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21–974 2017

S. HRG. 114–499 

OPTIONS FOR ADDRESSING THE CONTINUING 

LACK OF RELIABLE EMERGENCY MEDICAL 

TRANSPORTATION FOR THE ISOLATED COMMUNITY OF KING COVE, ALASKA 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON 

ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

APRIL 14, 2016 

( 

Printed for the use of the 

Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

(II) 

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES 

LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska, Chairman 

JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming 

JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho 

MIKE LEE, Utah 

JEFF FLAKE, Arizona 

STEVE DAINES, Montana 

BILL CASSIDY, Louisiana 

CORY GARDNER, Colorado 

ROB PORTMAN, Ohio 

JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota 

LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee 

SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia 

MARIA CANTWELL, Washington 

RON WYDEN, Oregon 

BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont 

DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan 

AL FRANKEN, Minnesota 

JOE MANCHIN III, West Virginia 

MARTIN HEINRICH, New Mexico 

MAZIE K. HIRONO, Hawaii 

ANGUS S. KING, Jr., Maine 

ELIZABETH WARREN, Massachusetts 

COLIN HAYES, Staff Director 

PATRICK J. MCCORMICK III, Chief Counsel 

BRIAN HUGHES, Deputy Staff Director 

ANGELA BECKER-DIPPMANN, Democratic Staff Director 

SAM E. FOWLER, Democratic Chief Counsel 

DAVID BROOKS, Democratic General Counsel 

(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

OPENING STATEMENTS

Page 

Murkowski, Hon. Lisa, Chairman and a U.S. Senator from Alaska ................... 1 

Cantwell, Hon. Maria. Ranking Member and a U.S. Senator from Washington .................................................................................................................... 15 

WITNESSES

Mallott, Hon. Byron, Lieutenant Governor, State of Alaska ............................... 17 

Mack, Hon. Stanley, Mayor, Aleutians East Borough, Alaska ............................ 23 

Desiderio, Denise, Policy Director, National Congress of American Indians ..... 36 

Trumble, Della, Spokeswoman, Agdaagux Tribal Council and King Cove Corporation ................................................................................................................. 47 

Whiddon, Commander John, United States Coast Guard, Retired ..................... 54 

Whittington-Evans, Nicole, Alaska Regional Director, The Wilderness Society 60 

ALPHABETICAL LISTING AND APPENDIX MATERIAL SUBMITTED

Alaska Wilderness League, et al.: 

Letter for the Record ........................................................................................ 88 

Cantwell, Hon. Maria: 

Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 15 

Desiderio, Denise: 

Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 36 

Written Testimony ............................................................................................ 38 

Mack, Hon. Stanley: 

Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 23 

Photo: 125’ Crab vessel trying to dock in King Cove, Alaska ....................... 25 

Photo: Icescape in King Cove, Alaska ............................................................. 27 

Photo: 20’ high dock in King Cove, Alaska ..................................................... 29 

Photo: Hoisting a patient in a crab pot to the top of the dock in King 

Cove, Alaska .................................................................................................. 31 

Written Testimony ............................................................................................ 33 

Responses to Questions for the Record ........................................................... 89 

Mallott, Hon. Byron: 

Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 17 

Written Testimony ............................................................................................ 20 

Response to Question for the Record .............................................................. 88 

Manchin III, Hon. Joe: 

Statement for the Record ................................................................................. 91 

Murkowski, Hon. Lisa: 

Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 1 

Map: State of Alaska ........................................................................................ 2 

Photo: King Cove, Alaska ................................................................................ 4 

Map: Cold Bay, Alaska indicating location of airport runway ...................... 6 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 11 

Trumble, Della: 

Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 47 

Photo: Pen Air plane that crash landed in King Cove, Alaska ..................... 49 

Written Testimony ............................................................................................ 51 

Whiddon, Commander John: 

Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 54 

Written Testimony ............................................................................................ 57 

Responses to Questions for the Record ........................................................... 90 

Whittington-Evans, Nicole: 

Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 60 

Written Testimony ............................................................................................ 62 

(1) 

OPTIONS FOR ADDRESSING THE CONTINUING 

LACK OF RELIABLE EMERGENCY MEDICAL 

TRANSPORTATION FOR THE ISOLATED 

COMMUNITY OF KING COVE, ALASKA 

THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2016 

U.S. SENATE, 

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES, 

Washington, DC. 

The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:08 a.m. in Room 

SD–366, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Lisa Murkowski, 

Chairman of the Committee, presiding. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. LISA MURKOWSKI, U.S. 

SENATOR FROM ALASKA 

The CHAIRMAN. Good morning, everyone. The Committee will 

come to order so we can consider an issue that is, I think it is fair 

to say, near and dear to this Senator’s heart and an issue that is 

very important and critical to, not only the people of King Cove, 

but many throughout the State of Alaska. 

Today we are going to be taking up the matter of the continuing 

lack of reliable emergency medical transportation for the community of King Cove, Alaska and how we can work together to protect 

the health and safety of these people. 

For those who are not familiar with King Cove, I would ask that 

the Alaska map be held up for a second, just for situational awareness. Bring it over here, please. 

[The information referred to follows:] 

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Okay, so you have the community of Anchorage that is sitting 

right here. King Cove sits right here, at the end of the peninsula, 

just at the beginning of the Aleutian Islands. King Cove is situated 

about 625 miles southwest of Anchorage, to put it into context. It 

is about 250 miles from Kodiak where our Coast Guard air station 

is located. 

When you think about proximity, 625 miles is one way to look 

at it, but given that there are no roads that connect it to anywhere 

else, the way that you get to somewhere else is to fly. However, the 

cost of a roundtrip ticket to Anchorage is $1,036, so if you are going 

to town, which is how we refer to Anchorage, for medical treatment 

or for groceries or whatever the need may be, it is a $1,036 round 

trip ticket. King Cove is far away, isolated, and expensive. 

Eighty-five percent of the King Cove residents are Alaska Native, 

Aleut, members of the Federally-recognized Agdaagux. I always 

mispronounce that Della, so you will have to correct me, but as I 

mentioned, as with so many of our communities, it is reachable 

only by plane or by boat. 

It is a beautiful place, and I want to show a few pictures now, 

just to put the community in context. 

[The information referred to follows:] 

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5 

It is actually the same as we have over here, but as you can see, 

it is located right at sea level there, surrounded by two volcanic 

mountains. You approach the community of King Cove from the 

water side, but you come into a funnel situation with high mountains on both sides of you. It is incredibly scenic on a beautiful day, 

as you can see in the picture, but the region is prone to quickly 

moving weather, high winds, low clouds, dense fog, and other conditions that can make flying and boating extremely dangerous. 

Planes can land at King Cove’s gravel airstrip. It is a 3,500 foot 

strip, so only small planes can come in and out. However, as these 

small planes come in, they are dealing with low visibility, strong 

turbulence, as the wind comes down off the top of the mountain, 

literally pushing an aircraft down, and notorious gale force cross 

winds. And that is just in the air. 

If you are on the sea, mariners can be looking at extremely inhospitable conditions, such as 12-foot-high seas. 

If you are a local resident, most of the time you do not have any 

desire to be flying when these weather conditions are so ugly and 

severe, but there are times when you cannot avoid traveling. When 

you have a medical emergency, you have no choice but to try to get 

to a hospital, and that hospital would be located in Anchorage. 

There is a clinic in King Cove, and they do a phenomenal job, 

I might add. However, there are certain things that you cannot do 

in a clinic. There is not an anesthesiologist anywhere in the region; 

therefore, if you are a trauma victim, or if you are a woman in 

early stages of labor, or if you have any major illness, the clinic is 

not where you can receive the care you need. So what do you do? 

Well, the first step is to transport those who are sick or injured 

or in need of other medical care to the community of Cold Bay. You 

say, wait a minute, you just said transport them to Anchorage. 

Well, Anchorage is 625 miles away. The way to get them to safety 

is to take them to Cold Bay, where there is a 10,000-plus foot runway, one of the longest runways in the State of Alaska, which is 

located just across the bay. So you have King Cove that sits down 

here, and across the bay is Cold Bay, where you have your 10,000- 

plus foot runway. 

[The information referred to follows:] 

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7 

This is not only a runway that is accessible with better weather 

conditions. When I say that the weather is down in King Cove, it 

is down in King Cove over one-third of the year. Not that there is 

just bad weather, but the airport is not accessible. Over 100 days 

a year the King Cove airport is not accessible. 

The alternative in Cold Bay, just across the bay, it is much less. 

It is only around ten days a year that their airport is shut down 

and the runway is inaccessible, making it so dramatically, dramatically different in terms of its access. 

