By admin 
Federal regulators have suspended a wetlands-fill permit allowing construction of a controversial road through an Alaska national wildlife refuge, but the on-the-ground result of that action is a subject of legal contention.
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State officials say they still intend to start the work in coming weeks on the first part of the road that is planned to cross through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. But environmental groups and Native tribal governments who oppose the road argue that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ of the wetlands-fill permit for the road project precludes work on any part of it.
At issue is an 18.9-mile road that would link the isolated Alaska Peninsula community of King Cove to the military legacy, all-weather airport at Cold Bay. The road, as planned, would cut through an area of designated wilderness within the wildlife refuge.
The Corps in July issued a wetlands-fill permit to the state, a key permit needed for road construction. But on Aug. 18, U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason overturned a land trade that was necessary to allow construction of the road project. The state said it plans to appeal the decision.
“You are directed to stop any activities that were previously authorized by the suspended permit. . . . Any further work in these areas shall be considered a knowing, repeat, and flagrant violation of Federal law,” the Corps said in its letter following the ruling to the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.
The permit suspension will give the Corps time to evaluate the full implications of Gleason’s decision on the land trade, the letter said.
There is disagreement about what the now-suspended permit covers, however.
The Department of Transportation and Public Facilities holds the position that the suspension should not interfere with this fall’s plans, and that it still has the right to build the first 2.8-mile section of the road, according to a department spokesperson
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That portion of road is not subject to the wetlands-fill permit because it would not require disposal of fill into waters, state officials argue. And the area involved is outside of the disputed land trade, on land already owned by the King Cove Corporation, the community’s village Native corporation, state officials said.
“The State still plans to begin construction in September. The 2026 construction does not rely upon this permit, as it will not discharge fill into Waters of the U.S., including wetlands,” Justin Shelby, the Department of Transportation and Public Facility’s Central Region administrative operations manager, said by email.
Areas considered “Waters of the United States,” a legal term, are subject to certain Clean Water Act requirements.
Shelby pointed out that the state itself asked for the permit suspension. In the department’s , the state argued suspension of the permit would reduce possible confusion in the ongoing litigation and allow the federal court “to consider all arguments raised by the plaintiffs without the perception of pressure from the State of Alaska’s need to rely on the permit authorizations.”
The environmental and Yukon-Kuskokwim tribal plaintiffs who have challenged both the land trade and the wetlands-fill permit, in contrast, argue that the entire road is covered by both authorizations, and that any construction now would be illegal.
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