Mat-Su Borough: Port Mac Rail Update

That was already part of the port expansion at Port MacKenzie. So we've been working this, we've been working this.

Even here, it's fitting that we're at the Gateway Visitor Center. This was an EDA grant, about $7 million that we got in 2022 for this. Now, I'm not gonna steal the Secretary's thunder on the size of this grant. Okay, but I'm just— I was just giving you examples. And over the years, your delegation and everybody working to make this a reality.

But he's going to announce the big one, and it ain't $7 million, it ain't even $30 million. This is the big one that we have been focused on to complete the rail connection between the railroad and Point MacKenzie. Finally do it.

Now, we've had great partners. There's been so many people here. You know, I'm known, I think, among a lot of the Trump administration cabinet as someone who bugs them a lot, texts them like, hey, where's our stuff? Where's our stuff? Where's our stuff?

You know, just kind of relentless. I will tell you, there's a lot of people here, a lot of people who deserve credit. There's so many people, it's dangerous to single out somebody. But I will say, where's Kevin McCabe? Representative McCabe?

Okay.

I don't want to get in trouble by using bad language with our media here, but as much as I've been a pain in the ass of the Secretary of Transportation, Kevin McCabe has been a pain in my rear, right? But he's done a great job. So I want to thank Kevin and all the other members of the State House. State Senate who are here. So ladies and gentlemen, it's my distinct honor and pleasure to introduce a very good friend of mine.

This is, by the way, since he's been the Secretary of Transportation, it's already his third visit to Alaska. How about a round of applause for that? Okay, but he's no stranger to Alaska at all. Some of you might not know this, uh, Secretary Duffy's former congressman from Wisconsin, but In our world, we're just a little bit down the road from where the state fair is, and Secretary Duffy, some of you might know, in a different life was a famous— I would say world-class— lumberjack. And so, you know, our lumberjack show at the state fair, he has participated in, in Alaska, right, as a lumberjack.

Who knew that he was a lumberjack? So ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, please give a warm Alaska and Mat-Su Valley welcome to the Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy.

Oh man, Senator, it is great to be with you. And this I did, I have, this is my third trip. Two of them were for business and one I went fishing in the Kenai River this last year. By the way, it was fish and it was not so great. I did a little research and investigation.

That's right. But listen, it's wonderful to be with all of you and with the congressman, with the governor, with the senator. This is a big day, and I just— if I could just take a moment. You touched on some of the things that we've done, and I want to make sure that we don't miss this because you mentioned $1 billion for Amirat Port infrastructure, for Port MacKenzie. That came last year.

By the way, this is part of $1 billion in this administration that we are giving to Alaska to invest in your infrastructure. So $34 million for MARAD, Marine Highway and Ferry, $410 million, um, for ferries in the highway system, $2 million for a small shipyard grant to Seward. 19.5 Million to construct a new airport at the Noatak. Did I get that right? Noatak Airport?

See, I'm almost Alaskan myself, right? Noatak Airport. And then one big beautiful bill, $120 million for the Don Young Alaskan Aviation Safety Initiative. Really important investment. Dan always tells me, I don't have that many roads.

We fly in Alaska, and I want to make sure when my people fly Aviation is safe in our state. Too many people lose their lives in aviation, so make sure you make the investments to keep my people safe. And we have listened and we are making those investments.

And, and I just want you all to know, it's truly— Dan is annoying. The senator is annoying. He does— he calls and he texts, um, and he texts and he calls. Um, but I'm going to tell you what, I, I, I had the privilege of serving in Congress for 9 years, and so yes, he's annoying, and I say that in the most general the most fairness way possible. But that's what, that's what good representation actually is.

When you have someone who says, I am gonna go to Washington and I'm going to fight for my people. I'm gonna make sure they understand the needs of my community and make sure we get a share of what goes to the federal government that comes back to my people. So we're looked after. Yeah, we're a little bit, we're a little far away. And sometimes you in the lower 48 can forget about us.

But you're not going to forget about us because we are going to bug the shit out of you to make sure you understand our needs. Nick is the same way, and I appreciate— by the way, I appreciate that. That is good, uh, representation for your community. Um, also, when I was going— when I was going through, uh, confirmation, I hadn't met, uh, Senator Sullivan before. Um, heard of him, he's a drop, but I hadn't met him.

And I had to go meet with him because he's on the committee jurisdiction. I needed his vote, so I had to go meet with him And we had a great conversation about infrastructure in Alaska, and rail and ports. But what he said was, listen, you will not have my vote unless you commit to coming to Alaska. To which I was like, twist my arm, like, I'll go to Alaska maybe in June or July or August. But there's something that's very important because you can't understand a community, you can't understand a state, especially like Alaska, unless you come and see it.

