JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A federal judge in Alaska has dismissed a lawsuit brought over the U.S. Interior Department's refusal to allow for a road through a wildlife refuge.

In a decision Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge H. Russel Holland said there was no violation of a federal environmental law.

In late 2013, U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell rejected a proposed land swap with the state to build the road from King Cove to an all-weather airport at Cold Bay. It would have gone through a remote national wildlife refuge that shelters millions of migratory waterfowl.

The decision on whether to build a one-lane gravel road to provide those in a remote community with medical evacuation access to an all-weather airport followed several years of analysis and triggered outrage among local residents and state political leaders.

(Story by: The Associated Press)

 

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