Since the 1940s the Alaska Native people of King Cove have 

sought safe, reliable access to reach Cold Bay during medical emergencies. Cold Bay is a community that came about in World War 

II for air traffic in and out as we accessed the Aleutians. It was 

literally built for its airport. Today, there are less than 100 people 

that live in Cold Bay; they are mostly Federal or State employees. 

The community of King Cove, a community of close to 1,000 people, somewhere between 900 and 1,000 people, has been there for 

maybe 4,000 years or so. King Cove is where the native people 

have been for a millennia. 

So again, as we are searching for those avenues to provide for 

a safe route to medical care or just to access the rest of the state, 

the answer is not to build a longer runway in King Cove. You will 

still be faced with the geography and the weather around you. A 

longer runway would simply expose both pilots and their passengers to some of the worst flying conditions in the country, and 

I think you will hear some of that testimony this morning. 

The answer is not to buy a large ferry and construct new docks 

at both King Cove and Cold Bay because it is not appropriate to 

expect injured patients and their doctors to suffer through a multihour long trip in rough seas or perhaps to be shut out by the ice 

that comes into the bay. The answer is not a new helicopter, which 

would be too dangerous to fly in most conditions and too expensive 

to operate. The answer is also not a hovercraft. This has been tried, 

and it has failed. It could not operate when needed most when the 

weather was most foul and simply cost too much to maintain. Lastly, the answer is not the U.S. Coast Guard. As much as we love 

and support our Coast Guard, being a medevac to a community is 

not part of their overall mission, although they will come when 

called, and they have. 

You will again hear testimony to that fact that we continue to 

have our Coast Guard men and women put their lives on the line 

and do so willingly, but these rescues are not part of their core mission and are not safe for anyone. They are also enormously expensive for the U.S. taxpayer. When the Coast Guard has to come in 

for a medevac, it can be $200,000 to 250,000, which is not an efficient use of taxpayer dollars. 

The right answer is to do what virtually every other community 

in America would do, and that is to build a simple, lifesaving road, 

a connector road. In this case, it is building an 11-mile, one lane, 

gravel, non-commercial use road. I say that so many times, I can 

say it in my sleep—an 11 mile, one lane, gravel, non-commercial 

use road to connect the existing road from King Cove through the 

Izembek area to the connector road that allows access into Cold 

Bay. 

8 

We already have about 19 miles of existing roads that have been 

built outside King Cove and Cold Bay. You will often hear that the 

area within the refuge is untrammeled wilderness. Well, it may 

have been untrammeled wilderness prior to World War II, but during the war, there were roads built. There are over 50 miles of 

roads that are contained within the refuge area currently. Currently. 

You might ask if those roads are being used at all? Well, they 

are being used by our Fish and Wildlife folks, and they are being 

used by hunters. So the question is, why haven’t we been able to 

get this simple road built? 

The reason is that we cannot get permission from our own Federal Government to do so because this lifesaving road will cross a 

small corner of the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge that is designated as Federal wilderness; however, we have routinely allowed 

for what they call ‘‘cherry stem’’ roads to enable transit to move 

through these wilderness areas. We have done it before. The only 

difference here is that cherry stemming would actually cure an injustice, which is keeping these people from accessing Cold Bay, 

rather than preventing one, as we often try to do when we are designating wilderness. 

We have, within this Committee, passed legislation, which was 

overwhelmingly approved by Congress. President Obama signed it 

into law back in 2009, and it would have allowed the Department 

of Interior to approve a road for King Cove. 

At a 300 to 1 exchange, it was not the best deal for the State 

of Alaska or for the people of King Cove. The Federal Government 

was going to get 300 times more than the State of Alaska was giving up. To obtain this road, the native people were willing to give 

up a portion of their lands that they received in a settlement under 

ANCSA. The exchange was going to be 206 acres that we would 

need for the corridor in exchange for 61,000 acres of state lands 

and native lands; however, 300 to 1 was still not good enough, and 

Secretary Jewell rejected that offer. She did so on the day before 

Christmas Eve. I do not forget that Christmas. 

She decided that using just .07 percent of the refuge as a cherry 

stem to help save the lives of people who live there, while simultaneously expanding the refuge by tens of thousands of acres somehow was not worth it. It just was not worth it, she said. 

She traveled out with me to King Cove, and she listened to the 

people of King Cove. I was there and I heard the exchanges back 

and forth. I heard what the people said to her. I heard what the 

children said at the school assembly when they told her they were 

frightened to fly because their auntie had died or their grandma 

had died or they had a neighbor who had been in a crash. 

The Secretary stated that she had listened to their stories, but 

she also needed to listen to the animals. That is what drives me 

with this because we have a responsibility to the people that we 

represent. We have a responsibility for the land as well, a responsibility we do not take lightly, but think about the people that live 

out there. You will hear testimony from Stanley Mack and Della 

Trumble whose families have lived there forever. Ask them about 

how they care for the land, how they care for the animals, and how 

they have been stewards, as the Aleut people, of the land. I am not 

9 

too worried about making sure the animals are taken care of because I know that the native people have done that for generations. 

The other irony here is, again, this decision was made despite 

the fact that there are roads existing within the refuge. They have 

been there since World War II, and no lasting impacts on any species that lives there has occurred as a consequence of those roads. 

Additionaly, if the decision was made to protect the birds, it is 

a little bit ironic that on Fish and Wildlife’s website they boast 

about the recreational hunting for the area’s water fowl. The Brant 

that we are supposedly protecting are also available for hunting. It 

is one of those issues that you look at and you say there are so 

many ironies here that it just is not right. 

This decision was made despite the fact that there are already 

countless roads in refuges across the country. The State of Alaska 

has pointed out that we have roads in refuges in Florida, Maryland, Texas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Arizona, Montana, Missouri, Illinois, New Mexico, Nevada and Washington; so this is not 

unprecedented. 

Again, you will hear testimony from the folks here today that Interior’s decision ignored the fact that human lives have been lost 

in King Cove. Nineteen people have died since 1980, either in plane 

crashes or because the sick and injured could not get out in time. 

The decision that Interior has made is cynical and callous. It devastated the people of King Cove, who truly believed that help was 

finally on its way. It shattered the trust responsibility that the 

Federal Government is supposed to have to our nation’s native people. It has left the people of King Cove in essentially the same position that they have been for decades, which is at the mercy of the 

elements, left to suffer pain, anxiety and sometimes even death in 

the event of a medical emergency. 

King Cove has now seen 42 medevacs since the Secretary rejected this proposal back in December of 2013. The U.S. Coast 

Guard has been called in on 16 of those medevacs, risking the lives 

of their crew and others, and patients have suffered terrible pain 

and trauma. There was a man, a fisherman, who dislocated both 

hips when a 600-pound crab pot fell on him. We have seen elderly 

residents who have struggled with internal bleeding or sepsis or 

heart attacks and an infant boy who could not breathe. The stories 

just go on and on and on. 

We are holding this hearing this morning to ensure that the people of King Cove finally have an opportunity to again state their 

case on the record as to why they need reliable access to emergency 

medical transportation, something that virtually every other American community has without ever stopping to think how important, 

how valuable it is. 

I will remind people, King Cove is a long, long way away, and 

most people in this country will never have an opportunity to go 

there. However, as remote as they are, as far away as they are, 

and as small as this community is, it is still an American community, and they are not asking for much. 

This is an opportunity to hear directly from those in need, to let 

them make their case in their own words to those who hold the 

power to help them. While we will be respectful of everyone’s viewpoint expressed today, it is clear that the best answer, the only anVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:51 Aug 23, 2017 Jkt 021974 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\A974.XXX A974
10 

swer, the answer that should have been chosen a long time ago, is 

a lifesaving road. 

For the people of King Cove, this issue has gone on for decades. 

It may be new to some colleagues here, and I thank you for listening and for your concern. I think you would share my concern if 

people in your states were faced with an issue such as this, despite 

the presence of an alternative. You will hear the argument that 

well, Alaska is difficult. There is weather all over and stuff happens, and because it happens in other places, King Cove should be 

no different. However, the difference with King Cove is that there 

is an answer that lies just miles away, one of the longest runways 

in the State of Alaska, and they can get there if they have an 11- 

mile connector road. That is the difference between the situation in 

King Cove and some of the other places where it is tough. I am not 

going to sit back and just hope that we do not have any more emergencies during bad weather because hope is not a policy. I am 

going to make sure that the people of King Cove are heard. 

So again, I thank you for enduring my longer opening statement. 