You got to be here and see it with your own eyes. You can't look at a picture, you can't have a conversation. You got to put boots on the ground and look at the infrastructure needs— from my perspective, infrastructure needs that your communities need. And he didn't just do it to me, he does it to everybody who wants his vote. He gets them all to commit to come to Alaska, which is really important so they understand— we all understand your needs.

And so I want to thank you for that. I want to thank you for your leadership. You've been fantastic.

And so this is— he's been a fly, he's been annoying, he's been all that to make sure this project went. Really important. And so I'm excited to be here as part of a huge package, $2.3 billion in a nationwide rail package. You all are going to get a $250 million investment in the Point MacKenzie railway expansion project.

We could rephrase that to say this is a quarter of a billion dollars that are going to be invested, um, which is important for your state, but this is important for America. It's important for America because the senator and the congressman, the governor, they agree that we want American energy dominance. And if we're going to have American energy dominance, we can't look past Alaska. We have to invest in Alaska.

And if we're going to access LNG, if we're going to access critical minerals, we need the infrastructure to be able to access all of those great assets that you have in this state. And so this investment in rail is going to help us make those investments in energy that's only going to help America. By the way, I want to keep American dollars in America. Let's spend American dollars for oil and gas on Americans.

And so I just, I, I just, I'm gonna, I'm gonna close and just tell you, uh, it's great to be here again. I kind of feel like I'm back in Wisconsin. I dressed for the weather. Um, it actually was a little warmer than I thought it was going to be, but, uh, but it's nice and wet. Thank you.

Um, but I want to tell you, uh, you are not forgotten. Um, we, we, we know, we know your needs, um, and especially through, through, uh, your members, Senator Sullivan specifically. We know your needs. You have people fighting for you, and we are hearing you. And if you look at the investments we're making, it might take a while, but you see significant investments being made in your state that makes your life better and keeps your people safer.

And by the way, it gives you better jobs, better economy, better upward mobility. So it is great to be here. This is a great day, but this— we're gonna talk— I'm talking way too long. I'm gonna step down. We are going to move this grant at Trump speed.

And what that means is we want to get this out by spring. We want to be turning dirt. This is not a 5-year, 2-year, 1-year— no, we want to be turning dirt this spring on this project. We're not going away.

All right, Senator.

How about another round of applause for our Secretary of Transportation?

And look, I do want to thank this administration. The governor and I, Congressman Begich, we've talked about it a lot. Day one, they issued an executive order that all relates to this about unleashing Alaska's extraordinary resource potential. That's unbelievable that we're the only state that has our own executive order here. And this again is a giant generational opportunity, a quarter of a billion dollars to finalize— this is going to do it— we're going to finalize the rail link between the Alaska Railroad and Point MacKenzie.

We've been trying to get that done for two decades, and it is going to happen. And there's been so many people that have been working on this, have been working hard on it. But again, it integrates so many things geographically almost our entire state, different industries, minerals, broadband, by the way, energy, oil, gas, LNG, and the giant buildup of our military. They're all going to be positively impacted by this connection. That's why this has been so, so important.

So many great leaders have been putting their time and effort into it. Look, this isn't just about 32 miles of track, which is about what it's going to be in terms of the railroad track. This is about a strategic uplift for our entire state, and this will bring thousands of jobs, a great opportunity on a whole host of other fronts. So look, one of the other strong, strong, relentless advocates for this project, not just as governor but as a state senator, is Mike Dunleavy. So Governor, how about taking the floor and congratulations.

So this is a great day, and, and Dan's got a great memory. There's a couple things though he left off, right? Our airport here at Wasilla is being extended to 6,000 feet.

JD Vance up in Fairbanks and Nelson announced what? Transmission lines all the way up to Healy for Alaska. Okay. I mean, there's so much going on. I'm being serious.

We just can't keep up with it. And I want to thank Nick Begich, who set a record as a freshman in this country's history for bills that he's put together. And they just aren't bills to bother people. They're bills to enable things.

And I want to thank— I want to thank Dan. Dan is everywhere, and I'm not just making that up. I've said this before. I'll show up in Japan, Dan's there on the gas line. I'll show up in Washington, Dan's there doing something.

I'll show up in a bathroom, and I'll turn around, Dan is there talking to somebody. Hey, hey, let's get a little weird. But the point is, the point is, these guys are working their tail off. And really, in the end, what What I'm trying to say is elections matter. If we didn't have the election that we had and if President Trump was not elected and we had Kamala Harris, do you think we'd be standing here today?

