Week of the Arctic 2013

2013 Week of the Arctic

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Workforce Development in Northern Regions Northern Energy Efficiency, Architecture and Design Search and Rescue Planning and Exercises Oil Spill Response Alaska Arctic Collaborative Partnership Arctic Council Projects ‌ and more

A special publication by PHOTO/STEVEN KAZLOWSKI/ALASKASTOCK.COM

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Drill:

2013 Week of the Arctic

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and involved the test deployment of oil skimming systems.

The SPAR is routinely on patrol in the Aleutians and Pribilof islands region with a primary mission of maintaining aids to navigation. The Sir Wilfrid Laurier, homeported in Victoria, B.C., operates seasonally in Arctic waters.

The Coast Guard sends its vessels north, too.

“One of District 17’s four Seagoing 225’ Buoytenders has made a trip north of the Bering Strait each year since 2007,” Wadlow said.

The Coast Guard seagoing buoytenders typically carry a set of oil recovery equipment, but the Vessel of Opportunity Skimming System that was used in the Port Clarence exercise is an additional set of equipment that is available, he said.

Research:

vided an opportunity for our crews to compare operating practices and learn from each other, and it supports the key tenets of the Coast Guard’s recently-released Arctic Strategy, which are to improve awareness, modernize governance and broaden partnerships in the Arctic region.”

Industry-sponsored offshore spill exercises have been held in Arctic waters, such as drills conducted in the Beaufort Sea by Alaska Clean Seas, a spill cooperative, but the Bering Strait and western Alaska coastline are far from industry-operating areas and are vulnerable to a spill from a fuel carrier transiting the Chukchi Sea or the strait.

The bulk of the marine traffic is non-U.S. registered vessels and Alaska’s laws for spill contingency

plans do not apply, Treadwell said.

In contrast, U.S. vessels operating in Alaska Arctic waters are required to have spill contingency plans on file with the state. In the plans ship owners show they have spill responders under contract.

U.S. and Alaska officials are also working on a joint U.S.-Russia spill response capability for the Bering Strait region, but it has not yet been finalized, state officials have said.

State officials are concerned also whether the U.S. Coast Guard will be given adequate resources

by Congress to deal with increased risks from vessel accidents as the Arctic waters open.

“They’re borrowing resources now from elsewhere in Alaska,” to step up a Coast Guard presence In

the Alaskan Arctic, said Fran Ulmer, a former Alaska lieutenant governor who now chairs the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, an advisory body of citizens and scientists who give advice to federal agencies on Arctic research priorities.

The Coast Guard is operating flight service facilities on a seasonal basis this year in Kotzebue for search and rescue, but Ulmer is concerned that helicopters and flights crews are just being transferred from other Alaskan coastal regions where they are also needed. She is concerned that Congress may be unwilling to put any substantial funding behind new protections needed for the Arctic.

Tim Bradner can be reached at tim.bradner@alaskajournal.com.

Continued from Page 13

plankton from Aug. 17 to Sept. 9.

The scientists want to collect baseline data on a host of marine components, and identify similarities and differences between near shore and offshore zooplankton and fish communities.

According to a letter from the North Slope Borough to NMFS researchers will use beach seines and trawl gear to collect much of the information.

The project will also look at fisheries acoustics, diet and water mass properties in the 8,580 square kilometer area from Point Beltcher to Point Barrow.

Researchers from NMFS’ Alaska Fisheries Science Center will also conduct an additional research cruise beyond those efforts from Aug. 1 to Sept. 29. That project, which has similar aims in terms of gathering baseline data about fisheries and other ecosystem factors, will use surface and midwater trawls throughout the northeastern Bearing Sea and Chukchi Sea. The NMFS cruise also includes the Bering Aleutian Salmon International Survey.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has been working to assess subsistence uses and needs in the Arctic as well, including an effort to document and have a better

Rules:

“The Canadian CG vessel involved deploys each summer to the Canadian Arctic for Research and aids to navigation work, so they sail all the way around the Alaska Coast twice each year, once in early summer and once each fall,” Wadlow said.

“Due to space constraints, they do not carry oil boom onboard during these deployments. One of the main purposes of this exercise was to see if our USCG-maintained VOSS equipment, which is prestaged in many areas throughout Alaska, would work well with this particular (Canadian) vessel if there was ever a need to use it.”

