ITEM TITLE:
#17-43 - Supporting Generating for Seven Generations Railway Corporation’s Proposal for a Purpose-built Railway from Ft. McMurray and the Peace River Regions of Alberta Connecting to the Pacific Tidewater Port of Valdez, Alaska
SUBMITTED BY: AnnMarie Lain, Community Development Director
FISCAL NOTES:
Expenditure Required: N/A
Unencumbered Balance: N/A
Funding Source: N/A
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends City Council approve resolution # 17-43, supporting Generating for Seven Generations Railway Corporation’s (G7G) proposal for a purpose-built railway from Ft. McMurray and the Peace River regions of Alberta connecting to the Pacific tidewater port of Valdez, Alaska.
SUMMARY STATEMENT:
In September 2017, the Ports Director, Community Development Director, Councilmember Needles, Councilmember Reese, and Mr. Alan Sorum attended the North to Alaska Conference in High Level, Alberta. This conference was hosted by the Regional Economic Development Initiative Association for Northwest Alberta (REDI), an alliance of four communities with an aggregate population base of 25,000, and the Northern Transportation Advisory Bureau located in Northwest Alberta.
Dan Dibbelt, Executive Director of the Northern Transportation Advisory Bureau, invited City of Valdez representatives to give a presentation on the Port of Valdez to highlight the opportunities and benefits of going North. The trip, including all travel costs for the Valdez representatives, from Anchorage to High Level were paid for by the Conference Hosts. City of Valdez representatives were joined by the following Alaska constituents:
Representative George Rauscher, Alaska State Legislature, District 9
Commissioner Marc Luiken, Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities
John-Henry Heckendorn, Special Assistant to the Governor and Chief of Staff
Leonard Paul Mayo, Tanana Chiefs Conference, Natural Resource Director
Mr. Matt Vickers, CEO of G7G, gave a presentation on the viability of an extended Alaskan railway to “unlock the bottleneck for transporting Canadian oil, mineral and other commodities to offshore markets.”
As stated in the vision statement for G7G, the project is a “new, approximately 2,450 km long, purpose-built, state-of-the-art railway from the oil sands of Ft. McMurray and Peace River regions of Alberta connecting to the Pacific tidewater ports of Valdez and Anchorage, Alaska.”
You can learn more about the G7G project and access the Van Horne Institute, Alberta to Alaska Railway Pre-Feasibility Study at www.g7grailway.com <http://www.g7grailway.com>.
As a follow-up to the North to Alaska Conference, G7G CEO Matt Vickers, and Managing Director Len Wilson traveled to Valdez to give a presentation to Valdez City Council during a work session on September 28, 2017.
G7G has asked City Council for a Resolution of Support. The attached resolution is a result of this request.