As you can tell, when it comes to helping protect human lives and 

preventing needless human suffering, I am going to do what I can. 

With that, I will ask my colleague, Senator Cantwell, to make 

her comments. I appreciate her being here this morning. Thank 

you. 

[The prepared statement of Chairman Murkowski follows:] 

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14 


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15 

STATEMENT OF HON. MARIA CANTWELL, U.S. SENATOR FROM 

WASHINGTON 

Senator CANTWELL. Well thank you, Madam Chair. I welcome 

the witnesses here today, including your Lieutenant Governor and 

many of the people I’ve seen in Alaska. My best wishes to the Governor of Alaska, and I would like to thank him for this sweatshirt 

from Cantwell, Alaska, which I mentioned I want to visit someday, 

so thank you so much for that. 

I know this question is something the Chairman has felt strongly 

about, and I know this issue has been debated for many years. It 

is the subject of longstanding concern, and I think that’s why so 

many of you are here today. 

Over the years a number of options have been proposed for addressing the health and safety of King Cove’s population, as the 

Chairwoman mentioned, including a hovercraft, new marine transport, an aluminum landing craft, a passenger ferry, upgrading the 

medical clinics, upgrading the airstrip, providing a heliport, and of 

course, most of the attention has been focused on building a road 

through the National Wildlife Refuge. 

Some of these proposals have received federal attention, includ- ing the $37 million that was appropriated in 1999 for a number of 

upgrades, including a hovercraft which has been discontinued, road 

construction for King Cove to a new dock facility, improvements to 

the airstrip and significant upgrades to the medical clinic. All of 

the transportation options have drawbacks, and all involve significant funding requirements, so I think the record is clear that there 

are no simple solutions here for addressing the real issues at King 

Cove. 

When a land exchange in the National Wildlife Refuge was first 

proposed several years ago as a means of allowing construction of 

the road through the refuge, there was considerable debate about 

the relative environmental importance of the Izembek National 

Wildlife Refuge and the effect the road would have on the wildlife 

population and the wilderness character of the area. 

In an effort to better understand the significance and potential 

effects of a road, Congress passed the Omnibus Public Lands bill 

in 2009 which authorized the Secretary of the Interior to enter into 

a land exchange that would have allowed for construction of a noncommercial gravel road through the refuge, but only if the Secretary of the Interior first conducted an environmental review and 

determined that the exchange would be in the public’s interest. 

After a four-year process of developing the environmental impact 

record for the proposed exchange, a process begun with the former 

Secretary Salazar was completed by Secretary Jewell. The Department of the Interior issued a record of decision in December 2013. 

The Interior Department’s environmental impact statement found 

that the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge is globally significant 

and that the landscape supports an abundance and diversity of 

wildlife resources. I’m sure we’re going to hear about that from Ms. 

Evans today. 

That wildlife is unique to the refuge, and years of analysis shows 

us that it would be irretrievably damaged by construction and operation of the proposed road. The record of decision noted that the 

refuge provides invaluable and potentially irreplaceable nesting 

16 

and feeding areas for shore birds and water fowl, including important habitat for 98 percent of the world’s Pacific Black Brant population and the only non-migratory population of Tundra Swans in 

the world. 

The record of decision also noted that the Interior Department 

would continue to work with the State of Alaska and local officials 

on viable alternatives to the road to ensure continued transportion 

improvements for the residents of King Cove. 

Last year, the Army Corps of Engineers issued a report assessing 

non-road alternatives for emergency access, including the use of 

ice-capable marine vessels, airport upgrades, and the development 

of a heliport. I understand that many in the local community do 

not support these proposals. I’m sure we are going to hear these 

concerns as part of our discussion, but hopefully this report furthers our discussion about possible options. That is why I think 

we’re here today. 

We have a panel of witnesses, most of whom traveled a long way 

to come testify, so I look forward to hearing their testimony and 

talking about various transportation options during this morning’s 

hearing. 

And with that, I thank the Chairwoman for the hearing. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Cantwell. 

Let’s begin the panel here this morning. I recognize that we have 

a vote scheduled at 10:30, so it is my intent to try to compress everything so that we can conclude this hearing by 10:30 or in about 

an hour. 

The panel will be led off this morning by the Honorable Byron 

Mallott, Lieutenant Governor for the State of Alaska. Lieutenant 

Governor, I so appreciate you making the long trek. I know you 

just came in last night and it is a quick turnaround for you, so the 

fact that you have traveled to join us here this morning on behalf 

of the Governor and the State of Alaska is greatly appreciated. 

After the Lieutenant Governor speaks, we will hear from the 

Honorable Stanley Mack, who is the Mayor of the Aleutians East 

Borough, the borough where King Cove sits, and a longtime leader 

within the region. 

He will be followed by Denise Desiderio, who is the Policy and 

Legislative Director for the National Congress of American Indians 

and has been long active and very helpful on this issue and many 

others. 

Della Trumble is also with us today. Della is no stranger to the 

community or to the Committee as she has been here in the past. 

I appreciate you making this long trip. Della is on the Agdaagux, 

and I am going to have you correct me with the pronunciation, 

Tribal Council and King Cove Corporation. Thank you, Della, for 

being here. 

Next we will hear testimony from Commander John Whiddon, 

who is retired from the United States Coast Guard. We thank you 

for your service and for being here this morning. 

We also have Nicole Whittington-Evans, who is the Alaska Regional Director of The Wilderness Society. Thank you for joining us 

as well. 

With that, Lieutenant Governor, you can lead the panel off. And 

again, thank you. 

17 

STATEMENT OF HON. BYRON MALLOTT, LIEUTENANT 

GOVERNOR, STATE OF ALASKA 

Mr. MALLOTT. Thank you very much, Senator Murkowski, Senator Cantwell, members of the Committee. I have a reading copy 

here. We have submitted testimony for the record, but I’m not 

going to follow it. 

Stanley Mack and I went to school together during the days of 

required boarding school attendance in Alaska by Alaska’s native 

children. We still call ourselves kids when we spend time together. 

He went to Mount Edgecumbe. I went to Sheldon Jackson. 

Sheldon Jackson was a Presbyterian boarding school. Mount 

Edgecumbe was a government boarding school. We kid one another 

that one of the things we at Sheldon Jackson had to do was to pray 

for those heathens at Mount Edgecumbe in order to make sure that 

they would lead good lives. And of course, if Stanley Mack is any 

example, they certainly have done that. 

I was at breakfast this morning at my hotel. A group of Wyoming 

ranchers were at that hotel, and we had a brief breakfast conversation. To sum it up, they could have given my testimony here, and 

I could have given theirs at their event somewhere else in the Capitol. 

First of all, I want to be very clear that the State of Alaska supports the road, that it was a party to the trade. It has been involved in every effort to be responsive to the need for the road and 

the reasons therefore and will continue to maintain that urgent 

support. 

I want to talk a little bit about what is contained in my testimony. I grew up, was born and raised, in the small village of Yakutat on the Gulf Coast of Alaska. As opposed to King Cove, we 

were blessed during World War II with the construction of an allweather airport within very close driving distance to our town, and 

we remain blessed today. Yakutat is, I believe, the smallest municipality in the United States that has full size jet aircraft service 

every single day. We do not take it for granted. We still, every day, 

thank God for that reality. We are among a very few communities 

in Alaska so blessed. 

King Cove, and my son spent a summer out there working for 

the Bureau of Indian Affairs, is a place that requires that road, 

without question. 

I want to talk a little bit about my growing up in Yakutat. We 

are, on one side, surrounded by Glacier Bay National Park, on the 

other, by the Wrangell St. Elias National Park. We are also within 

the Tongass National Forest. 

The leadership in my community was among those that fought 

hard for the creation of many of the federal land classifications in 

our state. We did it with the clear assurance, at the time, that our 

way of life would be protected, and that we, as residents of the forest, being surrounded by these federal land classifications, would 

have our way of life protected. 

We fought hard to create what are now routinely called in the 

Act preserves within those federal classifications. The preserves 

were those areas in which local people could continue to practice 

their lifestyles, could continue to have access to resources that had 

sustained them for thousands of years, in most instances for local 

18 

native peoples, but also to allow an emerging Alaskan lifestyle that 

embraced anyone who came to our communities and wanted to 

make a life. Those preserves contained hunting camps, fishing 

camps, and, in some instances, grandfathered small commercial operations. 

Today, they’re all gone after explicit promises that they would be 

maintained. They’re all gone in the public policy rationale of these 

preserves. These national classifications are required to meet the 

needs of all Americans. They are required to meet the continuing 

need for habitat of species. They are required for their intrinsic 

value to our nation for all of the reasons that we typically know, 

and we agree with that. We agree with that 100 percent, but one 

of the things that I found, Senator, in my entire life in Alaska, my 

entire working life in Alaska of almost now 50 plus years, it is very 

easy to forget human beings. 