We wouldn't be standing here today. So elections matter. We got elections coming up. It's very, very important to make sure we put people back there that are advocates for Alaska. And I always say this about President Trump.

Out of all the states in the country, and there are big states— anyone from Texas here? It's a big state, but not quite as big as ours. Anyway, my point is there's so many other places he could put his attention, but for whatever reason, he puts his attention on our great state in Alaska and doesn't just talk about it, but delivers. And the secretary's here and others have been here. I mean, in the past 3 weeks, we've had the vice president, the president, the secretaries.

We're going to have more people coming up here doing what should have been done for Alaska a long time ago. I want to ask if there's any railroad board members here. Raise your hand. Here we go. Let's give these guys a— I want to thank you guys for your work on this grant.

Are there any ADA board members here? I want to thank you guys for co-investing in this project as well. I want to thank ADA for doing that as well. And so all the projects that we have going— and this really is not just $250 million, which is the large part of the grant that we're talking about, but this is over a $300 million proposition for Alaska. We'll be able to get this port tied in.

As Dan said, it's going to be able to deliver critical minerals, strategic metals, but it's also going to be able to deliver timber once we get our timber industry up and going here again as well. But it's also going to be a port that's going to end at the port, and hopefully we get the port built up too so we can intake and export from two of our great ports here in Southcentral Alaska. So I want to thank all these guys. And there's one last person I want to thank, and he became a really good friend of mine during the dark years of the Biden administration. And that's Congressman Westerman from Arkansas.

Yeah. I want to give— before Nick got in there, uh, um, excuse me, the other side controlled, uh, well, they were going to control the House. But anyway, Congressman Westerman and several of those congressmen who knew Don Young really well had a soft spot for Alaska. Now, this is about your third time up here, fourth time. I don't remember how many.

Yeah, right. And we would joke around that we'd get our mail because, you know, their abbreviation for the mail is ARK, ours is AK. So we'd exchange mail back and forth. But no, he was very good to Alaska. We walked into his office when I was a governor and we asked for help and he didn't know me from anyone, but he really cared about Alaska, really cared about Don Young.

And he said he would do anything he could possibly do. Do for Alaska. So as the chair of resources, I want to thank you for coming back up for this.

So in the end, um, I just want to thank everyone that's been involved in this. This is just one part of a larger infrastructure project that Dan has worked on, that Nick has worked on, that the president has really put forward for us. And, um, we're going to have so much work here, so many jobs, so much going on over the next several years that again, it's important that we send these guys back to Washington, D.C. Do you agree with me?

Awesome.

So with that, I want to introduce the congressman for all Alaska. We only have one, and I got to tell you, he's doing an amazing job. Nick Begich, our congressman. Come on up, Nick.

Well, shoot, I have prepared remarks, but now I want to just riff it. Like, I'll tell you what, if the press wants to see what I've written down, they can ask us for these remarks. But let me just say this, because we're all family, we're all friends here. You know, Alaska was built by a pioneering spirit. We like to talk about that a lot.

We talk about our parents and our grandparents who came to Alaska and— or we're here in Alaska already, but they, they carved something out of nothing. They made something out of nothing. And the big projects have ultimately defined what our state is, what our state means to the rest of the nation and the world. And it's those big ideas and those big projects that we've got to make sure continue, right? We've got to make sure those things continue.

Our parents and grandparents did it. We're cut from the same cloth that they are cut from. We have the things and the courage to do big things. What's been missing is a federal partner to allow us to do that work. Well, we have a partner right now in Washington, D.C. And it is unlocking Alaska, and it's going to stay that way.

Now, we know we have the resources, but if you can't get to the resources, it doesn't matter. If you can't deliver the products that are going to allow you to get to the resources, it doesn't matter. And we hear so often about the Port of Alaska in Anchorage, the Don Young Port of Alaska in Anchorage. And that is a critical port for our state. But there's only so much that you can move through that port.

And that port is purpose-built, right, for delivering goods that Alaskans need. We need more port capacity. And that's where Point MacKenzie comes in. It allows us to build the resource side of our economy again, whether that's critical minerals, base metals, precious metals, rare earths, right? Whether that's coming from Ambler or the West Susitna or whether that's sending pipe that we need to build that LNG pipeline north, we've got to have port capacity and we have it here in the Mat-Su Valley, but it only matters if it's connected to the rest of the state.

