Sen. Murkowski pondering 'hold' on Sally Jewell's nomination over rejection of remote Aleutian road

Sen. Lisa Murkowski wants a medical-emergencies road built to remote
 King's Cove in the Aleutian archipelago. The Fish & Wildlife Service does not. A furious Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski is thinking about putting a procedural hold on the nomination of Sally Jewell to replace Ken Salazar as secretary of the Department of the Interior.

Her possible move in the matter stems not from any objection she has to Jewell, who once contributed $500 to Murkowski's election campaign. It is instead a response to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's preliminary decision to reject plans to build an emergencies-only road through the wetlands of the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge to the remote village of King Cove in the eastern Aleutian archipelago. Murkowski, who is the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, made her complaints known in a 30-minute speech on the Senate floor Thursday.

She said the decision, which will not be finalized for at least 30 days, was "so wrongheaded and so short-sighted...and so wrong to the people who call this home." Those people are 748 members of the Agdaagux Tribe, one of only five remaining eastern Aleut villages in Alaska. The safety of these people, she and other critics say, are being sacrificed in favor of animals that would be affected by the road.

The Fish & Wildlife Service, which is part of the Interior department, announced with delivery of its final environmental impact statement Tuesday that it has rejected the road. In a press release:

'The Fish and Wildlife Service's preferred alternative would protect the heart of a pristine landscape that congress designated as wilderness and that serves as vital habitat for grizzly bear, caribou and salmon, shorebirds and waterfowl'including 98 percent of the world's population of Pacific black brant,' said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. [...]

The permanent road would fragment undisturbed habitat for grizzly bear, caribou and salmon, and would compromise the protections offered to waterfowl and shorebirds. At the heart of the areas protected are internationally significant eelgrass beds in Izembek and Kinzarof lagoons, as well as adjacent uplands of the isthmus. [...]

Based on this analysis, the Service has selected Alternative 1, the no action alternative, as the preferred alternative.

Of the possible hold, Murkowski told The Hill: 'It may be that I have got to make threats, it may be that I have got to hold something up. I am hoping that I don't have to.' She said she had discussed the matter with Jewell when the nominee made a touching-bases phone call Thursday.

Displaying maps and photos on an easel, Murkowski explained in her Senate speech that the road is meant only for medical emergencies, specifically to allow patients to reach the all-weather airport in Cold Bay, which boasts Alaska's fifth longest runway 20 miles King Cove. The road would be a single lane, gravel road, 10 miles of which would cut through the refuge. Read more details about the situation below the fold.