In dealing with issues in the Tongass National Forest, that the 

easiest way to create a public policy recognition, to create a public 

policy tenant that something is in the national interest is to completely ignore the local human interest. And we live there. We die 

there. Our bones, our ancestral home for thousands of years, are 

in that place. Our reality is often completely ignored, and other 

proxies for the national interest are posed. 

We don’t talk about the Tongass National Forest anymore as a 

place for jobs, as a place for economic opportunity for those who 

live there. We talk about the Tongass National Forest in the context of salmon. We reduce or we take away the human face of a 

place. 

In this nation, in order to preserve the beauty of our land which 

we in Alaska, which we who live there, which we who know it intimately, wish to maintain also. In order to preserve something that 

is called the greater good our lives are minimized, marginalized 

and in many ways, consciously, consciously, determined to be unimportant to the point where we become faceless. We are ignored by 

establishing something else as the critical factor in the importance 

of that place. That’s the case in King Cove. It’s the case in my community. It’s the case across Alaska. 

We have to, somehow, create the dialogue, create a circumstance 

in which the face, the voice, the reality of the existence and the desire, the aspiration of Alaska’s people on their own lands become 

an essential element of the public policy debate about the utilization and future of public lands in Alaska. It is that simple. 

So others will tell you about the details. You have articulated 

them, Senator, so eloquently. I’m sorry I moved away from the details of the discussion that we’re having here. 

I also want to state, just very quickly, that I’ve seen the healing 

power of the land. We have in my community places where 50 

years ago, 60 years ago, even in my lifetime, places are built and 

go away and the land reclaims. And those that were displaced are 

back. 

The notion that somehow the land is so extremely fragile, so incapable of healing itself, the arrogance that somehow we have to 

make judgements about the reality of the lives and the strength of 

the existence of plants and animals, that they are so fragile that 

19 

they never recover, that they never accommodate. We live it every 

single day. We see that accommodation. We see that change. 

Certainly we need appropriate and timely public policy to frame 

our ability to manage Alaska’s lands and other lands, but we also 

need to recognize that we are as important on this land as anything else. We probably are the most fragile, the least capable of 

being able to accommodate the kinds of changes that are before us 

without the assistance of the Federal Government, the Congress of 

the United States and the work of the State of Alaska on our behalf. 

The point I want to make is that, particularly, those who live in 

rural and remote Alaska, that those living, breathing human 

beings, who have been there for generations and those who have 

arrived yesterday and choose to live and desire to live for continuing generations, that their reality, their importance, their aspirations, their desire for their ability to live on that land, needs 

somehow to be recognized and brought into a proper balance that 

does not exist today. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Mallott follows:] 

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The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Lieutenant Governor, this is why we 

are here today, to give a voice to these people. 

Thank you. 

Mayor Mack, welcome. 

STATEMENT OF HON. STANLEY MACK, MAYOR, ALEUTIANS 

EAST BOROUGH, ALASKA 

Mr. MACK. Good morning, Senator and Chairman Murkowski 

and members of the Committee. My name is Stanley Mack, and I’m 

an Aleut. I was born and raised in King Cove. I’ve been the Mayor 

of the Aleutians East Borough for the last 14 years. 

King Cove is the second largest community in the borough with 

a population of 900. It’s my privilege and responsibility this morning to address this Committee on behalf of all of King Cove and the 

Aleutians East residents and to say thank you, Senator Murkowski, for being such an incredible champion on this issue and 

this cause. 

Simply stated, the residents of King Cove continue to desperately 

need a dependable, safe and affordable means of transportation access to Cold Bay airport which is our lifeline to the outside world, 

particularly for medical and health needs. The only logical form of 

transportation access is a one lane, 11-mile, gravel road that will 

connect King Cove to the Cold Bay airport. 

Those of you who don’t know, Cold Bay’s airport is an anomaly 

in rural Alaska. It’s an all-weather airport, as the Senator has spoken about, having a ten-foot main runway, a 6,500-foot cross wind 

runway. It was built by the U.S. military as the one in Yakutat in 

1942 as part of the Aleutian campaign in World War II. It’s one 

of the most accessible all-weather airports in Alaska and open on 

a 24/7 basis 365 days a year. 

Contrast this airport to the King Cove airstrip which is 18 air 

miles away and has a 3,000 foot gravel runway available only during the daylight hours. 

The King Cove airstrip, and I use the term airstrip because 

that’s all it is, is precariously located between two mountain peaks. 

And as you can see the peaks that we have to fly through here on 

some of the pictures. Flights are subject to extreme weather including turbulence throughout the year, high winds, thick fog and snow 

squalls resulting in cancellations or delays of flights for 100 days 

a year. 

Many King Cove residents have a fear of flying because of these 

conditions. We’ll show you pictures of reasons why. Our weather is 

some of the most treacherous in the world with 15 foot seas in winter and winds well over 50 miles an hour throughout most of the 

year. We’re known as the place where storms are born. 

We tried to make the hovercraft work which is going to be a topic 

of discussion, I’m sure, to link King Cove and Cold Bay, but after 

three hours of operations we realized our weather and operational 

problems and a required annual subsidy of more than a million dollars made it an unacceptable option. As the Borough Mayor I had 

the fiduciary responsibility to suspend the unsustainable operations. 

As I considered all my options and responsibilities, I sincerely believed the passage of the 2009 Omnibus Public Lands Act would fiVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:51 Aug 23, 2017 Jkt 021974 PO 00000 Frm 00027 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\A974.XXX A974
24 

nally resolve our transportation access problem to getting to Cold 

Bay airport. But after Secretary Jewell’s decision in December of 

2013 to not authorize the road, we continue to find ourselves at the 

mercy of our high volatile wind and marine conditions and topographic constraints. 

I’m also very disappointed and frustrated that the Secretary’s decision was based on a very biased and scientifically flawed EIS 

process completed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It eventually became very clear to me that our local knowledge of the environment did not matter to the Federal Government. It also became 

very clear to me that any trust responsibility for indigenous Americans for government-to-government relationships were just a bunch 

of fancy words. 

I’m also very frustrated that critics still continue to talk about 

other forms of marine infrastructure and vessels that they believe 

will adequately address our problems. These are suggestions that 

are not viable. We cannot mitigate the forces of nature in our marine environment. I have been a fisherman for over 60 years in this 

area and I know about the never ending challenges of the oceans, 

bays, vessels and the weather. 

I have a number of photos to show the Committee that illustrate 

some of the challenges and weather conditions and when to contend to dealing with marine medevacs out of King Cove to the Cold 

Bay dock. 

Here’s a picture of a 125-foot crab vessel trying to get near the 

dock in Cold Bay. It was unable to do that because of the weather 

conditions. The wind was too high and the seas were too rough. 

[The information referred to follows:] 

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Here’s a picture of the icy conditions that no one seems to want 

to put on the forefront to show you that this dock is a quarter of 

a mile from the beach and the ice pack is nearly a half a mile off 

there. If you were to put any kind of infrastructure in the front of 

that dock it would stop the flow of the tidal action to where that 

ice will remain there for a long period of time. 

[The information referred to follows:] 

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The dock is at least 20 feet high, and strapping an injured patient in a gurney and hoisting them up from the dock, up to the 

dock of the boat it can be as much as 25 feet. 

[The information referred to follows:] 

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It’s always a scary situation. This is basically what we have to 

do or putting elders in a crab pot and using a crane to hoist them 

to the top of the dock is frightening. 

[The information referred to follows:] 

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Most people don’t realize that both the high winds and ice can 

prevent us from using boats or barges or large efficient vessels 

from accessing the Cold Bay dock. We must, I emphasize must, 

have this modest one lane, gravel road for transportation. 

I respectfully ask this Committee to support our road alternative 

and allow us the dignity and respect to have what most American 

citizens simply take for granted. 

In closing I want to say thank you, Senator Murkowski, for caring so much about our lives and working with conviction and passion in helping us to achieve this needed road to access the Cold 

Bay airport. 

I respectfully ask all the Committee members to support Senator 

Murkowski’s effort to authorize this road and significantly enhance 

the quality of our lives. Our lives matter. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Mack follows:] 

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The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Mayor. 

Ms. Desiderio. 

