AIDEA authorizes $25 million for West Susitna road drilling program

The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority committed up to $25 million on Wednesday, Aug. 26, to drill the ground under a road that does not yet have a constructible design, and its own resolution names the three private resource projects the road would serve: Nova Minerals' Estelle antimony and gold project, U.S. GoldMining's Whistler gold prospect, and Terra Energy's coal project in the Susitna basin.

The board adopted Resolution No. G26-09, drawing the money from the Revolving Fund's Economic Development Account. It took the item up immediately after an executive session on AIDEA projects including West Susitna, and the authorization reaches backward as well as forward, covering work already committed or incurred.

The program is scoped to the 2026-2027 field season and covers 10 proposed bridge locations, four trail overcrossings, 17 material sites and seven culvert locations, roughly 448 drilling days with crews and rigs moved by longline helicopter. The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities portion is estimated at about $18.6 million; HDR Engineering's permitting and hydrology work is estimated at $1.75 million and runs through Dec. 31, 2027. Skwentna River 1 is the largest single bridge line at about $1.29 million, followed by the Chickak River at about $1.26 million.

The board approved the road as a development finance project in 2019 and accepted state appropriated funds for an earlier predevelopment phase in 2021. The House Finance Committee removed $94 million in federal receipt authority for the project from the capital budget, after hours of divided public testimony.

The resolution also says the road would give the public year-round access to thousands of acres of state land on the west side of the Susitna River for recreation and settlement. At the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference in May, AIDEA Executive Director Randy Ruaro said of West Susitna: "we're accessing minerals, but we're also providing on that project recreational access and other general access." Trout Unlimited, on its conservation page, calls the same corridor a project that "stands to compromise the future health of our public fish and wildlife resources."

The board authorized a margin of about $1.1 million above identified needs, partly because the in-water pier drilling at two Skwentna crossings cannot be priced until access is determined.

Permitting is the critical path. Applications to the Army Corps of Engineers, the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Fish and Game must be submitted before any drill turns, along with historic preservation consultation.