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Washington, D.C. – Today, the House Natural Resources Committee passed legislation introduced by Alaska Congressman Young – H.R. 218, the King Cove Land Exchange Act – to authorize a land exchange to facilitate the construction of a life-saving road from the isolated community of King Cove to the City of Cold Bay, the home to an all-weather airport featuring Alaska’s fifth-longest runway. The committee passage of H.R. 218 comes one day after the Department of Interior issued a permit to the State of Alaska to begin an initial assessment on construction of the 11-mile road.

Congressman Young speaking on behalf of H.R. 218 during the House Natural Resources Committee (click here to watch).

“I remind everybody in this room, 19 people have died because they didn’t have this road. Just put yourself in that position, as you sit here,” said Congressman Don Young during the Committee markup. “If you’d like to have your mother, or your sister, or your brother or your aunt or someone die because there isn’t a road that’s 11 miles long. And the national wildlife refuge could get 43,000 acres for 206 acres. This is a deal of a lifetime for the Refuge… We are very frankly going to go forth because of the Administration. Sally Jewell was wrong. She actually believed a goose was more important that human life…I want you to understand that this is crucial to human life.”

Congressman Young introduced H.R. 218 on January 3, 2017 to authorize an equal value land exchange between the State of Alaska and the federal government for a 206-acre land corridor. Under the legislation, identical to legislation introduced by Senator Lisa Murkowski and Senator Dan Sullivan, up to 43,093 acres of non-federal lands owned by the State of Alaska would be eligible for transfer to the Department of the Interior (DOI) and added to the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge as designated Wilderness in an equal value land exchange. In return, the State of Alaska will receive 206 acres of federal lands for the construction of an 11-mile, gravel, one-lane, non-commercial road segment that will connect existing roads on both sides of the refuge. The corridor would account for approximately 0.06 percent of the 315,000-acre Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. Currently, 131 acres of the proposed 206 acre project are designated as Wilderness.

“Secretary Jewell’s heartless denial of the King Cove emergency access road was a willful and deliberate dismissal of human life in the name of wildlife; it  represented one of the worst government actions I’ve seen in all my years in Congress,” Congressman Don Young stated upon Committee passage of H.R. 218. “And since that decision, the community has experienced 53 medivacs in often treacherous conditions. This legislation is an important step to ensuring the people of King Cove have safe and reliable transportation during medical emergencies. It’s appalling that this fight has taken decades, but I’m extremely optimistic that under the current administration we can finally resolve this issue and facilitate the construction of this 11-mile, life-saving road from King Cove to Cold Bay. I thank Chairman Bishop for moving this commonsense proposal and look forward to its passage in the House.”

“For too long access to healthcare for the tribes and residents of King Cove has been tied to the ineffective federal bureaucracy. I commend Rep. Young for his leadership on this locally supported land exchange bill,” House Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) said. “The Trump administration has already shown its willingness to begin addressing this important issue.”

King Cove is located between two volcanic mountains near the end of the Alaska Peninsula, about 625 miles southwest of Anchorage. Since Secretary Sally Jewell’s heartless denial of the King Cove road in 2013, the community has experienced 53 medivacs – including 17 by the U.S. Coast Guard – in often harsh weather conditions. In the past, plane crashes have led to multiple fatalities that could have been avoided had road transportation been an option. Without the road, local residents continue to be at the mercy of high winds, dense fog, and strong storms that prevent safe and timely transportation during medical emergencies.