STATEMENT OF DENISE DESIDERIO, POLICY DIRECTOR, 

NATIONAL CONGRESS OF AMERICAN INDIANS 

Ms. DESIDERIO. Good morning, Chairman Murkowski and Ranking Member Cantwell. It’s a pleasure to sit before you today and 

testify on behalf of the National Congress of American Indians 

(NCAI). 

This is an important issue, not just for the residents of King 

Cove, Alaska but for all of Indian Country. NCAI is in full support 

of providing a solution to the Agdaagux Tribe and the residents of 

King Cove in providing them a safe, reliable and consistent access 

to medical treatment. The reason is simple. NCAI views this as, 

first and foremost, a matter of public safety. 

As long standing members of the Indian Affairs Committee, you 

know full well the needs of health care in Indian Country. It’s not 

unusual for tribal communities to be so isolated and rural as to 

make health care, that we take for granted here in DC and in other 

parts of the country, almost impossible for tribes to obtain. But 

even with that, the situation stands out in Indian Country. There’s 

no place else in Indian Country where tribal members need to fly 

over 600 miles to receive full health care. There’s no place else 

where weather conditions will shut down complete access to health 

care for tribal members. 

You’ve stated the statistics very well, but I think what I want 

to focus on is something that Governor, or Lieutenant Governor, 

I’ve already elected you, that the Lieutenant Governor brought up 

in that these are conditions where tribal members and the residents of King Cove suffer from broken bones, they’re in childbirth, 

there’s internal bleeding. When weather conditions shut down 

these airports they may wait hours or even days to receive health 

care. Even in Indian Country this is an extreme situation that we 

don’t feel can be ignored and that we think has to be fixed. 

NCAI’s membership has long supported road access for King 

Cove. As early as 2007 we passed a resolution supporting the land 

exchange legislation to build a road, and following that in 2009 

Congress overwhelmingly supported that legislation. 

Unfortunately, we’re still waiting for the road to be built in King 

Cove and mostly due to concerns with the disruption that building 

a road through the Izembek National Refuge would cause. The 

2013 decision by the Secretary of the Interior to deny the road was 

based on a NEPA process that focused solely on the natural environment but failed to take into account the health and safety needs 

of the residents of King Cove. 

Following that decision NCAI’s members spoke again. In March 

of 2014 we passed legislation again supporting land exchange legislation, and I want to point out that in March of 2014 was an emergency resolution. It’s not often that NCAI acts on resolutions at our 

Executive Council winter session because we usually pass those 

resolutions during our membership meetings. But our board, 

NCAI’s board, felt so strongly that this was a resolution that was 

emergency in nature and national in scope that we passed in 

37 

March 2014 a resolution supporting the residents and the 

Agdaagux Tribe of King Cove. 

Again, in 2015 we passed a subsequent resolution supporting the 

need for a road, and the reason we wanted an additional resolution 

was because we wanted our general membership to speak on it too. 

This is an issue that has been brought up by our board, by our 

members of our board from Alaska, and by our membership 

throughout Indian Country as one of an injustice that needs to be 

fixed. 

I want to make sure that the Committee understands NCAI does 

support and respect the Secretary’s responsibility to maintain the 

refuge. The refuge is a diverse and natural habitat that does deserve the highest protections; however, the Aleut people were the 

first stewards of this land and they’ve lived on and off of these 

lands for over 4,000 years. They were here before the establishment of the refuge, and they have the most at stake in protecting 

the environment and the wildlife. 

You’ve mentioned the great concessions that the tribe and the 

State of Alaska have made to make this road a reality. And you 

know, 206 acres in exchange for over 60,000 acres, it’s a great concession by the state, by the tribe. And yet, we still don’t have a 

road that will provide the basic healthcare needs of the citizens of 

King Cove. I think that’s all we’re asking for here. 

I want to make sure that this Committee understands that NCAI 

is in full support of a road to King Cove and that we consider this 

a matter for the trust responsibility. 

What we’re asking is the Secretary of Interior to uphold her trust 

responsibility to tribal governments and provide the health care 

that is required as part of that trust responsibility for the residents 

of King Cove. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Desiderio follows:] 

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The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. Not only do we appreciate your comments, but that of the full NCAI. So thank you very much for that. 

Della Trumble, welcome back. 

STATEMENT OF DELLA TRUMBLE, SPOKESWOMAN, AGDAAGUX 

TRIBAL COUNCIL AND KING COVE CORPORATION 

Ms. TRUMBLE. Thank you. 

Good morning, Senator and Chair Murkowski, Ranking Member 

Cantwell and members of the Committee. My name is Della 

Trumble. I am an Aleut. I was born and raised in King Cove, and 

I continue to live there. 

The residents of King Cove love our community. It is our home, 

and we have a special place in our hearts for you, Senator, for your 

continued support. We very much appreciate it. 

Today I’m speaking on behalf of all the shareholders of the King 

Cove Corporation and as a member of the Agdaagux Tribe of King 

Cove and for all other residents in King Cove. I’m also here speaking as a mother, an Alaskan and a citizen of the United States. 

I’m deeply connected to the land you know as the Izembek Refuge through my ancestors who’ve lived and fed themselves on this 

wilderness for over 4,000 years. It’s a part of who we are today. 

Our culture and our respect for our natural environment will never 

allow us to damage the refuge. We were born and raised to only 

take what you need, to always have a renewable resource. 

I’ve lived this road issue now for 35 years of my life. I was a 

young lady at one time when I first came back here for this. I will 

confess to being a bit tired to keep coming back for this battle, but 

I will not stop until it is resolved. 

This is at least my 25th trip to Washington to testify, lobby and 

advocate for this road to allow for a safe, dependable and affordable 

transportation access from King Cove to the all-weather airport in 

Cold Bay. Our need for this very modest road connection to Cold 

Bay airport is essential for medical and health needs, for a sustainable future and just the piece of mind of safe transportation. 

We sincerely thought the passage of the 2009 Omnibus Public 

Lands Act was a final decision needed to authorize this road. The 

community remains stunned by Secretary Jewell’s decision to deny 

us the road; however, her decision did not totally surprise us because when she visited King Cove in August of 2013 she informed 

us that she was there to speak on behalf of the Izembek birds and 

animals which have no voice. 

In response to that comment, our Police Chief and lifelong resident, Robert Gould, politely told the Secretary it was his responsibility to speak on behalf of all King Cove residents and those who 

have lost their lives and those that continue to endure medical and 

health challenges because of the community’s transportation access 

problem. 

How much more do we need to endure, particularly when there 

is such a reasonable, dependable and affordable solution to our 

transportation access problem to the Cold Bay airport? 

We desperately need the ten mile, one lane, gravel road to connect the two communities for us to get to the Cold Bay airport. 

This road connection will drastically improve our ability for emergency and routine medical and health care and significantly upVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:51 Aug 23, 2017 Jkt 021974 PO 00000 Frm 00051 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\A974.XXX A974
48 

grade our overall quality of life. Why is this simple concept so difficult for some people to accept? 

Since December 23rd, 2013 when Secretary Jewell said no to our 

road, we have had 42 medevacs out of King Cove to the Cold Bay 

airport. And this is a period of over 28 months, 42 medevacs. 

Thank God for the U.S. Coast Guard being available to help out 

for 16 of those medevacs when no other option could work. 

But we never take the help and availability of the Coast Guard 

for granted. We are very thankful for them to be able to help us. 

We know that it’s not their mission or responsibility to risk their 

lives to make these heroic rescues, and trust me when I say, we 

pray that they make it to Cold Bay. 

No mother should ever have to witness their own precious 

daughter crash land at the King Cove airstrip due to our highly 

unpredictable turbulence and down drafts from the volcanic mountainous terrain. That picture of that young lady is my daughter 

with the blue coat. 

[The information referred to follows:] 

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It was the scariest few minutes of my life as I sat there watching 

the plane being pushed toward the runway, and hitting the runway, and it’s not something any parent should ever have to witness 

or ever have to do. And there really, in my mind, is no reason for 

it. The plane was basically pushed downward by the wind and 

crashed into the runway without the landing gear down, as you can 

well see. It basically looks like someone took the props with the 

curling iron, and it was very frightening. 

Similar experiences, both from flying and on the water, people 

have continued to encounter every day, and this must stop. Truly 

there is no reason for this. We know we continue to live on borrowed time with our transportation access, and every time people 

get on an airplane we fear that something is going to happen and 

more people will die or be harmed. 

Please know we will never quit until we are successful in our 

quest to achieve a safe, dependable and affordable transportation 

to our solution for our residents. We know the only logical solution 

is a modest, non-invasive, one lane, gravel road. 

Finally, we are fortunate to have Senator Murkowski’s commitment, common sense and passion to help us achieve this solution. 

