U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today delivered a speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate demanding that the Secretary of the Interior put the health and safety of Alaskans above the inconvenience of migrating birds when deciding whether a land exchange, involving the Izembek National Refuge, that would grant the residents of King Cove limited road access to emergency medical care was in the public interest.

Click to watch video clip of Sen. Murkowski’s floor speech on the King Cove Road
“Five years ago this Congress approved a land exchange. The Aleut peoples of Alaska and the state of Alaska agreed to give up 56,400 acres of prized waterfowl habitat to add to the Izembek and Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuges in return for the government giving back about 1,800 acres – a 300-to-1 exchange,” Murkowski said. “Just 206 acres are really at issue. This land is required to permit construction of a single-lane gravel road that would allow ambulances to travel between the Native fishing village of King Cove to the all-weather airport at Cold Bay, Alaska so that medical emergencies can be medivaced to Anchorage for life-saving treatments.”