Commander Matt Jones, chief of spill prevention for the Coast Guard’s 17th District, which covers Alaska, said, “The exercise pro-

understanding of the subsistence fisheries, particularly in Point Lay and Wainwright.

The fisheries research could also provide a better understanding of possible impacts to the marine environment from other Arctic activity, such as drilling and shipping.

Next summer, it’s likely that much more research will be conducted as another vessel is set to join the Arctic research fleet.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks expects to begin using the new R/V Sikuliaq for research in the summer of 2014.

The Sikuliaq, which means “young sea ice” in Inupiaq, is the Alaska region research vessel owned by the National Science Foundation and operated

by UAF’s School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences.

Builder’s trials are expected to take place in September, according to UAF’s Sharice Walker. Once completed, the university can set a date to take control of the ship.

The vessel will be used of oceanographic and fisheries research in the Arctic, Bering Sea and other northerly destinations.

The ship will have ice-breaking capabilities and research technologies such as acoustic mapping systems, sensors, and advanced

PHOTO/COURTESY/UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS

The 261-foot R/V Sikuliaq is designed for oceanographic research in the icy waters of polar and subpolar regions of the world. It will be able to break through ice up to 2.5 feet thick, making it unique among the national academic research fleet. The name Sikuliaq, pronounced “see-KOO-lee-ack,” is an Inupiaq word meaning “young sea ice.”

navigation tools.

Although UAF will operate the vessel, scientists from all over the country, and the world, can conduct research from it.

Alaska Sen. Mark Begich has also called for additional research.

In a July 17 speech, Begich said he is supporting a bill to use

an existing endowment to further arctic research efforts. He also called for funding so that NOAA and the Department of the Interior can map Arctic habitats and conduct other research activities in the far north.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski has also worked on funding for Arctic fish-

eries issues. In a recent press release, Murkowksi said that funding for NMFS’ Arctic work is included in a version of the Senate’s 2014 Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations bill.

seasonal drilling limits in regulations along with provisions for public review of spill prevention plans, which she said are now lacking, along with public disclosure of the results of spill drills.

Epstein, who is also an engineer and a member of the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement’s Ocean Safety Advisory

Committee, also urged a significant increase in financial responsibility requirements for Arctic operators.

In his remarks, RDC’s Rogers said that despite Shell’s 2012 problems the industry, including Shell, has a long and safe track record in the Arctic.

“Thirty wells have been drilled in the Beaufort Sea and five in the

Chukchi Sea all without incident, not to mention decades of responsible oil and gas exploration and production in Cook Inlet. These wells were drilled in the 1980s, utilizing older technology,” Rogers told the Interior officials.

Many of the Beaufort Sea and Chukchi Sea wells drilled in the 1980s were drilled by Shell.

tion bill from Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., requires the Coast Guard to submit an analysis to Congress

by September 2013 of the condition of the Polar Sea, a cost estimate of extending its service life,

and a comparison to other options.

If the Coast Guard determines that it is cost effective to reactivate the Polar Sea, it must provide Congress a plan to do so under the reauthorization.

If it determines otherwise, the Coast Guard can decommission the Polar Sea, but it will have to submit to Congress a strategy to maintain its polar icebreaking services until September 2022.

Molly Dischner can be reached at molly.dischner@alaskajournal.com.

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Alaska (outer continental shelf) are among the most capable and sophisticated in the world. The standards should avoid being overly prescriptive, and instead set performance metrics, which allow innovative companies to determine their best technologies to meet the standards,” Rogers said.

Daniel Lum, an Inupiat who is

Icebreakers: ping the Polar Sea for six months.

In December 2012, the Coast Guard said it would proceed with dismantling the ship, and to use some of the parts to sustain the Polar Star, but the U.S. House passed

critical of offshore drilling, said industry should be required to conduct demonstrations of spillcontainment systems under actual Arctic conditions, not more benign waters in Southcentral Alaska or the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

Lois Epstein, Arctic Programs Director for the Wilderness Society, suggested the agency impose

Continued from Page 5 legislation prohibiting any action on the Polar Sea until certain conditions were met.

President Obama signed the legislation Dec. 20, 2012, and an an amendment in the reauthoriza-

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2013 Week of the Arctic

Treadwell:

Continued from Page 6

tary of State John Kerry is the U.S. member — is a huge advantage for Alaska, Treadwell said, because Alaskan concerns can sometimes be put forth through the indigenous peoples’ groups.

