26 ALASKA RESOURCE REVIEW SUMMER 2024 IT IS NO SECRET ALASKA FACES NUMEROUS RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS TO ITS RESOURCES ACROSS THE STATE. This includes the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, the Ambler Road project, the West Susitna Road, and cancelled lease sales in ANWR, to name a few. Southeast Alaska faces its own access challenges. On January 27, 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) repealed the October 2020 Rule that exempted the Tongass National Forest (the Tongass) from the 2001 National Park Service’s so-called “Roadless Rule.” The 2023 repeal reinstated the 2001 Roadless Rule in Alaska, which prohibits timber harvest and road construction with limited exceptions within the 9.34 million acres of designated Inventoried Roadless Areas (IRAs). The Biden Administration’s reimposition of the Roadless Rule in the Tongass, an area the size of West Virginia, is a major access restriction in Southeast for a sustainable timber and forest products industry. RDC joined a coalition of 24 Plaintiffs, the State of Alaska, and Inside Passage Electric Cooperative (IPEC) and the Alaska Power Association (APA) contesting the reimposition of the 2001 Roadless Rule. This coalition includes the Alaska Miners Association, the Alaska Chamber, the Associated General Contractors of Alaska, the Southeast Conference, the Ketchikan Gateway Borough, the Southeast Alaska Power Agency (SEAPA) and Alaska Marine Lines, among others. The Pacific Legal Foundation, the public interest law firm which won the landmark Sackett v. EPA case, represents IPEC and the APA. The Alaska Forest Association (AFA) is not a party to the litigation because the October 2020 Exemption did not make more timber available. There is a “double lock” on Alaska’s Southeast timber industry – the 2001 Roadless Rule and the 2016 Tongass Forest Plan. While the October 2020 Exemption released 188,000 acres of timber from the 2001 Rule and ordered the Forest Service to amend the 2016 Forest Plan to authorize roadbuilding and timber harvest, the Forest Service never amended the Forest Plan. Consequently, successful litigation over the Roadless Rule exemption will not make more timber available. However, and importantly, successful ROADLESS RULE STILL RESTRICTS TONGASS ACCESS “We must continue to fight for reasonable access to our natural resources, including timber and mining resources, to balance responsible development with strong local economies.” — Jim Clark, Juneau Attorney Ecologically wise and successful mines on Southeast Alaska like the underground Greens Creek Mine are examples of critical industries that Tongass restrictions could hurt.
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