Engineer and Arctic Program Director for the Wilderness Society speaks out against Governor Walkers decision to allow the Ambler Road Environmental Impact Statement process to begin:
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA (October 21, 2015) – In response to Gov. Walker’s announcement today that he will allow the Ambler Access Road Environmental Impact Statement process to begin, Lois Epstein—an Alaska-licensed engineer and The Wilderness Society’s Arctic Program Director—issues the following statement:
“It makes no sense for the Walker administration to spend millions of dollars of the state’s limited funds on an Ambler Access Road Environmental Impact Statement. In contrast to the governor’s statement that the ‘natural stopping point’ is midstream in the EIS process, the actual ‘natural stopping point’ is now, before the EIS process begins. The administration’s own documents show that $8.2 million could be re-appropriated to, for example, education or maintaining existing roads, if the project is stopped now.
“If the governor intends to proceed with the road project at great state expense, he should say so, rather than spending millions of dollars moving forward incrementally. If Gov. Walker intends to stop the project because the state has higher priorities than building a very expensive road for one company, he should do so before the EIS process begins. Mining results in little state revenue, and NovaCopper may decide not to develop this mine even as the state spends substantial money and time on an EIS process.”
Lois Epstein, P.E.
Engineer & Arctic Program Director
The Wilderness Society
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