On behalf of all of King Cove, Aleuts and all other community 

residents, we respectfully ask Congress to authorize the road and 

to do so without the involvement of the Department of Interior. 

If I may also state that a couple days ago we were at the Interior 

building, and we had a meeting over there. As you go in through 

security there’s a plaque on the wall that shows former Secretary 

Udall and I pointed out to Stan, Stanley Mack, when you read that 

it basically says to protect the land, the waters and the wilderness. 

The very next line says to empower American Indians and Alaska 

natives. 

We are a part. They need to help protect us also and to help us 

work out a solution to this problem. We very much would appreciate it. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Trumble follows:] 

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The CHAIRMAN. Della, thank you. 

Twenty-five years. That is a long time to be working an issue. 

Commander Whiddon, welcome to the Committee. 

STATEMENT OF COMMANDER JOHN WHIDDON, UNITED 

STATES COAST GUARD, RETIRED 

Mr. WHIDDON. Thank you, Madam Chair and Ranking Member 

Cantwell. 

My name is John Whiddon. I’m a retired U.S. Coast Guard Commander and a former helicopter pilot living in Kodiak. I’m also a 

member of the Kodiak City Council. 

I want to digress for just a second, as the Lieutenant Governor 

did, and kind of explain why I’m here. I was at a recent SWAMC 

meeting, for those that don’t know that, Southwest Alaska Municipal Conference, and I had an opportunity to talk to Rick Gifford 

and Mr. Mack. They were talking about the road. 

I mentioned that 37 years ago I was involved in a rescue, actually it was a recovery of bodies for a plane that crashed. And 

there’s a reason I mention that, not because of the road but because 37 years later, as I’ll explain in my testimony, there’s portions of that particular flight that are still vivid in my mind. 

So during my 20-year Coast Guard career I spent at least ten 

years in Alaska flying in Sitka, Southeast Alaska, Kodiak and I 

flew throughout the Aleutian chain on both search and rescue missions and other missions for the Coast Guard. I became very familiar with the Cold Bay region as I had numerous occasions to fly 

in and out of Cold Bay, usually on my way to Dutch Harbor. So 

I appreciate the invitation to testify today before your Committee. 

This statement is my recollection of the events surrounding the 

Pen Air crash near Cold Bay that occurred on April 13th of 1980. 

I need to be clear and say this statement in no way reflects the 

opinion or the position of the U.S. Coast Guard. I’m speaking as 

an individual. 

In December 1980 I was a Lieutenant and an H3 pilot assigned 

to Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak. I had accumulated almost 

2,000 hours of helicopter time and was considered an experienced 

Alaska pilot. Two months prior on October 4th, 1980 I participated 

in a rescue of 520 passengers from the sinking motor vessel, 

Prinsendam, near the home of the Lieutenant Governor, 120 miles 

offshore of Yakutat, which required a multi-national response. 

Up to that point in my career I had responded to several plane 

crashes in Louisiana and Alaska including one, and I’ll mention the 

name familiar to you, which is Lynyrd Skynyard crash near Jackson, Mississippi, and we were on scene within 20 minutes and had 

the survivors to a hospital within 30 minutes. 

This particular case involving the Pen Air crash near Cold Bay 

was the third plane crash that I responded to in my first year in 

Alaska. Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak received notice of an overdue Pen Air flight where the pilot and three passengers were en 

route from King Cove to Cold Bay on December 13th, 1980. The report indicated that Pen Air flew to King Cove to medevac a seriously injured fisherman with an amputated foot. 

Following the overdue notice satellites picked up an emergency 

locater transmitter, or ELT, somewhere in the vicinity of Cold Bay. 

55 

A helo was launched from Kodiak to Cold Bay and searched all day 

in a heavy snow storm but was unable to locate the plane crash. 

Although the ELT was still transmitting, due to the heavy snow 

and low visibility, the crew was just unable to locate the crash. 

While the ELT signal was still transmitting it was difficult to pinpoint most likely due to atmospherics. And it should be noted at 

that time there was no GPS. There were no night vision goggles. 

The only navigation equipment was limited to Loran C and VOR/ 

DME and in most cases in Alaska visual navigation complemented 

by local knowledge. 

My crew and I were assigned to fly down to Cold Bay in a C130 

to relieve the first helo crew and continue the search after they ran 

out of crew mission time. Upon arriving in Cold Bay we were 

briefed with the on-scene crew, loaded our gear, picked up a state 

trooper and then took off to search for the ELT. 

Although it was still snowing heavily the visibility had picked up 

to just under a mile. And within an hour of searching we were able 

to pinpoint the ELT and, shortly after, spotted the plane seven 

miles from the end of the runway, just seven miles from the end 

of the runway. 

We landed on the tundra, approximately 50 yards from the plane 

crash and the plane appeared to impact the ground in a level altitude. There was no indication of fire. The cockpit windows and side 

window were broken but the airplane was mostly intact. All the occupants were deceased but still sitting upright in their seats. There 

was no blood or visible trauma to any of the victims so their death 

was obviously the result of sudden stoppage and ground impact. 

The trooper directed us to move the bodies which proved difficult 

and took considerable time since they were literally frozen in the 

seated position. After my crew and I extracted the bodies we 

stacked them on the ramp of the helicopter. This is the part that 

stuck with me. 

I recall later looking back from the cockpit at the tangle of arms 

and legs all pointing in different directions, and that’s a memory 

that’s lasted 37 years. 

The trooper also requested we move the engine which was partly 

detached. My mechanic removed a few mount bolts, and we helped 

drag the engine to the C130 where we used the hoist to lift the engine up. 

Once all the victims and the engine were on board we flew the 

short flight back to Cold Bay and unloaded the bodies and the engine. The snow had continued to fall all day and the weather was 

forecasted to deteriorate, so we quickly refueled and took off for the 

four-hour return trip back to Kodiak. 

By the time we got to Port Heiden and I made the right turn to 

follow the river through the Aniakchak Pass to Shelikof Straits, it 

was completely dark and snowing heavily. Again, we had no night 

vision goggles at that time. We had no GPS. 

I had let my co-pilot fly so I could navigate through the pass. I’d 

flown through the Aniakchak Pass on several occasions and was familiar with the ground terrain and the general course to the west 

to east transit. On this flight we had to fly through the pass at 200 

feet in zero/zero visibility, and we were at 50 knots just to maintain contact with the ground. 

56 

So once we came through the Shelikof Straits after about a 25- 

minute transit we set a course to Sitkinak at the south end of Kodiak and then up the east side of Kodiak back to the air station 

in the pitch black. The rest of the flight was uneventful. 

At the time of this recovery flight, and it was a recovery flight, 

not a rescue, I was unaware of any efforts to build a road to King 

Cove. But in hindsight this SAR case to recover the four crash victims obviously could have been avoided if there had been ground 

transportation between King Cove and Cold Bay. 

And the second part that stood out to me, in addition to the 

needless loss of lives, is the risk to the helo crews and the C130 

crew, who put their lives at risk in heavy snow, high winds to locate the crash site and the bodies. 

Thank you for this opportunity. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Whiddon follows:] 

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The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Commander, and again, thank you 

for your service. 

Ms. Whittington-Evans, welcome. 

STATEMENT OF NICOLE WHITTINGTON-EVANS, ALASKA 

REGIONAL DIRECTOR, THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY 

Ms. WHITTINGTON-EVANS. Good morning, Chairman Murkowski, 

Ranking Member Cantwell and members of the Committee. I am 

Nicole Whittington-Evans, Alaska Regional Director of the Wilderness Society. We represent more than 700 members nationwide including many Alaskans who care deeply about how the Izembek 

National Wildlife Refuge and Wilderness Area is managed. 

I have worked in the Wilderness Society’s Alaska office for more 

than 18 years and have been engaged in the Izembek Refuge issue 

since 1998. I appreciate the invitation to testify before the Committee today and would like to start with a short history of this incredible place. 

In 1980, 20 years after Izembek had been designated a national 

wildlife range, Congress established the Izembek Refuge and Wilderness as part of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act to safeguard the refuge’s extraordinary land and wildlife. 

At the center of the over 400,000 acre Izembek Refuge are two lagoons which are separated by a narrow wildlife corridor. The lagoons make up the ecological heart of the refuge and this corridor 

is critical for caribou, bears and wolf migration. 

Most of the world’s population of Pacific black brant and Emperor geese and a significant portion of the threatened Steller’s 

eider population depend on Izembek’s habitat. Izembek Refuge also 

contains irreplaceable wetlands of international importance as recognized in 1986 as the first wetland area in the United States to 

be designated a wetland of international importance under the 

RAMSAR Convention. 

