid in full.

The opposition and financing was mostly DSMFs and govt types.

On the bright side the feral govt doesn't get their coveted, obnoxious land exchange.

Perhaps it's time to examine how the feral govt has NEVER upheld it's end of the Alaska Statehood Compact and maybe start considering aggressive legal action against them or push for more drastic measures such as autonomy or independence.


Joe Vogler, resurrected?

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Yeah, just like Uncle Joe. He was right about those bastards and no one wanted to listen to him.

If there was a dozer already parked out there I'm sure someone would be willing to drop the ripper and go for a joy ride.


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It's funny how none of the consumptive use organizations have again taken up the battle cry of suing the federal government after Knowles dropped the original suit, with prejudice.

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Originally Posted by Ptarmigan
Originally Posted by atvalaska
"""Nicole Whittington-Evans is Alaska director of The Wilderness Society"" NEVER EVER TRUST A CHIC WITH 3 NAMES .....NEVER..."issue city" right out the gate.


I never gave it any thought before, but thinking back that's some sage advice.


Yeah, atv is full of it!


Sage advice, that is. wink


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Just build the damn road, make the Feds sue us. Make them admit they are breaking the statehood act in open court (after the road is built of course).


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myself ... I would find a guy on his last legs ie; bad medical condition, way old etc ...get him on a dozer with a gps ...and let her rip!!! 1 3day weekend /a gov shut down looming would be a + !..... Posey sniffers be dammed !


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The "little" problem is that the State wants to build the road with FEDERAL funds. It's a million dollar per mile single lane road, 17 miles long.

Project Description:

This project will construct the third and final phase of the road
connecting the City of King Cove with the City of Cold Bay and
its all-weather airport. The project will construct a 17.2 mile
single lane gravel road with turnouts. Funding is dependent on
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service receiving a Record of Decision
on the Izembek Land Exchange EIS that supports road
construction
.

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Looks like tricky terrain!

(Cold Bay town is to the northwest of this view):


http://goo.gl/maps/NPZ7O

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You could build everyone in King Cove a house in Cold Bay for less than $ 17 mil and let those who chose to live isolated to continue.

This entire thing is a slippery slope argument from people who choose to live in remote settings and then expect taxpayers to subsidies them with all the amminities they left behind.


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Looks like King Cove has an airport, too, why not just make it all weather?

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Originally Posted by 458Win
You could build everyone in King Cove a house in Cold Bay for less than $ 17 mil and let those who chose to live isolated to continue.

This entire thing is a slippery slope argument from people who choose to live in remote settings and then expect taxpayers to subsidies them with all the anmenities they left behind.


The bush as a whole expects to have their cake and eat it too. Between Hud houses,energy and gas assistance,food stamps,and free healthcare with travel, it goes on and on! An unwed mother with a live-in with a pile of kids get a new Honda every year with PFD's alone.


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Originally Posted by waterrat
Originally Posted by 458Win
You could build everyone in King Cove a house in Cold Bay for less than $ 17 mil and let those who chose to live isolated to continue.

This entire thing is a slippery slope argument from people who choose to live in remote settings and then expect taxpayers to subsidies them with all the anmenities they left behind.


The bush as a whole expects to have their cake and eat it too. Between Hud houses,energy and gas assistance,food stamps,and free healthcare with travel, it goes on and on! An unwed mother with a live-in with a pile of kids get a new Honda every year with PFD's alone.



And our shameless politicians pander to them to keep their votes


Phil Shoemaker
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www.grizzlyskinsofalaska.com

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I was noticing this evening that Fred Meyer is almost as bad as those shameless politicians. After buying some nice bits of beef sirloin and lamb for a pittance, I was looking for a sauce of some sort to go with them; the options are virtually endless. Why? Will people leave this God-forsaken, crappy-water, hell-hole if they can't buy Mucho Grande Garlic Pepper Ginger Marinade and Basting Sauce? ( grin ) I couldn't help wonder how much the mining camp of 100 years ago has changed........while it's development has come about at the expense of our little bush village. I hate what has happened to people who who survived for centuries while others came and died. I hate what we have done by making people dependent while making ourselves feel good through our Good Samaritanitise legislation. And I hate what the future holds for the wild places where people live, as energy costs threaten to destroy all but the few large population centers in Alaska. The wild lands will be left only for the wealthy to traverse.

Does that mean the refuge needs a road through it? I don't know, but I'm sure there are easily more than 17 miles of road in other places that are less deserving. I can think of 20% of that distance in my own locale that should never have been built. I'm sure there are at least a dozen other examples of an equal quantity in various other places in the state which make less sense, though perhaps more votes.


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Don't feel bad; we have the votes and still can't get a bridge.


Son of a liberal: " What did you do in the War On Terror, Daddy?"

Liberal father: " I fought the Americans, along with all the other liberals."

MOLON LABE





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