June 4, 2014 — An isolated Alaska fishing community filed a federal lawsuit on Wednesday challenging a decision by Interior Secretary Sally Jewell that stopped it from building a road through a wildlife preserve to an all-weather airport.
King Cove, in the Aleutian Islands chain, is inaccessible by land. It is seeking to reverse Jewell's decision last December that halted the community's a plan for the 10-mile (16-km) road using land exchanged as part of a 2009 plan approved by Congress.
Jewell cited the potential for "irreversible damage" to wildlife in the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, home to many shorebirds and waterfowl, posed by the gravel road that would have linked King Cove to the airport in Cold Bay.
No roads lead in or out of King Cove, a coastal community of about 1,000 residents where the chief industry is fishing.
Supporters of the road cite access to healthcare as a top concern. Since December, several King Cove residents have needed emergency medical evacuation by either the U.S. Coast Guard or private helicopters, often in extreme weather conditions.
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