And that's what's so important about today's announcement, is it takes those big ideas and it makes them possible, right? It makes them possible. And I couldn't be happier. I can't tell you how many times— and you'll know this too, you've done it too— where you're coming into Anchorage International Airport and you're looking out the side as you're flying over the Mat-Su Valley on approach and you see that unfinished rail connection, right? We've all done it.

We've all looked outside and said, wow, I wish they'd have finished that. Well, we are going to finish it.

And we are going to do what has always been intended for the Mat-Su Valley, for South Central, and the rest of Alaska. We're going to build Alaska again.

You know, overnight successes are usually 20 years in the making, and that couldn't be more true of this project. There are so many people who have put so much time and energy and effort over many years, and it's been your persistence and your perseverance, right? People who are in this room, people who are outside this room, people that have passed away, right? They haven't given up on Alaska. And I want to thank the senator for his longtime support of this project and so many other projects like it across the state.

Our governor, who has fought tirelessly in Juneau to make sure that we remember we're a big state with big ideas and big project opportunities in front of us. And for the Secretary, who recognizes that Alaska has a unique role to play in our nation, and that when you unlock Alaska, you unlock the rest of the United States of America.

So thank you for being here. Thank you for being part of this announcement. Let's go build Alaska. Mat-Su's at the center of it. We're going to build that line.

So let me just say, you can't get things done like this in a vacuum. It takes a team. It takes a partnership. It takes a partnership in the Senate with our colleagues. It takes a partnership in the House with leadership.

And I'm so honored to have the chair, the chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, Here with me, Chairman Bruce Westerman, all the way from Arkansas.

Well, thank you, Nick, and thanks for everybody for being here today. I am, as the governor said, the guy from the other state that starts with an A and has a K in it. And if there's a state I don't mind getting confused with, it's the great state of Alaska.

And it's so good to be here to celebrate with you today because when Alaska wins, America wins.

And today America is winning because this is a very important project for right here in Alaska, but it's also a very important project for the rest of our country. And Secretary Duffy, thank you for the tremendous job that you do. Governor, I could talk for a long time about the accomplishments of Governor Dunleavy and the work that he's done, the way he comes to DC and advocates for Alaska. And I know I'm going to miss him being governor, but I think there's going to be bigger things in store for him down the road.

No, Mr. Secretary, you said they were annoying. I would say they're effective.

Nick and I serve on the same committees in Congress, Natural Resources and Transportation and Infrastructure. Senator Sullivan, Senator Murkowski, what a great team you have here. They deliver results for Alaska. They're always in D.C. fighting for Alaska. Don Young was a dear friend and somebody I consider a mentor, and I think he would be very, very proud of the representation that Alaska has in Washington, D.C. right now.

It's been said Nick has set records, most bills ever passed by a freshman, and he's got more to go. He's— there's been 132 bills sent to President Trump's desk. 10 Of them were bills that Nick were involved with.

And obviously all 10 of those bills had to pass through the Senate. And many of those bills are strictly Alaska-focused. So I'm here because I believe in these guys. I believe in Alaska. And it's a great day.

God bless Alaska. God bless Alaska. Almost said Arkansas. I'm so used to saying that. God bless Arkansas.

And y'all have a great day.

All right, Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. It's great to have you back in Alaska, sir. So we're really happy you're here. And then look, finally, we want to, we want to hear from the Alaska entity that's going to make all this happen. They've been working tirelessly on this issue.

A lot of you know Bill O'Leary, who's done a great, great job leading the Alaska Railroad. But again, this isn't just about one kind of 32-mile area of track for our state. This is something for our railroad, for everything to come together. So, Bill, why don't you come up here and give a little more detail on how important this is, not just for the railroad, but for our entire state. Ladies and gentlemen, Bill O'Leary, railroad president.

There are lots of advantages to going last. I'm having trouble finding them right now because most of the good stuff has already been said here at this point, but this is a huge day for not only the Alaska Railroad but for the state of Alaska. And yes, it has taken a long, long time to get here. They say never ever use props in a situation like this, but I don't Care. This is the plaque from the initial groundbreaking in 2013.

All right, now there were a couple of you there. I will say most of you that were there look better than I do after the 13 years, but that's okay. All right, it is, uh, it has taken a long time, but, uh, definitely from the adage of good things come to those who wait, this is going to be fantastic. Two things I just want to talk about very briefly. Our partnership and integration here.

And many of you know, hopefully most of you know, that the Alaska Railroad is a publicly owned corporation owned by the state of Alaska. And, you know, in our actual enabling statute, we are charged with being an agent for economic development. And we do that and we do it. I think we do a good job at that. But economic development is extremely difficult and oftentimes limited by infrastructure.

