The proposed 200-mile road connecting the Dalton Highway to the Ambler Mining District in Northwest Alaska was dealt a significant setback last week when Doyon, Limited canceled a critical land-access agreement.
The news came in a one-page letter from Doyon, Limited CEO Aaron Schutt, which cited a “fraught” relationship with and “poor treatment” from the state-owned development corporation Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority. According to the letter, first published by journalist Adam Federman, the existing land-access agreement signed in 2021 expires in April 2024.
“While no notice is required under the terms of the agreement, we are giving you notice in order that AIDEA’s team may plan its summer 2024 season efficiently knowing that it will not be allowed to access Doyon lands,” the letter stated.
That’s a big deal for the project. The current proposed route crosses two parcels of Doyon-owned land on the Dalton Highway end of the road, and the alternative would add another 100 miles to a project that’s already expected to cost the state agency $750 million to build. The road has long faced pushback from communities in the Doyon region, who worry the road would negatively impact fisheries and caribou with little opportunity to share in the economic benefits of a mining project near Kotzebue.
Those concerns are echoed in Schutt’s letter, which says that after nearly three years of the land-access agreement, they still don’t see those concerns addressed meaningfully.
“Doyon’s relationship with AIDEA and the Ambler Access Project has been fraught for many years. Our public record comments and letter to AIDEA leadership reflect many of our concerns related to the project and share the poor treatment we received from AIDEA,” explained the letter. “When we entered the agreement in 2021, we hoped to establish a relationship that would ensure that Doyon shareholders and communities benefitted from the project and the potential development of the Ambler mining district. After three years, we still have no agreement with any relevant party to ensure that the impacts of the project or the mining district are mitigated by the benefits to our corporation and its shareholders.”
The letter also raises other frustrations with the state’s development agency, citing issues over ongoing litigation that accuses AIDEA of failing to follow an agreement with Doyon for services at the Mustang oil field. That suit argues that AIDEA, which owns the interests in the field, owes the corporation more than $2 million in services. Schutt’s letter claims the state “took active steps to undermine that agreement” and that actions around that project have been in “bad faith and that those actions have significantly damaged the relationship with Doyon.”
In a response shared with the Anchorage Daily News, a spokesperson for AIDEA said it was “unfortunate and frankly unfair” for Doyon to raise the issues around the Mustang project and claimed that there has been “significant progress” in extending economic benefits such as jobs to the region.
While Schutt’s letter leaves open the possibilities of future discussions with the state, it’s firm that serious work needs to be done to repair the damage.
“We note that despite repeated, direct communications with AIDEA leadership about the importance of relationships across all of the Doyon-related projects, we have failed to make any meaningful progress on any of them,” Schutt wrote. “Until our relationship is rehabilitated, we will not consider granting access to our lands.”
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Twitter.