The State of Alaska is able to participate in Council discussions as a member of the U.S. delegation, and the state can and does participate in the working groups, Treadwell said. For example, for several years, Alaska’s director of oil spill prevention and response director Larry Dietrick participated in the environmental policy working group.

Dietrick is now retired but the state still has a seat on this group, although who will fill it has not yet been decided. Treadwell said he is cautious about efforts to make the Arctic Council more formal, with a permanent staff.

“We should be wary of creating more bureaucracy. The flexibility we now have is important. We should be able to opt in and out of agreements depending on how they fit our national goals,” he said.

Arctic achievements Two important accomplishments of the Arctic Council so far are agreements on emergency response reached in 2011 and an agreement on oil spill response reached in 2013. The effect of these is to have the protocols in place so there can be fast response to an emergency with any nation’s people or equipment that is nearest to the incident,

regardless of boundaries.

Meanwhile, Treadwell has his own thoughts on U.S. ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty. Many Alaskans support the treaty, including both of Alaska’s U.S. senators, because it will allow the U.S. to stake territorial claims and assert jurisdiction over extensions of the continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean north of Alaska.

More than 150 nations have now signed the treaty but the U.S. is a holdout, mainly over concerns over loss of national sovereignty raised by a handful of conservative U.S. senators.

Some of these concerns are justifiable, Treadwell said, although U.S. ratification of the treaty overall has huge benefits for the nation and Alaska.

However, until the concerns are resolved Treadwell doesn’t believe the treaty will be ratified. There are parts of the treaty that concern Treadwell, such as the role of the United Nations in a new International Seabed Authority.

“I’m concerned about any kind of tax paid to the UN, too, but I think there are ways we can work around these problems,” he said.

This need not involve renegotiation of the treaty, and could be done by a U.S. statement that it will sign the treaty subject to certain conditions.

A similar “work-around” was done years ago when the U.S. recognized China but continued its commitments of security

AP PHOTO/PEI XIN/XINHUA

In this photo provided by China’s Xinhua News Agency, Chinese icebreaker Xuelong, or Snow Dragon, is harbored in Shanghai, Sept. 27, 2012, after an 85-day scientific quest across the Arctic Ocean. The Chinese icebreaker has docked at Shanghai after becoming the first Chinese vessel to cross the Arctic and highlights the nation’s growing ambitions in the region. China has been given observer status at the eight-nation Arctic Council.

guarantees to Taiwan, something normally unthinkable in international relations. It is a pragmatic example of “workaround” and although China is not happy with it, the U.S.-China mutual recognition did not founder over Taiwan.

Treadwell often speaks of the need for large new investment funds to come to the Arctic for oil drilling, gas pipelines, ports and icebreakers. For that reason, he said he also looks positively on the interest being shown in the Arctic by major private investment groups, covered most notably through businesswoman Alice Rogoff’s nonprofit “Arctic Circle” group.

Some Alaskans, particularly in Native communities, are wary of Arctic Circle because they are worried about domination of Arctic infrastructure investment by international private equity firms.

Treadwell is less concerned about this, however, because private investment will have to pay for much of the infrastructures needed to protect and support Arctic shipping. The governments certainly won’t be able to do it, he said.

He also welcomes the interest in the Arctic being shown by nations like China, India, Japan and even Singapore, which are not physically Arctic nations but which do

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have Arctic interests in resource development or shipping.

“I call them Arctic partners,” Treadwell said.

Several of these nations have applied for, and been accepted, as official observers at the Arctic Council, and Treadwell supports that.

“It’s important to have them at the table and engaged in the discussions, even if informally. If they’re not at the table they’ll go on to form their own club outside the Arctic Council, which wouldn’t be to our interests,” he said.

Tim Bradner can be reached at tim.bradner@alaskajournal.com.

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Arctic:

2013 Week of the Arctic

Continued from Page 2

said assessments are underway to determine how to bolster their capabilities for operating in the region, especially as oil companies, such as Shell, have proceeded with Arctic exploratory drilling operations — with nearly disastrous results last year, when the Shell Oil drilling rig Kulluck ran aground in stormy weather.

