Alaskan Land Swap Rejected Twice in Court

A U.S. District Court judge has again thrown out a land exchange intended to allow a road for King Cove through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.  It’s the second time in just over a year that the Interior Department’s land trade failed to pass muster in court, according to Alaska Public Media.

The Obama administration found the ecological damage would be too great to merit putting a road through a protected wilderness area. But President Trump’s first Interior secretary, Ryan Zinke, announced he would approve a land exchange anyway, and also the next Interior secretary, David Bernhardt, proposed a new land exchange.

However, the court said the secretary’s decision arbitrary and capricious, in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act.

The decision is a big loss for King Cove, where leaders have been trying for decades to get a road to Cold Bay and its all-weather airport.