An amendment in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would have forced the proposed Ambler road to be permitted—against the wishes of 90 Alaska Native and First Nations governments and over 150,000 Americans—has been stopped.

On June 28, the Biden administration released the Final Supplemental Impact Statement Record of Decision for the proposed Ambler Road. In this document, they finalized their work in the Environmental Impact Statement and selected a “No Action Alternative.” This effectively denied the permit. However, days before the Biden administration’s final decision was announced, Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan introduced an amendment in the must-pass NDAA that would have forced Ambler Road forward. But as of December 7, 2024, the provision to advance Alaska’s Ambler Road mining access project was removed from the NDAA.

“The cumulative effects of roads and mining are enormous, and the proposed Ambler Road would have fundamentally compromised the ecological and cultural values of the region, including subsistence resources like the Western Arctic Caribou Herd and nesting habitat for birds that migrate throughout the hemisphere,” says David Krause, Vice President–Alaska Program at National Audubon Society. “We are grateful to those who used their voice to stop this harmful amendment in the National Defense Authorization Act.”

“Thankfully, we stood strong together for the Brooks Range,” reads a statement from the Defend the Brooks Range coalition, of which Audubon Alaska is a part. “More than 22,000 people took action, calling on Congress to reject this provision and stand with the people of Northwest and Interior Alaska.”

The Ambler Access Project would have been a private, industrial corridor connecting Dalton Highway to multiple planned open-pit copper mines. It would cut through Native corporation, BLM, and state lands, plus 26 miles of the Gates of the Arctic National Park. This part of Alaska—the Brooks Range, Gates of the Arctic National Park, and the surrounding region—is home to the Western Arctic Caribou Herd and the Kobuk and Koyukuk river fisheries. These are two critical food sources for the surrounding Indigenous and rural communities. The way of life for 66 Alaska Native villages would have been directly impacted by the road and upstream open-pit mining activities.

Learn more about the Brooks Range and how we got here in “The Eight Ws of Ambler Road.”