The Biden administration is withdrawing from a land exchange deal that would have given the green light for construction to begin on a road through the protected lands of the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.
Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced the administration’s withdrawal from the deal, initially made between the Interior Department and King Cove Corporation, in a statement on March 14.
Authorized by former Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt under the Trump administration in July 2019, the exchange would have allowed an 11-mile gravel road to be built connecting the communities of King Cove—a remote town with a population of around 845 people—and Cold Bay, where there is an all-weather airport….