Trump Approved Shipping Tar Sands by Rail to Alaska. The Project's Owners Are Banking on a Melting Arctic

picture-7018-1583982147.png
on

On Septemberย 28, President Donald Trump signed a presidential permit to ship Albertaโ€™s tar sands oilย via a proposedย 1,600-mile private rail line across the U.S.-Canada border intoย Alaska.

The permit, given to the company Alaska-Alberta Railway Development Corporation, is the same type of border-crossing permit that Trump approvedย in 2017 for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. Both projects aim to ship Albertaโ€™s crude โ€” some of the most carbon-intensiveย in the world โ€” across internationalย borders.

Referred to as A2A Rail, the project is specifically touted by its proponents as a way to expedite exports to Asian markets. Wearing other hats, those same proponents have for years emphasized the potential economic benefits of melting Arctic sea ice, which would allow a shorter journey forย shipping commodities like oil from Alaska to overseas marketsย in the easternย hemisphere.

Rough map of corridor for proposed A2A Railway line from Alberta to Alaska
Rough map of A2A Railway line from company presentation given to Alaska Legislature. Credit: Alaskaย Legislature

Chief among them is A2A Railโ€™s vice chair, Mead Treadwell, former Alaska Republican Lt. Governor and former chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission. He has articulated this view about the melting Arcticย despite also having a track record of climate change denial.ย EnergyWire reported in 2010 that, in a statement given to a conservative group, he disagrees withย โ€œthe argument that man made CO2 emissions are causing significant globalย warming.โ€

Treadwell was also formerly the president of Ptย Capital, an Anchorage, Alaska-based private equity firm with aims to profit from a melting Arctic, as Bloomberg reported in 2014. A2A formerly invested in Ptย Capital,ย which is the first-ever U.S. firm specifically dedicated to investing in the opportunities of thisย thawing polar region. Treadwell recently rejoined the Board of Directors of Ptย Capital. He declined to comment for thisย story.

A2A‘s recent presidential permit received praise from Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavyย (R), Albertaโ€™s premier, and Alaskaโ€™s congressional delegation. In his hallmark style, Trump first announced he would issue the permit via a Septemberย 25 tweet. Members of the congressional delegation did not respond to a request for comment for this story about their views on climateย change.

Bill McKibben, the co-founder of 350.org, the global climate advocacy group that launched the national fight against Keystone XL in 2011, lamented theย permit.

โ€œThe irony of seeing the melting Arctic as a route to get more planet-heating carbon out of the ground is almost too deep and sad for words,โ€ heย said.

Politicalย Influence

In recent years, A2A increasingly has become involved in efforts to influence politics in Washington, D.C.

On January 1, A2A registered to lobby via the firm Jack Ferguson Associates, owned by Jack Ferguson. Ferguson formerly served as chief of staff for the late U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) and as an aide to U.S. Rep. Don Young (R-AK), the longest-serving member of Congress. In his tweet announcing the permit, Trump specifically credited Young with bringing the oil-by-rail project to his attention. Young, for his part, tweeted that he worked with Mark Meadows, Trump’s Chief of Staff and his former congressional colleague, to nail down theย permit.

A2A is also a major donor to the Polar Institute, a project of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, commonly referred to as the Wilson Center. A Washington-based think tank established in 1968, the Wilson Center receives about 30 percent of its funding from congressional appropriations and is part of the Smithsonian Institution. A2A CEO Sean McCoshen is also listed as a major donor to the Wilson Center, while Treadwell sits as one of the co-chairs of the Polar Institute, a non-paidย position.ย 

Formed in 2017, the Polar Institute is an Artic-focused think tank which โ€œaddresses the practical questions and policy challenges facing the United States, Alaska, and citizens of the Northโ€ and focuses on shipping, icebreaker technology, and economic development in the region.ย Mikeย Sfraga, director of the Polar Institute, said the group does โ€œnot advocate or advance agendas of those who support ourย work.โ€

However, in a May 2019 congressional testimony, Treadwell advocated for creating an Arctic Seaway Development Corporation, which would aim to establish a toll system for shippers in the Alaskan Arctic modeled after the St. Lawrence Seaway, a canal and tollway system connecting all of the North American Great Lakes to the St. Lawrence River and eventually theย Atlantic Ocean in Canada. Treadwell said such a funding mechanismย would โ€œbring nations together to offer a reliable, voluntary, tariff-based service that will attract and justify infrastructure investmentโ€ in theย Arctic.

Just a month earlier, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Young introduced legislation to create that Arctic seawayย development corporation via the Shipping and Environmental Arctic Leadership Act (SEAL Act).

Treadwellย testified to Congress that the SEAL Act was written in coordination with the Wilson Center, which his company helpsย fund.

In response to questions about funding,ย Sfraga said the Polar Institute does โ€œnot advocate or lobby the U.S. government on specific projects.โ€ In its own explanation on its website, the Wilson Center states that it usesย the โ€œcombination of federal and private funds โ€ฆ to inform actionable ideas for Congress, the Administration, and the broader policyย community.โ€

Treadwell is not the only A2A employee with links to Murkowski via his advocoacy for the SEAL Act.ย Sean Solie, a former staffer for Murkowski on the Senate Committee on Energy andย Natural Resources, now works as the business coordinator for A2A. Andย Frank Murkowski, the father of Sen. Murkowski and former U.S. Senator and Governor of Alaska, also was named a consultantย in 2017 for previous Governor Bill Walker in his efforts to explore the possibility of an Alberta to Alaska railย line.