I have spent time in the Izembek Refuge, walking in the wilderness, and have seen the lagoons crowded with Pacific Black brant, 

geese and Steller’s eider. This refuge is one of the most vital and 

extraordinary wildlife and wilderness areas in the world, and it 

must remain that way for all Americans to enjoy. 

In 1980 Congress designated most of the Izembek refuge as wilderness, the highest level of protection afforded to our public lands. 

De-designating it would be a dangerous precedent for public lands 

throughout the United States. It is inappropriate to build a road 

that would bisect the heart of the Izembek Refuge, fragment wildlife habitat and significantly diminished the value of this wilderness area. It would also undermine the very purpose of both the 

refuge and wilderness systems in this country. 

One of the first studies about the proposed road was the 1985 

Bristol Bay Cooperative Management Plan. The findings by the 

Fish and Wildlife Service in that plan are similar to more recent 

analyses by the agency that have found that the road would be incompatible with the purposes for which the refuge was established. 

When assessing a proposed road, the Fish and Wildlife Service has 

repeatedly concluded that a road and its construction would be incompatible and extremely damaging to the refuge. 

61 

In 1998 Congress provided $37.5 million of funding to upgrade 

the local medical clinic, develop dock facilities and a road to a dock 

and purchase, ultimately, a $9 million, all-weather hovercraft. 

Thus Congress and American taxpayers have already provided a 

solution for King Cove. 

Respected individuals and organizations have expressed their opposition to a road. The Association of Village Council Presidents 

representing 56 Native villages in Western Alaska formally opposed the proposed road due to the impacts it would have on subsistence resources that they depend on. 

The former U.S. Indian Health Service Medical Director for the 

Eastern Aleutian tribes has said the extreme weather, ice and avalanche conditions experienced in the specific area make it inconceivable that the proposed 27-mile road could be passable. 

And Interior officials from the Bush, Clinton, Ford and Nixon 

Administrations have stated their opposition to the proposed road 

noting it is one of the last places in the country that one would 

ever want to build a road. 

In 2009 the Congress directed the Secretary of the Interior to 

make a determination about whether a road and land exchange 

was in the public’s interest. The Fish and Wildlife Service conducted a thorough four-year analysis that included more than 130 

stakeholder meetings and consultation with state and local government and more than 70,000 comments. The Service ultimately rejected the proposed road and land exchange, and the Secretary of 

the Interior then reaffirmed their decision. 

In 2015 the U.S. District Court of Alaska upheld the Secretary’s 

decision. And recently the Army Corps of Engineers issued a study 

of alternative transportation options for residents of King Cove. 

The analysis conducted by the Army Corps of Engineers confirms 

what the Wilderness Society, other conservation organizations, 

tribal entities and medical professionals, familiar with this area, 

have stated for decades. A road through the heart of fragile, congressionally-designated wilderness is inappropriate. 

Make no mistake, the Wilderness Society supports the needs of 

the residents of King Cove to have safe, reliable transportation options which can and must be achieved while protecting the international significant wildlife and wilderness values of the Izembek 

Refuge. 

Thank you again for the opportunity to testify before you today. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Whittington-Evans follows:] 

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The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. Thank you, all. 

We will quickly turn to questions here, and again, try to move 

through them quickly as we do have a vote coming up. 

I want to ask a question of both the Lieutenant Governor and to 

you, Mayor Mack and Ms. Trumble, in terms of support because we 

have just heard from Ms. Whittington-Evans that there has been 

a history within successive administrations in opposition to this 

road, agency officials in opposition to this road. I recognize that sitting here in Washington, DC we are 4,000 some odd miles from 

where you live and the State of Alaska, and oftentimes it is very 

easy to be opposed to something if you have no connection to it. 

The suggestion that the wilderness needs to be there for all 

Americans to enjoy, I think, we understand. We understand the 

principle of that, but we also recognize that something in concept 

and theory is different than those who live in the region, exist in 

the region and raise their families there. It has also been mentioned, and we recognize, that AVCP has come out in opposition to 

the road. 

Can you speak to the support for the road from the community 

of King Cove and what level of support we have? Then, Lieutenant 

Governor, if you can address the level of support that the state has 

for construction of this lifesaving road that we are talking about? 

Mr. MACK. Thank you, Senator Murkowski, Chairman. 

On behalf of the Alaska Federation of Natives, they’re in full 

support of this road and resolutions that were submitted prior to 

the ruling by Secretary Jewell, that they were in favor of it. The 

leaders of the corporations in Alaska are in favor of this road. And 

of course, everyone in the Aleutians East Borough and both from 

the Bristol Bay region are also in favor of this road. They can’t understand why we don’t have it. 

The CHAIRMAN. Della, can you speak from the Tribal Council’s 

perspective? 

Ms. TRUMBLE. Thank you. 

Yes, all the tribal governments in Alaska do support this. We 

have strong support from the tribal governments in the region, 

Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, Eastern Aleutian tribes that 

provides the health care in the region. And maybe to add to this, 

I’m also a member on the Kodiak Aleutian Federal Subsistence Advisory Council, and in early February we met, they had a statewide 

gathering of all the RACs as we call them, regional councils. We 

met with the AYK groups to discuss specifically bird allocations 

and looking at the potential on Emperor geese because there may 

be some hunts in 2017 that they’ll open up for sport and subsistence. 

Nothing was ever mentioned in regard to not supporting this 

road from King Cove to Cold Bay. In fact, I’ve actually heard more 

personal comments directed at me that we really should have this 

road. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

Lieutenant Governor, from the state’s perspective, please? 

Mr. MALLOTT. Yes. The State of Alaska, the Alaska Legislature 

and the Governor of the State strongly support this road. 

82 

I would think I can, with little argument, say that I know of no 

elected state official who is knowledgeable of this issue, who does 

not support it. 

Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. We recognize that the State of Alaska, in terms 

of its fiscal situation, is in a different place now than we have been 

for some time, and that when we build the road, not if we build 

the road, but when we build the road, there will be responsibility 

to the state, obviously, for some costs. 

Is it fair to say that this road still remains a priority, certainly 

within the Walker/Mallott Administration? 

Mr. MALLOTT. Absolutely. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

Senator Cantwell. 

Senator CANTWELL. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Ms. Whittington-Evans, the proponents of the road through the 

Izembek National Wildlife Refuge have mentioned that there are 

existing roads within the refuge and that an additional gravel road 

would not have a significant impact on wildlife. 

Do you agree with this assessment of the existing road situation, 

and can you explain specific impacts you believe the new road 

would have? 

Ms. WHITTINGTON-EVANS. Thank you, Senator Cantwell. 

There are roads that were developed during the second World 

War in the refuge that are outside of the designated wilderness 

area. There are no roads in the designated wilderness area. There 

are some former World War II tracks that have not been maintained that are not currently traveled on by vehicles. And so, there 

are no roads in the designated wilderness portion of the refuge. 

We believe and Fish and Wildlife Service and others have documented that there would be significant impacts from a road going 

through this very narrow wildlife corridor that is surrounded by 

two lagoons, Izembek and Kasegaluk lagoons to the north and 

south. The significant impacts that the Fish and Wildlife Service 

focused on in their latest analysis include significant impacts to 

Black brant, Emperor geese and Tundra swans, as well as brown 

bears. The caribou, which use the corridor to travel from one side 

of the refuge to the other, often spend time in the corridor during 

winter which is a very challenging time for reserves, and they certainly would be impacted as well with winter travel on the road. 

There has already been ATV trail expanding use coming off of 

the Northeast corner, the 17.2-mile road that goes to the Northeast 

corner of Cold Bay, and that is also something that the Fish and 

Wildlife Service documented in their most recent EIS. And there 

are a lot of concerns about the impacts to wetlands and the increased access by humans on these populations of wildlife. 

Increased access will definitely impact wildlife including the 

brown bears which are some of the densest that you will find anywhere in Alaska. 

There could be competition in the future between sport and subsistence users in the refuge as a result of this road. The Army 

Corps of Engineers, for example, in 2003 identified that as a potential problem for future subsistence users. 

83 

I want to say one other thing, and that is that tens of millions 

of dollars have already been spent on this issue. As you mentioned 

earlier, there are no great alternatives, but the Army Corps of Engineers’ most recent report indicated that a marine alternative 

would be 99 percent dependable which is the highest of any of the 

alternatives involved. 

Thank you very much. 

Senator CANTWELL. When you are mentioning sport and subsistence competition, is that an issue you think exists today? 

Ms. WHITTINGTON-EVANS. I am not aware that that exists today 

as a problem. I think that the wildlife populations are very plentiful at Izembek. 

