Washington DC - President Donald Trump on Monday issued an executive order authorizing the construction of the Ambler Road in Alaska, previously halted under his predecessor Joe Biden.

"I direct each Federal agency concerned to promptly issue such authorizations as are necessary with respect to the establishment of the Ambler Road Project," Trump's order reads.

The 211-mile industrial mining road would connect the Dalton Highway to the area around the Ambler Mining District, enabling access to deposits of copper, cobalt, gallium, germanium, and more.

The Trump administration also announced the US government is partnering with Trilogy Metals and investing $35.6 million to support exploration in the Ambler Mining District.

The Biden administration had blocked the roadway project back in June 2024 after the Bureau of Land Management determined it would likely have significant negative impacts on the environment and local communities.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright called the reversal "a tremendous achievement for the people of Alaska" as he stood behind Trump in the Oval Office on Monday.

"We say energy's the lifeblood of society, the circulatory system," he added. "Minerals and metals, they're the skeletal infrastructure, the physical upholding of everything we do, everywhere we walk and operate."

Wright was among the Trump administration officials who traveled to Alaska over the summer in a bid to open up millions of acres of land for mining and drilling. The US officials were met with protests by Indigenous and climate activists.

On his first day back in the White House, Trump issued an executive order pledging to more fully exploit Alaska's rich resources as well as expedite the permitting and leasing of energy projects.

The administration then announced measures in March to expand oil and gas drilling in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

In response to the latest Trump administration announcement, the Wilderness Society's Alaska State Senior Manager Matt Jackson said in a statement, "This top-down decision is a betrayal of Alaska's overwhelming local opposition to the project. Ambler Road would threaten salmon streams, caribou migration routes, and the freedom to retain the way of life for Alaska Native communities who have stewarded these lands since time immemorial."

"Once a road like this is built, the damage can't be undone. The people of Alaska, and all Americans, must not allow the administration to sacrifice irreplaceable landscapes and one of the most biodiverse places left on Earth for short-term financial profits to a foreign company."

Over a dozen Alaska Native governments as well as the Western Arctic Caribou Herd Working Group had submitted resolutions and letters opposing the Ambler Road project, the group noted.