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Posted on Mon, Sep. 22, 2008

Alaska community seeks road through national wildlife refuge

Tom Kizzia | Anchorage Daily News

last updated: September 22, 2008 08:18:37 AM

The Alaskan comunity of Kings Cove has returned to Congress pressing for a road through a national wildlife refuge wilderness to Cold Bay's all-weather jetport.

King Cove was turned down a decade ago in its pursuit of a road. But the Aleut community has found more bipartisan support in Congress this year with a proposal that includes new environmental compromises and a sweetened offer of 61,000 acres that would be added to the federal refuge, including 43,000 acres coming from a supportive state administration.

In return, the state would get a narrow 7-mile band of land through sensitive wetlands in Izembek National Wildlife Refuge on which to build a road connecting King Cove to Cold Bay. The refuge is located 600 miles southwest of Anchorage, near the end of the Alaska Peninsula.

Read the full story at adn.com.