King Cove has a clinic, but no hospital or doctor. Residents must fly 600 miles to Anchorage, via Cold Bay’s World War II airstrip, for most medical procedures including serious trauma cases and childbirth. Frequent gale-force winds and thick fog often delay or jeopardize medevac flights.Interesting that the article calls them "Eskimos" in the headline, but "Aleuts" in the body of the article. Not all, or even most, Alaskan natives are Eskimos (who call themselves Inuit), but I supposed it's easier in a headline to use the more recognizable term. I'm sure the Aleuts aren't so happy with that. But I'll bet they'd rather have the road.
According to local Aleutian elders, 19 people have died since 1980 as a result of the impossible-to-navigate weather conditions during emergency evacuations.
U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell on Monday rejected a proposal for a one-lane gravel road linking the isolated community of King Cove with the all-weather airport in Cold Bay some 22 miles away.
During an August visit to Alaska, Jewell was told that building a road that connects King Cove and Cold Bay was vital. But in December, Jewell rejected the road saying it would jeopardize waterfowl in the refuge.
“She stood up in the gymnasium and told those kids, ‘I’ve listened to your stories, now I have to listen to the animals,” Democratic state Rep. Bob Herron told a local television station. “You could have heard a pin drop in that gymnasium.”
It's interesting to me that Preznit Obama is willing to oppose the Washington Redskins name in the nations capitol, but let them die in Alaska. I wonder if Aleuts are exempted from the Obamacare "shared responsibility payment" if they fail to sign up for healthcare they may not be able to receive due to the federal government.
I previously vented my spleen about the non-road at King Cove: Feds Deny Redskins Life Saving Road
Remember, it's not so much that they love the environment, it's that they hate people.
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