Early steps include the Navy currently updating its 2009 Arctic roadmap, and the Coast Guard as well as the White House recently releasing new Arctic strategy documents to guide long-term planning. The Coast Guard also held an Arctic exercise in 2012 to test its readiness for conducting operations in the region. Scientists at NOAA are also seeking funding for more observation stations in the Arctic to improve their ability to forecast changes in sea ice cover. “It’s natural that we have paid less attention than other nations,� said Vice Admiral Peter Neffenger, Coast Guard Deputy Commandant for Operations. “For many years, the U.S., the people of the U.S., viewed itself as a nation with an Arctic state rather than an Arctic nation,� he told reporters. “I think that we’ve discovered that we’re an Arctic nation as activity has increased off of our coast.� “We only look late in relation to those who have already been up there operating,� he said, mentioning that Russia has been much more active in the Arctic because it has a larger Arctic coastline. “We know more about the Caribbean than Russia does, though,� said Rear Admiral Jonathan White, Oceanographer of the U.S. Navy.

There have been $3.7 billion in commercial investments in offshore oil and gas leases in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas off of Alaska since 2005, according to the Coast Guard, and it is estimated that 30 percent of the world’s undiscovered natural gas resources lie in the circum-Arctic and outer continental shelf area.

Yet much of America’s Arctic waters remain unmapped, and NOAA, which is responsible for charting U.S. waters, lacks the capabilities to map such a vast area alone, making partnerships a vital part of

tic the country’s approach to Arctic resource management.

TH E WH IT E HO US E er“I would say that the commerWA SH ING TO N ncial activity is driving the governer ments to get together,� Neffenger ut said. “We don’t know a lot about

( d. recovering oil in sea ice,� he said. il “It’s a very different type of oil # & ! !#( that you tend to find in the Gulf of # & " *" ! " #" ! #!$# # # # ! # " ) " ) Mexico, for example.�

A According to acting NOAA ! # " $! #*" "# ! # ! # !" $! ! " administrator Kathryn Sullivan,, # # " ! ! # ! # " #$! ( ! & !#$ # " # ! " #" ! ! # 0 there are more than 200,000 # " !% # " $ # # # $ % $

% ! # # "# # square miles in America’s Ex # " & " ! & !

!#$ # " # ! & $"# ' ! " ! " & ! ) # # clusive Economic Zone in the " "# & ! " $" # ! # " " " # ! # "# % Arctic. Yet NOAA can only map ! # & # # "$"# ! " # ! # # (

"( "# " % ! about 500 square miles of sea # # !

floor per year.

" " !# !" "

“We’re talking a few hun# "$"# # " " ! # #!

$"# ! # # ! # ( ! # # dred to thousands of miles "# ( # ! & % $ ! ! "" ! "$ ""$ " " " ! ! " $ of capacity, and hundreds of $# ! % #

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thousands of miles of need,�

! " ! #! # ! & she told reporters.

Rear Admiral White said

that trying to use one NOAA

" # ! ! # )

# % ( ship to map all of U.S. Arctic # ! # # & !

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waters is “like trying to map

the floor of a room with just one

$ #( # ! %

# " # ! # % % # % " ant.� He said reliable charts $# " & & (" ! # ! # " of the Arctic exist mainly for $"# ! ) # & # & $"# & # $! ! " & " "# # " ! # $#$! shallow waters, not for deepwater operations.

He said NOAA’s and the Navy’s approach to the Arctic emphasizes leveraging partnerships with other federal agencies and international partners. “In terms of the Navy, the presents a the Arctic better.

Arctic and the diminishing ice represents “You could argue we’re not as far along voice as Council president, since the U.S. is challenge but not a crisis,� White said.

White said that the U.S. is now acting as Russia, Norway, but that part of the Arc- the only Arctic Council member nation that more aggressively to research the Arctic re- tic has been ice-free in the summer for a lot has not ratified the treaty. Such a scenario gion and prepare for increased operations, longer than the U.S. part of the Arctic, so I would be “sort of like driving a bus without a despite the many obstacles, including Pen- would say we’re not that late ‌ when you driver’s license,â€? he said.

Murkowski, and fellow Alaskan, Sen. look at the big picture.� tagon budget cuts.

