 The report was duly reconsidered , but in 1978 , the Army Corps of Engineers confirmed the project no longer was justified . The audited report was accepted by the U.S. Senate , and no further funding was allocated to study the issue . The final nail in the coffin came on December 1 , 1978 , when President Jimmy Carter authorized the creation of the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Monument , which became the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge in 1980 . The refuge status eliminated any possibility of flooding the Yukon Flats , a process that would have been inevitable with the construction of the dam . 
