On his first day in office, President Trump issued an executive order that some in the media disregarded, but experts say AWN Digital will play an important role in developing natural resources in the United States.
On the first day of his administration, Trump issued an executive order to advance the Ambler Access Project, a 211-mile industrial route through the Brooks Range foothills that will allow commercial mining for copper, zinc, and other commodities in a remote Arctic area of Northwest Alaska.
That executive order, one of many issued by Trump in the early hours of his presidency, reverses former President Biden’s decision to halt the project and signifies a substantial shift in energy policy, according to experts who talked with AWN Digital.
“President Biden issued 70 executive actions that discouraged tapping into Alaska’s natural resources and public lands access,” Gabriella Hoffman, Director of the Independent Women’s Forum Center for Energy & Conservation, told AWN Digital. “Unlike his predecessor, President Trump recognizes Alaska’s potential to meet domestic energy and national security needs for reliable energy and critical minerals—including restoring the Ambler Access Project connecting to the Ambler Mining District.”
“The Ambler Access Project has endured extensive environmental review and would bring economic development to rural communities in dire need of it without despoiling Alaska’s natural beauty,” according to Hoffman. “Those who would benefit from employment by Ambler also hunt, fish, and enjoy public lands.”
The University of Alaska Center for Economic Development’s economic impact study concluded that the development of the Ambler Mining District could result in thousands of direct, indirect, and induced jobs, as well as a projected $1 billion in revenue for the state from mining license tax revenue, corporate income taxes, and production royalties.
“Ambler Road is the equivalent of a shoelace on a football field: a blip in the vast remoteness of Alaska’s wilderness,” said Power The Future founder and Executive Director Daniel Turner to AWN Digital. “Yet bureaucrats in DC who do not live there and cannot locate it on a map have the right to restrict Alaskans from developing their own property and expanding their economy. This is insane.”
Unlocking the project comes against the backdrop of China’s rise in the market for essential minerals, with the nation controlling nearly 60% of the world’s output of rare earth minerals and products, sparking warnings from US authorities about over-reliance on foreign suppliers.
Turner noted that projects like Ambler Road, which have been stalled by the Biden administration, have strengthened the United States’ reliance on China.
“Critical projects in Alaska like Ambler Road and Pebble Mine and oil and gas exploration in ANWR which are held up by radical green ideologues have forced our dependency on China for these raw materials, compromised our national security, but also prevented our fellow Americans in Alaska from the prosperity and economic opportunities they deserve,” Turner informed the audience.
“So many raw minerals we need are in Alaska, but Governor Dunleavy is stymied by green craziness in San Francisco and Washington, DC from utilizing them and expanding his state’s economy. The Trump administration may be the most pro-Alaska presidency since Lincoln purchased it.”
Hoffman informed AWN Digital that “critics” of the Ambler project “ignore” that “access to the Ambler Mining District is guaranteed by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) of 1980.”
“My fellow Lower-48ers treat Alaska as a national preserve to be untouched and unexplored–dismissing locals and their perspectives,” according to Hoffman. “President Trump is actually listening to Alaskans and their needs.”
In a statement to AWN Digital, Alaska Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan said he looked forward to “working with President Trump’s administration and Alaskan leaders in the region to fully implement President Trump’s Alaska-specific EO, which includes reversing Biden’s denial of the Ambler road.”
“After enduring a four-year onslaught of 70 executive orders and actions by the Biden administration targeting my state, Alaskans have a new sense of hope and optimism for our future across a whole host of sectors and projects, including in our ability to develop our vast deposits of critical minerals and metals—many of which the United States is almost wholly dependent on China for,” Sullivan told the crowd.
Sullivan went on to say that he worked “closely” with the first Trump administration to authorize a route to the Ambler Mining District before the Biden administration “issued an order that killed that road last June, even though federal law mandates it.”
“Ironically, on Joe Biden’s final overseas tour as president, he pledged $600 million in funding to build a railroad in Angola to assist the country in producing and marketing key minerals. “That is insane.”
Trump also issued an executive order that he claims would “unleash American energy” by asking agencies to review and remove policies that place unnecessary barriers on domestic mining.
“The Trump administration is unwavering in its commitment to securing America’s energy future, strengthening national defense, and fostering economic growth,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly told AWN.
“By opening up one of the world’s greatest untapped mineral belts, President Trump ensures a local supply of essential minerals, reduces our reliance on foreign adversaries, and creates thousands of American jobs. “This project benefits both national security and the American people.”