Mayor Warren Wilson on Environmentalists Caring More About Birds Than the Lives of King Cove Residents
King Cove is a remote town in the Aleutian Islands, adjacent to the 300,000-acre Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.
In 1980, the refuge was designated a wilderness area. That caused a severe problem for the people of King Cove. The nearest full-service hospital is in Anchorage, 900 miles away. The town does not have an all-weather airport. This means that people needing lifesaving care may not be able to access it during inclement weather.
A town 20 miles away called Cold Bay does have an all-weather airport from which sick and injured people could be flown for medical help in bad weather — if they could only get there. So, the people of King Cove sought permission to cut a gravel road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge to Cold Bay. They even offered a land swap that would increase the size of the refuge, making it a potential win-win for the people of the town and the environment.
Shockingly, the federal government under Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden said no. In a blatant example of anti-humanism that sometimes motivates extreme environmentalist policies, Obama’s Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewel visited King Cove and reportedly told a meeting of the residents, “I’ve listened to your stories, now I have to listen to the animals.” Wow.
The first Trump administration finally authorized the road. But environmentalists took the issue to court, which has prevented the road from being built.
This environmental controversy is not abstract. It threatens the lives of real people. Residents of King Cove have died because they couldn’t access medical care. So, I asked the mayor of King Cove, Warren Wilson, to come on the podcast to explain the controversy.
Warren Wilson is a lifelong resident of King Cove. He served 20 years on the town council and is currently in his second term as mayor, where he focuses on local economic vitality, community wellbeing, and maintaining strong ties between the residents and government. He has been a fisherman for 50 years and owns the only full-service welding operation in the town.
Show Notes
- City of King Cove, Alaska | Website
- “An Alaskan Town Is Literally Dying for a Road. Environmentalists Won’t Let Them Have One” by River Page | The Free Press
- “Jimmy Carter Argues King Cove Residents’ Safety Less Important Than Animal Sanctuary” by Wesley J. Smith | National Review
- “Federal judge again refuses to halt construction of first 2.8 miles of King Cove road” by Suzanne Downing | The Alaska Story
- “Opinion: The Road to Izembek Is Paved with Bad Intentions” | Defenders of Wildlife