In the motion, the DOI requested that the lawsuits filed against the DOI by a coalition of national and Alaska environmental non-government organizations be suspended. The lawsuits were filed in response to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) issuance of the Joint Record of Decision (JROD) that authorized a right-of-way across federally managed lands for AIDEA and the AAP.

Trilogy Metals, the mining company looking to develop the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects (UKMP) in northwestern Alaska and sharing the cost for the Ambler Access Project with AIDEA, said it will discuss the situation with its partners, including NANA Regional Corp. Inc., the Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska and South32 Ltd. to understand the potential impact of the DOI’s decision on AIDEA’s proposed plan and budget for the 2022 summer field season activities that were previously announced.

Trilogy said the five-year permitting process for the Ambler Access Project was carried out in an exhaustive, extensive, and robust manner with considerable outreach and accommodation to affected communities and other related parties. According to AIDEA, during the scoping period, which was extended from 90 days to more than 330 days, the BLM held 15 public hearings in 13 communities and received more than 7,200 written comments. Subsequently, after the draft EIS was released in August 2019, the BLM held an additional 18 hearings in rural communities, hearings in two hub communities (Anchorage and Fairbanks), and a hearing in Washington, D.C. The BLM received an additional 29,000 written comments to the draft EIS, which were scrutinized and incorporated into the FEIS. AIDEA reiterated that the development and production of the FEIS/JROD, which cost almost $5 million, was an extraordinarily high-quality and comprehensive analysis report.