Brant have definitely, I mean, some of these water fowl populations have declined over the years and that is, a lot of that, is 

due to the fact that habitat elsewhere, outside of Alaska, potentially, has been degraded. But there—I am not aware of a current 

problem between sport and subsistence users, but increased access 

would definitely impact these wildlife populations from, you know, 

from additional hunting going on and this could be a problem in 

the future. 

Senator CANTWELL. Thank you. 

Thank you, Madam Chair. 

The CHAIRMAN. Just to follow on Senator Cantwell’s question. 

You are aware that the terms of this road have been a non-commercial use road. That is directed to you, Ms. Whittington, yes? 

Ms. WHITTINGTON-EVANS. I am aware of that, yes. Thank you, 

Senator Murkowski. And I also understand that over time that 

type of arrangement can change as it has elsewhere in the state. 

The CHAIRMAN. Well, I understand that. 

When I was out in King Cove, actually with the Secretary, what 

we heard from some of the Fish and Wildlife folks was really quite 

offensive because they basically asserted that as soon as we do this 

people in King Cove will break the law. 

I am looking at it and I am thinking a people willing to move 

forward with a 300 to 1 exchange, give up their ancestral lands for 

a lifesaving road, are not going to be abusive of the opportunity to 

then access it. I would certainly like to give the people the benefit 

of the doubt, the people that have been protecting the environment, 

the animals and the waterfowl for generations. 

I wanted to ask a question to you, Della, about the impact to the 

community over a period of time in dealing with just the emotional 

trauma that comes with living in fear of flying. I was particularly 

struck by it when we were in the clinic and looking at the facilities 

which we have upgraded. I think the people of King Cove are proud 

of the community clinic that they have there and the professionals 

that they have. They wish they had a doctor, but you take what 

you can get. But I was struck in talking about the cache of prescription drugs that are available to them to dispense as we have 

in many of our small clinics. It is something that is stocked to a 

limited perspective. But the thing that they kept the largest supply 

on hand were anti-anxiety drugs because, I was told, some 70 percent of the people in the community have an extreme anxiety of flying. 

84 

Della, I noted in the picture that you showed where the plane 

had crashed that flew in with your daughter on it, it was not a bad 

weather day as we have been talking about with dense fog, the examples that Commander Whiddon mentioned. It was a blue sky 

day, and one would think that if you can see the approach you are 

going to be just fine. 

Is this fear of flying and the anxiety that has been created within 

the community of King Cove? Am I overstating or exaggerating in 

some way? Because I do not intend to be, but I’d like to hear from 

your voice whether this is something that, as a community, there 

truly is that fear. 

Ms. TRUMBLE. Thank you, Senator. 

Yes, there it’s a real fear. And those, the 70 percent, can be as 

much as 80 percent. 

What happens is when people know that they’re going to have 

to travel, the first thing people do is we start watching the weather 

five days before we’re scheduled to fly to figure out what kind of 

weather we’re going to be looking at before we fly. 

Many people will go to the clinic and we have the dispensers that 

dispense medication. It’s just like a candy machine is what it looks 

like, and they dispense two pills, one when you leave and one when 

you’re coming back. And it’s valium or diazepam. 

I never used to technically be afraid to fly until I saw that plane 

crash. I came out and left the other day and I hold the bottom of 

my chair and I pray those 15 minutes to Cold Bay and I hold my 

chair and I pray when I come back to King Cove. 

I’ve flown with people that scream, that cry, that cuss and pray 

the whole way. It’s not a good experience to have to do, but it’s the 

reality of what we have to do to get between these two communities. 

And many times, to add to that, a lot of people cannot get to 

their medical appointments because they can’t get out of King Cove 

or will not fly, period, if they don’t like the weather report. And so 

that has to be drawn out to the next month or three months, depending if it’s a specialty doc. The fear of flying in this community 

is extremely real and it’s high. 

The CHAIRMAN. Let me ask a question of you, Commander 

Whiddon and then, I am afraid, we are going to have to wrap up 

because the vote has already started. 

You are clearly an experienced pilot having flown in some difficult conditions. I have been told by some in the Coast Guard who 

fly out in the region that flying into King Cove is the least desirable job of a pilot going in and out. 

Now we talk about fear of flying. We have got to fly all over the 

State of Alaska. Why are the conditions in King Cove region that 

much worse than anywhere else that we fly in Alaska? Can you 

speak to that? 

Mr. WHIDDON. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

As Mr. Mack mentioned, that area is considered the generator of 

storms. And that’s where they, if you watch the Alaska news channel every day, you see huge sweeping lows coming across there and 

they all seem to converge in the Cold Bay area. 

For Coast Guard crews flying in there, just remember that 

they’re only going to fly in there if commercial aviation cannot get 

85 

in there which means it’s going to be extreme weather or nighttime 

and— 

The CHAIRMAN. So just repeat that again because I think that 

this is important. They only come in when nobody else can. 

Mr. WHIDDON. Exactly. 

The CHAIRMAN. So they are the last line of safety. 

Mr. WHIDDON. And if I may add just one other thing. When you 

put your map up, or your chart up there, the Coast Guard pilots, 

I’m sure it’s still the same, get what’s called Alaska-qualified. 

When you come to Alaska you have a 90-day period to become 

Alaska-qualified which means you get to see some of the places. 

King Cove is not on the list. Never was on the list. 

So if you do fly into King Cove it might be the first time you ever 

go in there and it would be at night or in bad weather. And even 

if you’ve been in there once or twice during a three-year tour in Kodiak, you’ll never go in there enough to know how to get in there 

and under adverse conditions. 

So it’s always going to be extremely dangerous for any Coast 

Guard crew to go in there whether they come in from the Gulf side 

or they come in from the Cold Bay side. 

The CHAIRMAN. So the study that the Corps conducted at the request of the Interior Department without looking at a road alternative, is it correct, Mayor Mack, that no one in the community 

leadership either of the borough or tribal was brought in as a part 

or any level of consultation in that study that was conducted? 

Mr. MACK. Madam Chairman, yes, we have never been a part of 

any review or research in regard to information regarding the marine link and any other link by the Corps of Engineers or any other 

organization that did some study. 

I know there was a study done by Johns Hopkins University, and 

that study was never brought to our attention for any kind of 

input, and we’ve never been part of it, no. 

The CHAIRMAN. And on the Tribal Council side? 

Ms. TRUMBLE. Yes, that’s correct. We were never consulted at 

any point in time during the course of that. 

The CHAIRMAN. Yet what we have seen as an outcome of that report were three recommendations: a new marine craft, the potential for a helo base, and an alternative road, route on the water 

with a dock. All options that have been either tried before or studied before and have been rejected. Correct? 

Mr. MACK. That is correct. 

The CHAIRMAN. So nothing new from this? 

Mr. MACK. There has been nothing new, no. 

There are times when the ferry, Alaska State Ferry, cannot even 

get into King Cove because of weather conditions, let alone try to 

get to Cold Bay. So that marine link is totally out of it. 

As you can see in some of the pictures that we showed, the icy 

conditions and the wave conditions in Cold Bay would—and that 

was a hundred-foot crab boat that fished the Bering Sea that could 

not get to the dock with that patient on board. 

The CHAIRMAN. My last question. 

The Secretary has indicated that she was going to do something 

to help the people of King Cove. To your knowledge, to this date, 

have we seen anything from the Department that has indicated she 

86 

is going to work to provide a reliable route to safety for the people 

of King Cove? 

Della? 

Ms. TRUMBLE. Senator, we have not heard at all from the Secretary since I know you got the phone call in 2013 and I had a 

message on my phone in 2013. We have had no communication 

with her since then. 

The CHAIRMAN. Well, I want to thank each of you for being here 

today. 

Lieutenant Governor, I thank you for your eloquent statement at 

the beginning of the hearing that really begs an Administration to 

listen to the people. 

We do have a responsibility to the land. We recognize that. We 

have a responsibility for the animals and the birds that fly over our 

land, but we also have a responsibility to our people. Oftentimes 

when I think about endangered species I would agree with your 

suggestion that sometimes the most vulnerable of the species is 

man. And so recognizing our responsibility to one another is something that must be at the forefront. 

Know that what you have given the Committee today through 

your testimony, your words, your voice to the people, is greatly appreciated. Know that I stand with you in this long, long fight and 

will stand with you until we have addressed the health and the 

safety of the fine people of King Cove and within the region. 

Thank you for your advocacy and thank you for appearing before 

the Committee. 

With that, we stand adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 10:46 a.m. the hearing was adjourned.] 

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