And many of you guys have heard me say this. Over the years. I mean, we have a kind of a riff on what was said earlier, uh, today. You know, Alaska is about a third the size of Western Europe, and we've got, I think, like 11 National Highway System, uh, roads here. We are very light on basic infrastructure, and especially near and dear to my heart, rail infrastructure.

And the ability for us to have this additional infrastructure that is going to integrate into the Alaska Railroad system as is, is going be absolutely monstrous for not only the organization that I have the privilege to lead, but for this, uh, this particular state. And we are very excited to bring the advantages of rail to an entirely new group of customers and industries out there.

Also talked about earlier, I just want to make a quick reference to, is You guys are all locals. You guys are all Alaskans. You know this place. But there are many, many people that do not know this place. And that has, I think, hampered our development over the decades here.

And it's that inability to understand really what is Alaska and what makes Alaska tick or doesn't tick, as the case may be. And I'm so delighted to say that Certainly this Department of Transportation under Secretary Duffy's leadership, uh, the Federal Railroad Administrator David Fink have— they— we are very, very known to this group. And as a result of that, I think it's been tremendously powerful and beneficial for the state because they get us, they get Alaska, they know what we need to be able to, uh, move forward. On this. So partnership was the other thing.

So I think having a partner like the U.S. Department of Transportation— I will say that's not always been the case with, uh, with federal, uh, entities— is something that having a partnership this good is quite uncommon but very much appreciated. I'll also say that, uh, there were some internal partnerships, internal to the state partnerships, and, you know, it could be said if you put the Alaska Railroad The Matsu Borough, ADA, the Department of Transportation, all in one room. And if that room was here today, there's not great odds in the past that you would come out that everybody agreed today was Monday. All right. But I will say this has been having a common goal and us all working together.

Uh, Governor Dunleavy charged the Alaska Railroad and ADA with coming together and figuring out a solution. For this. And I'd like to say that, uh, I'm delighted to say that, uh, today is sort of the culmination of this. And so then finally, uh, our federal delegation. I mean, this is a group that has done amazing things for this state and amazing things for this, uh, this railroad.

Cannot say enough about the relentless nature of, uh, our delegation continuing to fight for Alaska and for the Alaska Railroad. So very much appreciate that. As I said, it's an absolutely huge day for the Alaska Railroad, but beyond that, it's a huge day for the state. So we are ready to get to work. Thank you.

All right, all right, everybody. Well, listen, just, just as As a wrap-up, I think, uh, kind of, um, I'll end, end this where I began. We are not talking about, but we are actually doing some of the big projects that our state's been talking about for decades, right? We have this giant buildup of the Coast Guard, huge, the biggest buildup in history of the U.S. Coast Guard, and a ton of that is coming here, including 4 icebreakers, new shipbuilding capacity coming to Alaska. We have the biggest buildup, a $20 billion buildup of that base.

That will be the biggest Air Force base on the planet Earth when we are done with that. We are not talking about building the Port of Nome anymore. We're not talking about building the Port of Nome anymore. We're building the Port of Nome right now. We started this summer.

We're doing that. We are getting the funding thanks to the Secretary and others in the litigation that the Trump administration finally settled for the Port of Anchorage. We are reopening the Navy base at ADAC. We are putting billions of dollars into broadband and aviation safety and the ferry system and the marine highway system. So why am I mentioning all that?

Because we're doing things. But this project, this project integrates a lot of this. This project actually enhances the ability to get a lot of the other projects that we're looking at done, including big mining projects, including big oil and gas projects, including the gas line and the LNG project, which, by the way, we are going to build, right? We're going to build it.

So again, that's why 32 miles of rail. You might be like, hey, what's the big deal? It is a huge deal, which is why so many people, not just in the Valley but all over the state, have been focused on getting this done for two decades. And now we're getting it done thanks to the Secretary and his team. A quarter of a billion dollars.

And I love what you said, Mr. Secretary, we're gonna start turning dirt on this soon. But again, thank you, Mr. Secretary. Great day for Alaska, great day for America, and a great day for more infrastructure in our— are you taking over?

Okay, we're gonna do it right now.

Okay, we're gonna do a photo, right, over the. Whole team. Okay. Yes, sir. And then we're going to do a little press, and then you're going to mingle here after just a few minutes.

So we. Do a railroad and you want to get legislators in front of here, I think. Yeah, why don't we get the railroad and the ADA and our legislators up here too, real quick? Hey, Ryan. Okay, you guys come up.

Julie,. Quick photo, and then we'll do the press avail. Okay, you need to be in front of me. Come on. Okay, all right.