Sunday, April 27, 2014

Road Warriors: D.C. Showdown

A political battle is brewing in Washington D.C. over King Cove’s push for a road through a federal refuge. It’s an issue Sen. Lisa Murkowski has taken up time and time again. Last month, she took time to confront U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell at a budget hearing. Murkowski and King Cove residents have said it over and over: They’re not backing down. At an energy and natural resources budget hearing March 26, Murkowski said she “channeled her inner Ted Stevens” by wearing an Incredible Hulk scarf to convey her passion about the issue. “I will not stand by and watch as more Alaskan lives are put at risk. Put at risk, potentially, to die,” Murkowski said to Jewell. “I will not let this issue die.” The proposal sounds simple: A 10-mile, one-lane gravel road from King Cove to an all-weather airport in Cold Bay. In practice, it’s anything but. The road would go through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge — federally protected land — which is why Jewell rejected it. “It is a very important and unique habitat and the determination by Fish and Wildlife Service is it would be very disruptive to build a road through that area,” Jewell said. Murkowski hasn’t been shy about letting Jewell know her position on the issue. “The only thing that is standing in the way is our own federal government’s decision to place a higher value on the birds than it does on the health and safety of my state’s citizens and that is simply wrong,” Murkowski said as she lambasted the interior secretary. A handful of King Cove residents traveled more than 4,000 miles to be at the March hearing. For the first time since Jewell’s visit to the community last fall, they got to meet with her one-on-one and question her decision to put the refuge before the residents’ health. “This is insulting, disheartening, it’s sickening to be told that our lives are worthless because it’s what we face every single day,” said Bonita Babcock, a community health aide at the King Cove Clinic...more

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