WASHINGTON - Today, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) asked Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to stand by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) decision to reject a proposal to build a road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. FWS issued a final Environmental Impact Statement citing that the proposed road would cause irreparable damage to wildlife. Republicans in Congress are condemning the science based decision and have threatened to hold up the nomination of Secretary Salazar’s successor, Sally Jewell.
“I, like you, believe we should respect the judgment of our scientists and leave politics out of this decision," writes Rep. Markey, the Ranking Member of the Natural Resources Committee.
“We must continue to protect our nation’s most beautiful and precious wilderness. Not construct an unreliable and potentially dangerous road through the heart of it," said Rep. Markey.
The late Alaska Senator Ted Stevens was able to secure $37 million in federal funding as an alternative to building a road through the Izembek Refuge. Rep. Markey asked Interior to examine how the federal funds were spent and if taxpayers received their money’s worth from this funding. The funding was used to upgrade a medical clinic and airstrip, and to pay for a $10 million hovercraft and terminal connecting King Cove and Cold Bay. In 2010 it was reported that the hovercraft had lost $1 million annually.
The letter can be found HERE.
According to FWS, the proposed road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska would irreparably damage vital habitat for grizzly bear, caribou, salmon, shorebirds and waterfowl.