White and others said the U.S. needs Mark Begich, who also addressed the con“Let’s not forget to take credit for what we do in the Arctic today,â€? White said. “The to ratify UNCLOS by 2015, when the U.S. ference, said they hope to try again to get the Coast Guard is up there today, the Navy is takes over the rotating two-year chairman- treaty through the Senate in the coming year, up there, under the sea and the air ‌ we ship of the Arctic Council. Otherwise, he but that there is still some stubborn Senate have all kinds of stuff going on to understand said, the country will speak with a weaker opposition to it.

AP PHOTO/COURTESY/U.S. NATIONAL SNOW AND ICE DATA CENTER

This image made available by NASA shows the amount of summer sea ice in the Arctic on Sept. 16, 2012, at center in white, and the 1979 to 2000 average extent for the day shown, with the yellow line.

Scientists say sea ice in the Arctic shrank to an all-time low of 1.32 million square miles on Sept. 16, 2012, smashing old records for the critical climate indicator. That’s 18 percent smaller than the previous record set in 2007. Records go back to 1979 based on satellite tracking.

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2013 Week of the Arctic

Fisheries research, management effort underway in Arctic

By Molly Dischner Alaska Journal of Commerce

Melting in the Arctic is leading to conversations about industry activity, and that includes fisheries.

For now, many aspects of domestic Arctic fisheries management have already been decided.

In federal Arctic waters, no commercial fishing is allowed.

That’s what the North Pacific Fishery Management Council decided in 2009 when it passed a fisheries management plan, or FMP, for the Arctic Management Area.

The council is responsible for management of federal waters three to 200 miles offshore from Alaska.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, or NMFS, is responsible for implementing the council’s decisions, managing certain aspects of the fisheries, and doing much of the related science.

No commercial fishing doesn’t mean there’s nothing happening, however. NMFS and others are conducting research in the Arctic area, in part to inform future decisions about fisheries management.

Certain state waters fisheries also occur in the Arctic, and the FMP specifically does not prohibit subsistence or recreational fishing, nor does it regulate the state’s fisheries within three miles of shore.

The State of Alaska is responsible for management there, as well as for certain species like salmon.

Under state management, there is some fishing in Arctic.

The state’s farthest north commercial fishery is offshore from Kotzebue, north of the Arctic Circle but toward the southern end of the management area. There, commercial fishermen prosecute chum salmon.

Subsistence activity also occurs in the Arctic, including salmon fishing in North Slope communities. Several rivers that drain into the Chukchi and Beaufort seas have salmon and other species used to meet subsistence needs.

Known species in the Arctic include Arctic cod, Pacific herring, Pacific cod, walleye pollock, yellowfin sole and Greenland turbot, as well as salmon and halibut, many of which are fished commercially elsewhere in the North Pacific.

The council’s action to close the area to commercial fishing was intended to protect the marine ecosystem and prevent unregulated fishing or disturbances to the area.

The council is not the only body responsible for Arctic fisheries.

The U.S. and other Arctic nations have been discussing how to manage certain fisheries outside of any country’s exclusive economic zone, or EEZ. The U.S., Norway, Denmark, Canada and Russia have been discussing an accord regarding the region north their waters.

That’s an area that was once covered in ice. In recent years, the ice has melted, making it passable.

Some fish inhabit the area, but little

PHOTO/COURTESY/UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS

The 261-foot R/V Sikuliaq splashes into the Menomonee River as it launches from the dock Oct. 13, 2012, at the Marinette Marine Corp. shipyard in Marinette, Wis. The vessel is owned by the National Science Foundation and will be operated by the University of Alaska Fairbanks for research in the Arctic Ocean beginning in summer 2014. The vessel will be homeported in Seward.

is known about them and there is no commercial fishing there now.

As it has been discussed so far, an accord would prevent fishing until more was known about the area.

Although the U.S. has largely shut down commercial fishing in its portion of the Arctic, other nations have not and have no overall approach to Arctic fisheries management like the FMP provides.

Canada has some commercial

fishing in the eastern Arctic, and mostly subsistence activity in the west.

Previously, Russia has been the most reluctant to prevent fishing in the unregulated national waters, although it’s believed that sentiment there may have changed and be more open to the possibility now.

Any future fishery will require more information, and there’s an international push to gain more information now.

