An email indicating Hillary Clinton intervened on behalf of a friend of her son-in-law, Marc Mezvinsky, predated what appears to be a period of success for the mining company in question.
The email, which was made public at the end of last month by the State Department, has touched off a new round of criticism from observers who note the growing number of instances in which the lines between Clinton’s friends, foundation and diplomatic business were blurred. It also highlights a major flip-flop on offshore drilling, a practice she pushed Congress to facilitate in 2012 but is now campaigning against.
While there is little evidence that Mezvinsky’s request resulted in direct favoritism for the firm at the heart of the controversy, the company’s notable success within two years of its founding raises questions about how it was able to grow so quickly.
Harry Siklas, a friend of Mezvinsky’s, asked the husband of Chelsea Clinton if he or his “better half” could connect him with someone in Hillary Clinton’s office so Siklas could lobby on behalf of Neptune Minerals, a deep-sea mining company, in May 2012.
Siklas said Neptune was a client of Goldman Sachs, an investment bank to which the Clintons have extensive ties. Executives at Goldman Sachs were among the top donors to Clinton’s Senate campaigns, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Hillary Clinton and her husband together earned hefty sums by delivering speeches to Goldman Sachs, with the former secretary of state netting $225,000 each for three different speeches to the bank in 2013 alone.
Siklas’ request for a “favor” from Mezvinsky was well-timed, coming two days after Hillary Clinton argued in support of the “Law of the Sea” treaty that governs a variety of activities in international waters.
“[A]s the only country under this treaty that was given a permanent seat on the group that will make decisions about deep seabed mining, we will be in a unique position to promote our interests,” Clinton told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in May 2012 as she promoted the Law of the Sea.
Siklas told Hillary Clinton’s son-in-law that he and his business partner had “the hope that at some point we get in front of the Secretary herself” to discuss Neptune Minerals’ mining aspirations.
Law of the Sea was apparently an important issue to Hillary Clinton before Siklas reached out. A previous email indicates her staff was planning moves in exchange for support of the treaty’s ratification a year before she took Mezvinsky’s request.
For example, in Oct. 2011, aides to Clinton discussed fundraising efforts for the U.S. Diplomacy Center, a planned museum project in Washington, D.C.
Elizabeth Bagley, a Democratic donor who became the first special representative for global partnerships after the position was created, mentioned the team’s work shoring up support for the project with Henry Kissinger and James Baker, two former secretaries of state.
“Since we need them both on other issues like Law of the Sea, etc., it would be very awkward if we didn’t finish the job,” Bagley wrote of the fundraising effort.
Clinton’s support of Law of the Sea less than a year later was based largely on expanding offshore drilling operations. While she argued in favor of offshore oil drilling in 2012, she has opposed it on the campaign trail.
“U.S. oil and gas companies are now ready, willing, and able to explore this area,” Clinton said of the continental shelf area that would be firmly under U.S. control under the Law of the Sea treaty.
“But they have made it clear to us that they need the maximum level of international legal certainty before they will or could make the substantial investments, and, we believe, create many jobs in doing so needed to extract these far-offshore resources,” she added. “If we were a party to the convention, we would gain international recognition of our sovereign rights, including by using the convention’s procedures, and therefore be able to give our oil and gas companies this legal certainty.”
She also based her argument on “the emerging opportunities in the Arctic” such as “oil and gas exploration,” although she has since staked out opposition to Arctic offshore drilling as a contrast to President Obama, who approves of the practice.
Siklas’ request for Neptune came as the secretary of state was advocating for U.S.-based deep-sea mining companies’ ability to secure mining rights off foreign shores under the treaty, which was not ratified by Congress.
Neptune Minerals was originally based in London, but was incorporated in the U.S. in 2011.
Siklas’ email indicated Neptune was “founded” on Jan. 5, 2011. That was shortly after Neptune’s mining rights for a lucrative stretch of New Zealand sea floor expired, according to Mining Technology, an industry source. Neptune’s rights to that area expired in Oct. 2010.
However, the firm reportedly planned to begin “trial mining” in the Kermadec arc off the shores of New Zealand by 2011.
The maze of permits and licenses required for companies to mine in international waters is difficult for any firm to navigate. With an ally in the State Department, Neptune may have had an easier time securing the rights to mine select stretches of sea floor.
Although the company didn’t exist in the U.S. until 2011, by the end of 2012, it already had multiple licenses to operate in the Pacific.
“Neptune has an exploration license covering the Kermadec arc north of North Island, New Zealand, and either holds or has applied for licenses at several other places in the western Pacific Ocean,” a Dec. 2012 issue of Mining Magazine said. “It has been putting particular emphasis on the Solomon Islands.”
Siklas’ request to Clinton’s son-in-law came seven months before that article indicated his company had successfully obtained licenses. It is unclear when or how Neptune secured permits for its Pacific mining.
In his email to Mezvinsky, Siklas said he and his business partner needed to speak to someone in Clinton’s office about “current legal and issues and regulations” surrounding seafloor mining.
Today, Neptune’s website lists properties in Japan, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand.
When Clinton received the request from Siklas to Mezvinsky, which was forwarded to her by an unknown party, she asked Thomas Nides, one of her top aides, to “have someone follow up on this request.”
Nides, who now works for Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley, quickly responded that he would “get on it.”
