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Senate committee hears AIDEA update on Ambler access road: private-permit model, jobs forecast, and wildlife study
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Summary
AIDEA officials told the Senate State Affairs Committee the Ambler access road is permitted as a private industrial road, projected to enable thousands of construction jobs and state revenues, and that a recent study found minimal impacts to the Western Arctic caribou herd.
Juneau
AIDEA officials told the Senate State Affairs Committee on Jan. 15 that the proposed Ambler access road would be built and managed as a private industrial access road, not open to general public use, and that federal permits securing that status have been obtained.
"It is a private industrial access road only," said Jeffrey San Juan, AIDEA infrastructure development program manager, responding to questions from Chair Kawasaki about public access. San Juan and AIDEA legal staff said permitting language and agreements with Alaska Native regional corporations require the private classification for the project to proceed across tribal lands.
The authority forecasts the ~211-mile corridor will create more than 3,000 jobs during a roughly four-year construction period and about 141 annual operations jobs once the road is in service. AIDEA staff told the committee estimated fiscal lifetime payments tied to mining enabled by the road exceed $193 million for local municipalities and approach $1 billion for the state.
Sen. Bjorkman pressed whether NANA Regional Corporation had changed its earlier opposition; Jeffrey San Juan replied AIDEA has resumed conversations, is working on an access agreement for winter work, and said stakeholder outreach is being rebuilt since right-of-way permits were received.
AIDEA compared the Ambler approach to the DeLong Mountain Transportation System, the haul road and port that serves Red Dog Mine. That system uses a multi-user, fee-based operating model in which multiple developers and native corporations participate instead of single-company ownership, AIDEA said.
AIDEA also cited a recent study by Dr. Matthew Cronin addressing potential impacts to the Western Arctic caribou herd. "The findings were that the Western Arctic caribou herd historical migration are north and west of the proposed Ambler access project," San Juan summarized. He added the report acknowledges some caribou may cross the corridor but concluded the road is not within the herd's regular fall migration route.
Committee members asked whether AIDEA can require local hiring. Kent Sullivan, AIDEA general counsel, said as a state entity AIDEA cannot impose "shareholder preference" hiring for Alaska Native corporations on contracts it administers, though Alaska preferences for in-state companies can sometimes be used in RFPs. Sullivan said NANA or Doyon could invoke shareholder preference for work conducted on their lands if they administer contracts there.
Sen. Bjorkman voiced a policy objection to using public dollars for privately regulated roads and questioned whether AIDEA had considered longer-term budgetary impacts if dividend expectations are expanded; AIDEA said it would follow up on those dividend policy questions with senior staff.
What happens next: Committee members asked AIDEA to provide follow-up details, including a local-hire breakdown for Red Dog operations and the full Northern Economics report referenced during the briefing. AIDEA staff said they expect the comprehensive Northern Economics report to be available by the end of January.