This summer, the North Slope Borough, NMFS, the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the University of Washington are working on an assessment of the biological and physical oceanography of the Chukchi Sea. As part of the project, two vessels will be deployed in the northeastern Chukchi to study the habitat and ecology of fish and zooSee Research, Page 16

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Ulmer:

2013 Week of the Arctic

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“This is a signal that Alaska wants to be proactive and to play an assertive role,” Ulmer said.

Too many federal officials view Alaska as just reactive mainly because of Gov. Sean Parnell’s opposition to several federal initiatives.

However, the new Alaska Arctic commission will counter that impression because it is a legislative, not executive, creation. It is also bipartisan.

Meanwhile, what is now prompting attention to the Arctic in the international community are the effects now seen Herron from climate change and loss of ice cover, Ulmer said.

“The rate of change is stunning and there’s greater awareness that there are new challenges, and new opportunities,” Ulmer said.

Other Arctic nations are more aware of this because their peoples identify themselves with the Arctic.

“Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Russia all have specific policies that put special emphasis on the Arctic,” Ulmer said.

This has caused the Arctic Council to become more active, particularly with initiatives to protect the environment and indigenous cultures, and to promote sustainable development.

Even with some momentum in Washington, D.C., in the age of sequestration Ulmer is concerned that new money will be available to fund any U.S. initiatives.

“This will take work, to do McGuire the science and be prepared. It doesn’t just happen,” she said.

Ulmer is particularly concerned about the U.S. Coast Guard.

“Resources are having to be borrowed,” to increase the Coast Guard’s Arctic presence, she said.

Overall, it’s an ad hoc response.

“And, it’s problematic whether Congress will make more resources available,” she said, but credited Alaska U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich for pushing the issue.

“Lisa and Mark have been relentless in

making case for the Coast Guard, as well as our signing the Law of the Sea Treaty, but they are just two senators,” Ulmer said. “Do the rest care?”

What is likely to get the attention of Congress is the potential for oil and gas, and the risks, and a growing awareness that China, India and even Singapore are now interested in the Arctic because of the commercial possibilities.

“There are still questions about how economic and substantial the shipping will be because it would be for just a few months of the year, but there will be some shipping,” most of it across Russia’s northern sea route from Europe to Asia, Ulmer said. “This is already happening, and if it grows it will put a substantial parts of the U.S. coast at risk,” mainly northwest and southwest Alaska, “but British Columbia is just as vulnerable.”

One area where there seems wide agreement among the Arctic nations is the attention to indigenous people.

“Everyone seems on the same page with this. The same words are being used by all, but how we translate this into specific initiatives is still unclear,” she said.

Protection of indigenous cultures and languages has been one of the missions of the Arctic Research Committee that Ulmer chairs, and she gives credit to the former chair, current Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell for working with a former commission member, Vera Metcalf of Nome, to make it a priority.

Overall, Ulmer shares the priorities laid out in the proposed national strategy published in March.

“We need a strong national security statement, a path forward to ensure the environment is not trashed, we need to ensure the participation of indigenous people, and that the protection of lands and waters is done in a peaceful manner,” she said.

“The Arctic is a shared resource, a body of water surrounded by land, and so all na-

PHOTO/FILE/AP

Former Alaska Lt. Gov. Fran Ulmer, left, and John Graykowski, Deputy Maritime Administrator of the Department of Transportation, stand near the Arco Endeavour after the christening on Oct. 9, 1999, at Avondale Industries in Avondale, La. The Arco Endeavour is a double-hulled tanker designed to comply with post-Exxon Valdez oil spill laws. Ulmer’s expertise in oil spill response led to her appointment to a national commission after the BP Gulf of Mexico disaster in 2010.

tions which share a border have a vested interest,” in protecting it, Ulmer said.

Tim Bradner can be reached tim.bradner@alaskajournal.com.

Arctic Research Commission updates recommendations The U.S. Arctic Research Commission Fran Ulmer chairs has focused on five goals in its latest set of recommendations: Observing and understanding environmental changes in the Arctic; improving human health in Arctic communities; understanding natural resources in the Arctic; advancing research in civil infrastructure; and preserving indigenous identities and culture through an emphasis on indigeous languages.

Of the five goals, understanding environmental change, natural resources and the advancement of civil infrastructure involve work in the biological and physical sciences, while the Arctic health and indigenous language goals signal the importance of helping sustain Arctic Native communities.

A strong Native culture is important to that, and maintaining Native language is a key in sustaining culture.