Treadwellโ€™s Polar Institute co-chair is Alice Rogoff, who was listed as an advisor to Ptย Capital on a 2016 version of its website. Hugh Short, the CEO of Ptย Capital, said the firm does not โ€œdiscuss internal advisor agreements as a policyโ€ when asked if Rogoff still works as an advisor for theย firm.

Rogoff hosted President Barack Obama for dinner during aย 2015 visit to Alaska during which the presidentย bore witness to the melting Arctic sea ice. Obama denied a presidential permit to Keystone XL just weeks after his Arcticย visit.

From 2014 through 2017, Rogoffย owned the Alaska Dispatch News,ย the state’s largest newspaper.ย Sheย now owns the publication Arctic Today, an independent digital news site dedicated to covering the Arctic region.ย Treadwell sits on the Board of Directorsย of thatย publication.

Like Treadwell, Rogoff has advocated for business opportunities associated with a melting Arctic. In a 2013 talk to the Juneau World Affairs Council, sheย compared it to a future Panama Canal, according to Juneau-basedย KTOO Publicย Media.

Rogoff, who is the ex-wife of David Rubenstein โ€” the chairman of the private equity giantย Carlyle Group and a member of the Smithsonian Institution’s Board of Regentsย โ€” declined toย comment on the record for this story. Rubenstein spoke at theย 2012 โ€œArctic Imperativeโ€ conference in Alaska that his ex-wifeย convened,ย introducing him as a โ€œclose relative.โ€ During that speech, he called the Arctic the greatest โ€œemerging marketโ€ in theย world.

Rubeinsteinโ€™s colleague Robert Dove, the former Managing Director of Carlyle Infrastructure Partners, now works as head of finance and strategy for A2A.

According to her LinkedIn profile, Rogoff is also the chair and co-founder of C Change Arctic, Ltd., a capital investment firm incorporated in April 2020 which operates inย a similar space to Ptย Capital. The investment firm aims to โ€œdevelop the region’s full economic potential and generate attractive investment returnsโ€ย in the Arctic region,ย according to itsย website.

Badย Investment?

Despite these high-level political ties,ย A2A Railย still has a steep hill toย climb.

One part of that challenge is the price tag. The international cargo rail lineย will cost $17 billion to construct, according to the company. Hollis French, a former Democratic representative in the Alaska Legislature and member of the Alaska Oil & Gas Conservation Commission, said that cost will almost certainly mean the project will require a heavy dose of state and federalย dollars.

โ€œI personally wouldn’t invest in this project,โ€ he said, pointing to the sinking price of oil globally and the high capital cost of extracting the tar sands and getting them to market. โ€œAnd I doubt that any rational government would. So where the money will come from for this isย anybody’sย guess.โ€

For his part, A2A CEO McCoshen told Bloombergย in September that the project is โ€œextremely viableโ€ and โ€œa win-win forย allย concerned.โ€

A2Aโ€™s advancement will also necessitate the consent of a number ofย tribal governments, whose lands wouldย be crossed by the new rail line. Russ Diabo, a long-time Indigenous policy analyst and activist who lives in the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory, a First Nationsย reserve in Quebec, said he sees many parallels between A2A andย the fight against Keystone XL led by Indigenousย Peoples in both western Canada and Alaska, both for these projects’ย potential impacts on people and on theย environment.

Mass freight railย โ€œinvolves land use. So putting a new train track and hauling stuff there is definitely going to affect wildlife,โ€ said Diabo, who has consulted with tribal governments currently in communication with A2A. โ€œThey’ll move away from that. That’s whatย happens.โ€

Diabo worries that theseย effectsย will ultimately have a human impact, too, on the Indigenousย communities.

โ€œThey’re using that area for hunting and fishing,โ€ Diabo continued. โ€œSo I’m sure they’re going to be Indigenous communities that are going to be looking at that upย there.โ€

For its part, A2A says, โ€œIndigenous Peoples are an essential partner in making this project aย success.โ€

Beyond that, A2A would also require approval of state agencies in Alaska and other U.S. federal agencies. That includes permits from the U.S.ย Bureau of Land Management, due to the rail lineโ€™s intersection with publicย lands.

The project still requires Canadian approval too. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has already expressed skepticism about the project, saying he is not sure โ€œwhether there is a potential for a projectโ€ like thisย and wants to precaution A2A against going โ€œtoo far down the roundโ€ and spending โ€œtoo much money in it, in something that is unlikely to pass.โ€

Main image:ย On July 12, 2011, crew from the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy retrieved a canister bringing supplies during a NASAย mission to study how changing conditions in the Arctic affect the ocean’s chemistry and ecosystems. Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight,ย CC BYย 2.0

picture-7018-1583982147.png
Steve Horn is the owner of the consultancy Horn Communications & Research Services, which provides public relations, content writing, and investigative research work products to a wide range of nonprofit and for-profit clients across the world. He is an investigative reporter on the climate beat for over a decade and former Research Fellow for DeSmog.

Related Posts

Analysis
on

The final two Conservative candidates have worrying records on green issues.

The final two Conservative candidates have worrying records on green issues.
on

For years, United, American, and other airlines have led massive lobbying efforts against regulations to prevent climate change.

For years, United, American, and other airlines have led massive lobbying efforts against regulations to prevent climate change.
on

Robert Wilkie was speaking at a conference co-hosted by the group behind the radical Project 2025 agenda.

Robert Wilkie was speaking at a conference co-hosted by the group behind the radical Project 2025 agenda.
on

Scope of corporate influence underscores concerns the technology will be used to prolong demand for planet-heating natural gas.

Scope of corporate influence underscores concerns the technology will be used to prolong demand for planet-heating natural gas.