Alaska RailRoad

It is time for our Alaska's crown jewel of assets to step up and help with resource development

This is from my public testimony at the Alaska Railroad Corp Board of Directors Meeting on 03/27/26

Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the Board.

For the record, I’m Representative Kevin McCabe, District 30.

I’m here today to speak about the Port MacKenzie Rail Extension, and really about a much larger question: whether Alaska is finally willing to finish what has been already started.

Because this is not some new concept on a whiteboard. This is not speculative. This is a project that is already more than halfway built.

Over $180 million has already been invested. The rail bed is in place, bridges are largely complete, the right-of-way has been secured, and the permitting work has been done.

What has been missing is not vision. It has been follow-through.

And if we are being honest, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough has been carrying that burden for years. They built the port, kept it alive, invested in staff and marketing, pursued tenants, developed partnerships, and did the hard work of chasing federal funding and putting the pieces together.

Now AIDEA is poised to step up as well, putting $4 million on the table.

So the question is simple: when does the Alaska Railroad step up?

Because this is your system. This line plugs directly into your network. It expands freight capacity, opens Interior Alaska to tidewater access, and supports the industries that actually drive this state’s economy, mining, energy, timber, and bulk commodities. Frankly Mr Chair, Alaska needs you.

Let’s be honest about what the Alaska Railroad is. It is, first and foremost, a freight railroad. Your long-term future is tied to moving Alaska’s economy, not just showcasing it.

And that is why Port MacKenzie matters.

Without this connection, a lot of the resource development we talk about never pencils out. It never moves. It never happens.

And I want to make one broader point.

For years, Alaskans have watched major projects get strangled by outside interests, outside money, and people who do not live here, do not work here, and do not have to bear the consequences of killing Alaska jobs and resource development.

Pebble is one example every Alaskan understands. Whatever your view of that project, everybody knows it became a national target, and outside forces spent years making sure Alaska could not move forward on its own terms.

We have all complained about that, and rightly so.

But what concerns me here is this: on Port MacKenzie, we are in danger of doing to ourselves what outsiders have been doing to Alaska for decades.

This time it is not Washington, D.C.
It is not national environmental groups.
It is not Outside activists.

It is us.

And that should bother every one of us in the room.

Because if Alaska cannot bring together its own institutions to finish a completely permitted, partially built, strategically important freight project, then what message are we sending to investors, to industry, and to the next generation of Alaskans who are wondering whether this state still knows how to build?

This is not the highest-risk project in front of you. It may be the lowest-risk expansion opportunity you have.

So my ask is simple.

AIDEA is poised to commit.

I am asking the Alaska Railroad to match that commitment, become a real partner in this effort, and help us finish this line.

Because finishing this project is not just about the Mat-Su.

It is about whether Alaska still has the will to build, the discipline to finish, and the courage to get out of its own way.

Thank you.