“There are over 40 indigenous languages in the circumpolar Arctic. Language is one of the most important, but vulnerable,

elements of the Arctic cultural heritage,” the Arctic Research Commission said in its report on 2013-2014 recommendations.

“When speakers of endangered languages switch from their mother tongue to other languages for communication and education, vast amounts of cultural knowledge and tradition are lost,” the report said.

Among specific recommendations, the commission will push for an Arctic indigenous languages research plan to regularly asses the extent and diversity of languages; documents procedures to ensure that place names used by Arctic people are recorded and preserved; activities geared to enhance language use and exchanges; processes to monitor and preserve languages.

In the health area, the commission has recognized the disparities between Arctic and nonArctic levels of health, and that gains in preventing infant mortality, fetal alcohol syndrome, chronic respiratory disease and accidental injury are offset by increasing substance abuse, do-

mestic violence, obesity, diabetes, cancer and suicide.

Improvements in infrastructure for water and sanitation are critical, the commission said, because there is a clear connection between health and access to clean water for hand washing.

Related to this is a protection of subsistence foods and affiliated social systems that are important to the well-being of indigenous peoples, the report said.

Among its recommendations, the commission is pushing for expanded use of telemedicine to diagnose and treat diseases in remote Arctic regions, and to make mandatory the collection of water service data at all federally-funded medical facilities.

On monitoring and understanding environmental changes, the commission has identified climate-affecting “wild cards,” that include rapidly thawing permafrost and the possible release of staggering amounts of carbon into the atmosphere; the sharp decline of Arctic glacial and sea ice, with a 75 percent from 20

years ago; and the climate effects of black carbon, or soot.

Recommendations include more intensive efforts to understand climate change and its effect on ecosystems; synthesize research results and translate them into information on which action can be taken. In this area, the research commission pointed to Canada’s ArcticNet program as an example of this being done in that nation.

Among other recommendations, the research commission called for greater research focus on connections between Arctic sea ice loss and extreme weather events at lower latitudes, and long-term monitoring of environmental changes that is currently lacking on a wide-scale basis.

“Long-term monitoring enables scientists to detect trends and patterns that ultimately reveal the forces responsible for environmental change,” the commission said in its report.

However, the traditional federal research funding cycle has been toward short-term observations and results, the commission

said. There are some indications this may be changing, however, “as agencies recognize the value of collecting long time-series data,” the research commission report said.

In the natural resources area, the research commission is pushing for better mapping of lands and waters in the Arctic; international standards for Arctic exploration and oil and gas development; and mechanisms to share innovative technology and best management practices for Arctic regions.

On civil infrastructure, the research commission urges the development of Arctic-specific technology, design and engineering, and to increase applied research to improve land, air and sea infrastructure.

The commission recommended an emphasis on the designlife of infrastructure, particularly water and sanitation systems, as public funding declines for construction and for operation and management.

— Tim Bradner

at

2013 Week of the Arctic

Page 11

Interior Dept. may have draft rules for Arctic by year-end

By Tim Bradner Alaska Journal of Commerce

The U.S. Interior Department plans to have a draft of new rules to regulate Arctic offshore exploration completed by the end of the year, Acting Assistant Secretary for Lands and Minerals Tommy Beaudreau said in a meeting in Anchorage.

“It’s an aggressive schedule, and the proposals would still have to go through a formal rulemaking,” Beaudreau said.

Beaudreau, who is also Director of the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM, was in Alaska June 6 and 7 with other Interior officials for two days of public “listening sessions” to solicit ideas on Arctic offshore regulation.

The new regulations are important to Shell, ConocoPhillips and Statoil, who have all said they are awaiting the new Arctic rules before making further commitments on offshore exploration in the region.

Having Arctic-specific federal regulations was a key recommendation of a report issued earlier this year by an Interior Department team, also led by Beaudreau, which studied Shell’s trouble-plagued 2012 Arctic exploration program.

At the meeting in Anchorage, Beaudreau said his agency is considering rules that will codify some specific requirements imposed on Shell as permit conditions, as well as to propose new ones.

