Video Clips
Quoted moments from Alaska public meetings, hearings, and press conferences.
Clips from Alaska Sustainable Energy ConferenceClear
0:30
Susan Georgette
“I'm also a member of Protect the Kobuk, which is a local grassroots, grassroots group of Northwest Arctic residents and tribal members who oppose the Ambler Road. We have over 700 members, all of whom either live in the region or are tribal members from the borough.”AIDEA Board Meeting Audio — September 22, 2026 ·
0:55
Julie Sande“we often hold up the Red Dog as a model for what we want to do in the future. Part of the reason the Ada board members have been working so hard on the Ambler Road is because We look ahead to the time when the life of the mine is winding down, and hopefully through expansion, that won't happen for a while, but we have to be realistic. And when we picture that reality, we have to picture— we also have to consider what can we do in this organization to try to replace that revenue if it were to stop. And so That's part of our hurry, hurry, hurry on what can we do to restore that revenue and to help better the lives of Alaskans. And it's part of why we've been so focused on the Ambler Road and the Ambler mining district, because we realize the potential there.”
AIDEA Board Meeting Audio — September 22, 2026 ·
0:28
Elizabeth Hensley
“When it comes to the Ambler Road, I think there's just not consensus that our region wants that. And that's why you're not seeing it really happen like what happens when our region does have consensus, like with the Red Dog Road or with the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act”AIDEA Board Meeting Audio — September 22, 2026 ·
0:11
Randy Ruaro“for Mr. Leslie's comment about us being racist, I find really offensive. That's a very dangerous allegation.”
AIDEA Board Meeting Audio — September 22, 2026 ·
0:22
Jim Dau
“In 2011, which was probably the worst year I saw when I was employed, it was about 80,000 caribou were delayed an average of a month. They didn't walk back 3 to 5 miles from the road and then cross. Many of those caribou walked back all the way to Point Hope.”AIDEA Board Meeting Audio — September 22, 2026 ·
0:06
John Gaedeke
“It bluntly pointed out the road permit was traded for stock shares.”AIDEA Board Meeting Audio — September 22, 2026 ·
0:27
Jim Dau
“Caribou were delayed an average of about a month in years when more than 5% of the herd migrated through that area. It took sometimes up to 2 months for caribou to get across the road.”AIDEA Board Meeting Audio — September 22, 2026 ·
0:22
Elizabeth Hensley
“It's a violation of the— our fundamental human rights to free prior and informed consent if projects happen without consensus and approval of the Indigenous peoples of that land.”AIDEA Board Meeting Audio — September 22, 2026 ·
0:33
Rick Solie
“I was particularly impressed by the discussion we had on the mine when they, when they talked about that period of time when they reached consensus in the community before they ever developed Red Dog. That they talked about 10 years that, that the Nana region communicated with one another about advancing the big mine, which has been totally transformative in a good way for this area.”AIDEA Board Meeting Audio — September 22, 2026 ·
0:30
David Leslie
“I'm also deeply concerned about the U.S. government's— the federal government's strategic investment into Trilogy Metals. That creates a clear conflict of interest where the federal government, who's issuing the permits, are the ones also financially benefiting from it”AIDEA Board Meeting Audio — September 22, 2026 ·
0:13
Susan Georgette
“So I believe that ADA needs to recognize this, uh, this opposition and this lack of social license and not push ahead with this project.”AIDEA Board Meeting Audio — September 22, 2026 ·
0:52
Cheryl Maiorano
“My corporation and my tribe have been in opposition to this project for, I would say, 15 years.”AIDEA Board Meeting Audio — September 22, 2026 ·
0:18
Elizabeth Hensley
“You've come to the region that really kickstarted ADA's existence with that Red Dog Port Road, which we're really proud of in our region through the history. You can see what happens when our region is really united.”AIDEA Board Meeting Audio — September 22, 2026 ·
0:18
Susan Georgette
“I feel that a quasi-state agency like ADA should care even more about that. Um, I believe that ADA should be promoting projects that are in the best interest of Alaskans, and that includes projects that Alaskans support.”AIDEA Board Meeting Audio — September 22, 2026 ·
0:24
Cyrus Harris
“The Native Village of Kotzebue Council believes that the relatively short-term economic and other benefits of industrial development of the Upper Kobuk Region is overweight by widespread long-term negative impacts to the fish and wildlife that will result from this development.”AIDEA Board Meeting Audio — September 22, 2026 ·
0:32
David Leslie
“As Alaska Native people, we are stewards of the land, and to see this road being forced through when we know it will cause harm is frankly, uh, it's racist.”AIDEA Board Meeting Audio — September 22, 2026 ·
0:58
Randy Ruaro“We know that the mine has provided billions in benefits to the ANCSA's 7 revenue sharing and economic development taxes to the state, pilt to the borough, revenue to Ada, which is then shared back to the state. We did hear from the assembly and from residents that job training and Some benefits, infrastructure benefits for villages is, in the separate villages is really critical to them and to getting support for the project. So we'll be following up with the Bureau and working on, with the communities on ways that we can hit those points and hopefully bring some improvement in.”
AIDEA Board Meeting Audio — September 22, 2026 ·
0:46
Julie Sande“what I'll say about that is that the Red Dog as a model is a starting point, because I also think that these face-to-face conversations have been so important. And the feedback from community members, including the feedback we heard today, it is taken to heart. And I think that there's ways that we can improve the model that we used in Red Dog so that the communities can benefit in a way that's— that means— is perhaps more meaningful.”
AIDEA Board Meeting Audio — September 22, 2026 ·
0:26
Cyrus Harris
“One thing that that I know that once you have a road connecting a community to the outside world, you become urban. So what happens when we become urban? We end up back to zero and lose our rights to subsist. Once the road is developed, it's going to affect our lifestyle. It's going to basically kill our culture.”AIDEA Board Meeting Audio — September 22, 2026 ·
0:21
Cyrus Harris
“The Ambler Road is a proposed 211-mile road that would cut the eastern part of caribou habitat in half and connect our region with the rest of the state's and country's road system. Caribou will start detecting the noise of the road from miles away.”AIDEA Board Meeting Audio — September 22, 2026 ·
0:31
Jim Dau
“I strongly oppose the Ambler Road. I oppose this road because of my concerns for the western Arctic caribou herd. Road's going to impact it. Work I did when I was employed, I looked at caribou movements up near Red Dog from about 2000, 2000 until 2015. And it unequivocally showed that caribou movements were strongly affected by the road.”AIDEA Board Meeting Audio — September 22, 2026 ·
0:20
Susan Georgette
“I want to emphasize that there is not social license in this region right now for the Ambler Road. The residents of this borough are highly divided about the road.”AIDEA Board Meeting Audio — September 22, 2026 ·
0:16
Randy Ruaro“It's unfounded, and I hope he would retract it at the next meeting. There's no racism in ADA at all. Highly offensive”
AIDEA Board Meeting Audio — September 22, 2026 ·
0:59
Rick Solie
“I guess I want to kind of highlight this tension of, as my fellow board member just said, moving at light speed to advance an agenda that we believe is good for our state and for this region, and yet to take the time that's needed to build consensus. And so how do you bridge that gap? It's trust and respect, Mr. Chairman.”AIDEA Board Meeting Audio — September 22, 2026 ·