Trump's permit for oil sands railroad to Alaska looks to be likely Biden target

On his first day in office, President Biden revoked the presidential permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, declaring it was among those signed by President Trump “that do not serve the U.S. national interest.”

“The permit is hereby revoked,” Biden’s executive order says. “Leaving the Keystone XL pipeline permit in place would not be consistent with my administration’s economic and climate imperatives.”

The Keystone XL pipeline was aimed at allowing Alberta oil sands crude to be shipped to the Gulf Coast.

As soon as the Biden administration catches on to the presidential permit that Trump signed for the proposed $17 billion—or more—Alberta to Alaska railroad link, the president will probably do away with it as well, for the same reason he blocked the Keystone project—climate change.

The railroad has been promoted as an alternative way to export Alberta oil sands crude or Wyoming coal to the Pacific by way of Alaska.

As is the case with the Keystone permit, Article 1 of the railroad document says, “This permit may be terminated, revoked, or amended at any time at the sole discretion of the President of the United States. . .”

Two years ago, Gov. Mike Dunleavy said the difficulty of getting pipeline projects approved for shipping Alberta tar sands would somehow make it economic to build a railroad to Alaska. I suspect that this will remain an imaginary railroad long into the future.

“The word is that the Canadians and others are just about there with the investments. And if we build a 1,500-mile railroad, what’s going to happen is they’re going to ship their tar sands up through Alaska as a trans-shipment point because we are going to be the only sovereign on the Pacific Ocean in North America, north of Mexico, that is still resource friendly,” he told a Republican gathering in September 2019.

Dunleavy, who ridicules worries about climate change, didn’t recognize the political risk that lies ahead when the railroad extension becomes portrayed worldwide as a pollution friendly Alaska dream to carry Wyoming coal and Alberta tar sands.

Meanwhile, the bizarre manner in which Trump approved the permit for the railroad project in September drew little publicity in Alaska. The specifics of Trump’s behavior won’t help the railroad extension with Biden. For the moment, the railroad remains in the netherworld of Alaska mega-projects that are always promoted as being just around the corner.

Shortly after midnight on Saturday, Sept. 26, Trump announced his railroad decision on Twitter: "Based on the strong recommendation of Sen. Dan Sullivan and Rep. Don Young of the Great State of Alaska, it is my honor to inform you that I will be issuing a Presidential Permit for the A2A Cross-Border Rail between Alaska and Canada.”

Trump had just come from a Friday night fundraiser at his hotel in Washington, where many people had paid $100,000 to get in the door, the Washington Post later reported. Wealthy people were there to lobby the president directly and capture his attention.

“One attendee's plea on behalf of an obscure railway project in Alaska in need of federal approval appeared to get immediate results,” the Post reported.

The attendee who made the plea was former Alaska Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell, who works for Sean McCoshen, the founder, chairman and chief promoter of the railroad company.

“Treadwell said he spoke to Trump at the event about the project's potential benefits to Alaska. He said the company had lobbied for the White House to take over the approval process from the State Department, where it had previously resided. The White House agreed in February and the issue was fully briefed for White House lawyers five or six months ago, he said. Then the company waited,” the Post said.

“Treadwell attended as a guest of the fiancee of the railway company's chairman, he said. He said his comments were brief, thanking Trump for considering the project — and the White House for taking it over,” the newspaper reported.

Treadwell said that Sullivan had also spoken to Trump that day about the permit and that the position of the Alaska Congressional delegation probably won the day with Trump.

"I can't tell you how or why the White House made the decision when they did," Treadwell told the Post. "All I can say is, we've had a long series of consultations on this."

"I don't think there was any quid pro quo,” Treadwell said.

The Trump administration claimed later that Trump’s tweet after the fundraiser endorsing the border crossing permit had nothing to do with the fundraiser.

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