Laura Tanis, a spokeswoman for the Aleutians East Borough, said the legislation that passed the U.S. Senate on Jan. 11 still has several hoops to get through before construction can actually begin.

The legislation, contained in a massive land package that includes new wilderness areas throughout the western states, now faces approval in the House, which could come before the end of January. Assuming that incoming Interior Secretary Ken Salazar finds the package in the public interest, an environmental impact study would then follow, taking about 18 months to complete, Tanis said.

The Alaska Peninsula Refuge Enhancement Act is included in the landmark omnibus public lands package, known as Senate Bill 22. The act would increase the size of the Izembek and Alaska Peninsula wildlife refuges by more than 61,000 acres. In exchange the bill would develop a narrow 206-acre, 25-mile road corridor leading from the remote village of King Cove, with a population of about 800, to Cold Bay, with just under 90 permanent residents.

Road construction funds would come through the federally funded statewide transportation improvement program. Road construction would cost about $1 million a mile, Tanis said. Related costs for field studies and engineering have not yet been calculated.

Residents of King Cove say the road is needed for access to Cold Bay, primarily for medical emergencies. Their only other options for transportation to Cold Bay currently are via a fishing boat, by a hovercraft or PenAir commercial flight from King Cove. The latter two happens only as weather permits.

Aleutians East Borough Mayor Stanley Mack, King Cove Mayor Ernest Weiss, King Cover City Manager Gary Hennigh and Della Trumble of the King Cove Corp. (an Alaska Native village corporation) were all on hand in Washington, D.C., when the measure passed the Senate during a rare Sunday session.

"This life-saving legislation means so much to the people of our community and to future generations," Weiss said. "They serve to have safe, affordable, dependable surface transportation access for health, safety and quality of life."

Residents of the predominantly Aleut city of King Cove have worked for years to get the access road to Cold Bay. Environmental groups, including the National Wildlife Refuge Association, have fought the effort, arguing that the road threatens vital habitat for migrating birds and the southern Alaska Peninsula caribou herd.

The refuge area has for years been marked with dirt and gravel roads and various trails that snake through the area, remnants of activities that date back to World War II, and still in use today. During the war, there was a network of outposts through the Izembek area connecting them with the main base at Cold Bay.

Many of the trails and roads were in continuous use after the war years by sport and subsistence hunters, and up until 10 years ago that was not a concern, Mack said. Now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in an effort to shut down some of those traffic arteries, is maintaining roads in the refuge only up to the wilderness boundaries, he said.

Margaret Bauman can be reached at margie.bauman@ alaskajournal.com.