Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell offered some worrisome words last week after visiting King Cove and talking to the residents about their desire for a 12-mile road that links their village with the runway at Cold Bay on the Alaska Peninsula. Secretary Jewell will make the final decision about a proposed land swap that would allow the road to be built.

“The issue that I’m facing is one that is legal in its interpretation,” she said.

Yes, there are legal standards to follow in the process leading up to her decision, but more legal analyses can’t answer the question before her: What’s best for the village and refuge? On balance, the land swap is.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, after writing an environmental impact statement on the proposed land trade, disagreed. It concluded earlier this year that executing the swap would not advance the purposes of the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.