Citing “an abundance of caution” stemming from surging COVID-19 numbers, Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s trip to Alaska has been postponed until later this year.
Government officials said the decision to postpone the trip was made in consultation with Alaska Native, local and federal leaders. Officials pointed to the increase in COVID cases over the last seven days as a reason to postpone the visit.
Government spokesperson Melissa Schwartz confirmed Haaland planned to visit Alaska in September, including the community of King Cove, where she was slated to meet with local officials, Alaska Native leaders and others.
King Cove finds itself in the middle of a growing dispute over a proposed land exchange aimed at building a road through a national wildlife refuge. King Cove residents have pushed for a land connection through Izembek National Wildlife Refuge to Cold Bay, home of an all-weather airport. Supporters of the plan have sought to sell it as a life and safety issue.
Under the Trump administration, efforts to move forward with a land exchange faced steep legal challenges. In August, a Justice Department attorney told a federal appeals court panel that Haaland planned to review the record and visit King Cove before making a decision on what position she would take.
In a statement, Schwartz called the Alaska visit “critically important to the Secretary and to the mission of the Department, and the kind of robust community engagement desired would not be possible given health and safety concerns.”
In June 2020, U.S. District Court Senior Judge John Sedwick moved to vacate the proposed land exchange designed to build the road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.
Citing procedural violations, the judge added, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt failed to provide adequate reasoning to support a change in policy in entering a land exchange agreement with King Cove Corp.
