ICYMI: Sen. Lisa Murkowski sent a letter to Interior Secretary Jewell yesterday highlighting the ongoing health and safety concerns of the people of King Cove, Alaska, whose access to a nearby all-weather airport is blocked by a small portion of the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. Sen. Murkowski in 2009 worked out a land exchange that would have given the refuge roughly 60,000 acres, including more than 43,000 acres of new wilderness and prime wildlife habitat, for a 206-acre road corridor, but Secretary Jewell rejected the deal.  More on King Cove is available on our website. - Dillon

Murkowski keeps up pressure on Jewell over Alaska road (Energy Guardian)

By Kevin Rogers

http://bit.ly/1FRQEcT

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee chair is renewing criticism of Interior Secretary Sally Jewell over her 2013 decision to reject construction of a medical access road through an Alaska wildlife refuge. And Sen. Lisa Murkowski is making a new push for the road to be built.

In a letter, the Alaska Republican blasted Jewell for lacking awareness of the total number of medical evacuations from the community of King Cove since the road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge was turned down. Jewell admitted that she wasn't aware of the exact number at an energy committee hearing last month.

“Compounding my frustration was your inability to name any concrete action that you have taken ¬– or intended to take – to protect the health and safety of the nearly 1,000 Alaskans who live in this isolated community,” Murkowski wrote.

The 11-mile extension to a gravel road would have connected King Cove to an all-weather airport in Cold Bay. Jewell ruled against the road after her department’s review found that it would damage the refuge and pose a threat to wildlife.

Murkowski, also chair of the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees Interior's funding, noted that 23 medical evacuations have taken place since the road was rejected, seven of them being carried out by the U.S. Coast Guard at a “very high cost to taxpayers” and at heavy risk for flight crews. She added that the road still remains the best option for evacuees.

“Whether operated by the Coast Guard or another agency, a helicopter base would be costly, dangerous, and infective at providing all-weather emergency medical transport,” Murkowski wrote.

Her letter was accompanied by a list detailing the 23 evacuations, a 2014 letter she sent to Jewell and a 2014 Coast Guard estimate of how much a permanent air base near King Cove would cost.

“As Secretary of the Interior, you have authority and responsibility to ensure that King Cove’s residents have reliable medical transport during emergencies caused by illness or injury,” she added.  “I again urge you to make this one of your top priorities—and to work expeditiously toward what is now a long-overdue resolution.”

At a hearing last month, Jewell voiced sympathy for King Cove residents and pledged that Interior is working with the Army Corps of Engineers and the community to develop alternatives evacuation systems.

She also stood by her decision to reject the road, saying the Izembek land deserved to be protected.

“To suggest that the Izembek refuge is the same as other lands acre for acre is inaccurate,” Jewell said. “There are many villages that struggle in the case of medical evacuations, and I appreciate that it is part of our job to work on that.”