Interior chief to visit Alaska amid road fight, filing says

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Wednesday, July 21st, 2021 6:17am

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U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is expected to visit Alaska in September. That's according to a court filing in a long-running dispute over a proposed land exchange aimed at building a road through a national wildlife refuge.

The filing from a Justice Department attorney says Haaland committed during her confirmation process to meeting with residents of King Cove, a community at the heart of the dispute.

The filing says those meetings aren’t possible before an appeals court is set to hear arguments in the case August 4 because people in the community will be busy with the subsistence fishing season.

Residents have long sought a land connection through the wildlife refuge to a town with an all-weather airport.

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