Northern Center

10/12/2026

Salmon are already struggling in Alaska—and adding asbestos contamination into their habitat would only make things worse. In a series of articles from Gale Vick on our website, she has been examining the various impacts on salmon from the proposed industrial Ambler Road. You can read the full article below.

https://northern.org/news/the-ambler-road-project-creates-immense-challenges-for-wild-fish-part-8-sedimentation-and-asbestos-laden-soils-threaten-fish-bearing-waters/

10/10/2026

Public commenting is open during the scoping period for the Arctic Mine, the first mine entering the permitting process in the Ambler Mining District. Read on to learn how to submit a substantive comment and where to put it.

WHAT IS A SUBSTANTIVE COMMENT?
A substantive comment is one that gives specific, fact-based feedback to the proposal by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the Arctic Mine proposal.

Your comment should aim to give the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers specific topics to analyze in the future Environmental Impact Statement by presenting new information—including traditional knowledge— suggesting alternatives, identifying gaps in the proposal, and questioning the accuracy and practices within the proposal.

WHAT TOPICS SHOULD A COMMENT ADDRESS?
The Northern Alaska Environmental Center has identified the following topics as needing further analysis for the Arctic Mine;
- Long-term water treatment
- Impacts on fish and wildlife habitats, including salmon and caribou
- Impacts on subsistence
- Water quality and safety
- Cumulative impacts between the mine and the Ambler Road
- Development pressures and impacts on rural communities
- Alternatives to the proposed mine and structures
- Mine closure and related procedures

HOW SHOULD I WRITE THE COMMENT?
1. State who you are and how the project impacts you.
2. Be as specific as possible, and list your concerns about the development. Avoid just stating your opinions, and use facts and data to back up your concerns.
3. Give suggestions for how your concerns should be addressed, with examples and data. You don’t have to be a scientist or technical writer; all input matters. Tell them what they should be assessing in the Environmental Impact Statement.

HOW DO I SUBMIT MY COMMENT?
Written comments can be submitted through the Arctic Mine EIS website, by email, or by mail until November 2, 2026.

Online: ArcticMineEIS.com
Email: [email protected]
Mail:
Arctic Mine Development Project EIS Comments
USACE – Alaska District, Regulatory Division
1046 Marks Road
Fort Wainwright, AK 99703
The Army Corps asks commenters to include “Arctic Mine Development Project” in the subject line or correspondence.

10/08/2026

This year's theme for our annual winter gathering, Night for the North, is “What We Carry Forward: Focusing on the responsibility to pass healthy lands, waters, traditions, and communities on to future generations.” The event will be hosted at Birch Hill Recreation Area on Friday, December 4th. Follow for updates as they come.

10/07/2026

A proposed Production Site Development Rule would create a new criteria-based permitting system for qualifying oil and gas infrastructure.

Instead of relying on the current project-by-project review process, qualifying projects could move through an accelerated approval pathway. Under the proposed rule, BLM would have up to 21 days to determine whether an application is complete and then would be required to issue an approval, or an approval with conditions, within 60 days.

The proposal is being framed as a way to reduce regulatory uncertainty and speed development. But the Bureau of Land Management’s own documents show that faster permitting could also increase the pace and footprint of oil and gas development across the Reserve, while creating significant risks for subsistence users and North Slope communities.

The streamlining of permitting has serious implications for communities on the North Slope.

Four alternatives are being proposed;
- Alternative A: No Action. The permitting process remains the same.
- Alternative B: Proposed rule. Streamlined permitting for sites within 25 miles of existing oil and gas infrastructure.
- Alternative C: Limited streamlining. Streamlined sites within 15 miles of existing sites.
- Alternative D: Broadest development. Much more production and infastructure predicted.

The Bureau of Land Management found that this permitting process would result in the restriction of subsistence resources, including Alternative C — the most restrictive streamlining option—which still reaches the ANILCA threshold for significant restrictions on subsistence.

The Bureau concludes that Alternative C would significantly restrict resource abundance for Nuiqsut, Atqasuk, and Utqiaġvik, and significantly restrict resource availability and access for Nuiqsut.

LEARN HOW TO COMMENT TODAY: https://northern.org/news/blms-own-analysis-finds-npr-a-streamlining-could-significantly-restrict-subsistence/

10/06/2026

This is the beginning of what could be one of the most consequential mine reviews in Northwest Alaska in years. Submit a comment by November 2 and tell the Army Corps what the Arctic Mine EIS needs to study.

The Army Corps has already acknowledged that the proposal could significantly affect water, fish and wildlife, subsistence, and regional communities. Now the public has an opportunity to help determine how thoroughly those impacts are examined.
The more specific the comments are about places, waterways, wildlife, subsistence uses, community concerns, unanswered questions, and information the government should examine, the more useful they can be in shaping the environmental review.

Visit link below and scroll to the bottom for assistance in submitting your comment. https://northern.org/news/arctic-mine-scoping-is-open-now-is-the-time-to-speak-up/

10/06/2026

Join us on Friday, October 16th, for a discussion with Zach Brown of Tidelines Institute and The Solstice Project called Fighting for the Climate in an Oil State: A 2300-mile Journey from Science to Action. Join us at Fairbanks Distilling Company, for an evening of storytelling, including his arduous homecoming journey from Stanford University to Alaska to found Tidelines Institute—and fight to move us beyond the fossil fuel era.

10/03/2026

The federal government has released a new Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Donlin Gold Mine, and the findings deserve close attention.

The new analysis looks at what could happen if substantially more mine waste were released from Donlin’s proposed tailings storage facility than federal agencies considered when the project was originally approved.

Under the scenarios analyzed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a larger tailings dam failure could result in loss of life, displacement, long-term contamination, generational impacts to fish, significant restrictions on subsistence, and conditions that could make the Village of Crooked Creek uninhabitable. Read our full blog post at the link below.

The federal government has released a new Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Donlin Gold Mine, and the findings deserve close attention. The new analysis looks at what could happen if substantially more mine waste were released from Donlin’s proposed tailings storag...

10/02/2026

“Krystal Lapp, interim executive director of Northern Alaska Environmental Center, closed out the panel with the story of Wiseman, an off-grid community of just 12-15 people whose ability to hunt and rely on the surrounding land was put at risk by changes to the management of public lands around the community. Residents organized, advocates joined them and organizations came together to help secure an opportunity for the community to continue hunting moose on nearby federal lands.”

At Climate Week NYC, Alaska leaders shared stories about the relationships, local knowledge and community voices that make climate action possible.

10/01/2026

Seven conservation organizations are challenging the State of Alaska’s decision to grant an easement for the proposed Ambler industrial road, arguing that the state failed to fully consider the impacts of the project or protect the public interest.

On September 30, the Northern Alaska Environmental Center and six partner organizations filed an appeal in Alaska Superior Court challenging the Alaska Department of Natural Resources’ approval of a state-land easement for the proposed Ambler Road.

The appeal argues that DNR violated its responsibilities under the Alaska Constitution by approving the easement without adequately considering the full impacts of the project on Alaska’s lands, waters, wildlife, subsistence resources, public access, and communities. The groups also argue that the state failed to provide Alaskans with essential information needed to meaningfully participate during the public comment process. Read our full blog post here: https://northern.org/news/northern-center-and-partners-appeal-state-approval-of-ambler-road-easement/