Two areas of interest for the agency for the special Arctic

AP PHOTO/PHILIP A. DWYER/THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

The Arctic Challenger operated by Royal Dutch Shell is seen at the Port of Bellingham International Dock in September 2012 in this file photo. The spill response barge was required by the U.S. government to be on scene for Arctic drilling, but damage to a containment dome during testing prevented the ship from reaching Alaska and caused Shell to cancel plans to drill exploratory wells to oil-bearing depths in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. New rules for Arctic development are expected to be complete by the end of 2013.

rules are on well control issues and requirements for subsea spill containment systems that are tested, and also requirements for a rig to be available for a relief well, Beaudreau said.

Both requirements were laid on Shell in 2012 as conditions of permits. Shell was unable to get its undersea containment system built and tested in time to get it to the Arctic last year, so only “top holes,”

or the upper parts, were drilled on two wells by the company.

A third area of interest for a new rule, Beaudreau said, could be a requirement for “resource sharing” if there are multiple operators offshore. Shell was the only operator in 2012, but ConocoPhillips and Statoil also have leases and could be conducting simultaneous operations in the future.

“Any time there are multiple

vessels moving there are more risks, so we see this as something that is sensible,” Beaudreau said.

In an emergency it is standard procedure for one company to aid another, but Beaudreau may have been talking about a broader requirement. An example may be if multiple companies working offshore were required to contract with a single tug operator.

In a separate briefing at an oil

and gas conference in Anchorage, Mark Fesmire, Alaska Region Director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, said his agency is also working to clarify how “Best Available Technology” requirements that will be in the rules would be applied.

Some consideration of economic feasibility will be given, he said.

Meanwhile, Interior’s review of the 2012 exploration session faulted Shell on some points and recommended that offshore operators exercise more effective management of contractors — a reference to the containment system that fell behind schedule — but also that the government itself should do a better job of coordination among various federal agencies, state and local government agencies, Beaudreau said.

Industry and business leaders offered comments at the June 6 hearing. Lucas Francis of Shell urged BOEM to make rules performance-based, setting out goals to be achieved, and not prescriptive, with detailed requirements for procedures.

Companies also warned against new requirements that specific equipment be used by operators.

Rick Rogers, executive director of the Resource Development Council, reinforced the points made by Shell: “The (exploration and production) companies operating in the See Rules, Page 16

Page 10

2013 Week of the Arctic

Nome has edge for Arctic port, ASRC sees multiple options

By Elwood Brehmer Alaska Journal of Commerce

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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has focused its work on a potential deep-draft Arctic port to sites near Nome on the Seward Peninsula in Western Alaska.

A draft environmental impact statement, or EIS, looking at Nome and to the west at Point Spencer and Cape Reilly as possible port sites should be ready around January, Corps Project Manager Lorraine Cordova said. “We still have several rounds of review and a public comment period before we finalize (the study),� she said.

Funding for the draft EIS was secured in December 2011. It is a cost-shared study, Cordova said, with the state providing half of the funding. She said it should fall within new Corps guidelines to expedite such studies as much as possible. The goal is to get them done within three years for less than $3 million.

While it may not be quite as detailed as similar studies done in years past, Cordova said a “risk-informed decision making� process is being followed.

Before large infrastructure projects can begin, several rounds of impact studies must be completed to comply with National Environmental Protection Act, or NEPA, requirements. “We’re looking at the three sites and looking at what the system would look like if we were to encourage additional economic development in the area,� Cordova said. “You know, there’s only so much more (activity) Nome can handle.�

A Corps study released in March investigated the broad feasibility of a deep-water port at sites across Western and North Slope Alaska, from Bethel to Prudhoe Bay. Of the 14 sites studied, Nome and Teller, a village on the Port Clarence inlet, were determined to be the most viable places for a potential port. Much of that determination was based on their proximity to water of ample depth.

Standard deep-draft vessels require a constant water depth of between 35 feet and 45 feet. Those depths were generally found within a mile of Nome and two miles of Teller. Bethel, for instance, is nearly 10 miles from water of sufficient natural depth. “There are very few areas with naturally deep water in Western and Northern Alaska,� Cordova said. “If you’ve got naturally deep water you don’t have an ongoing cost to keep that water at depth� through dredging.

Additionally, the service infrastructure in Nome, with regular air service and spur roads extending out from the community, gives the area an advantage. A 70-mile seasonal use road currently reaches from Nome to Teller. “To have something of this size (such as a deep-water port) and not be able to support it with restaurants, hotels, grocery stores, medical care — all of those things would be needed wherever you build it and the fact that they’re already in place at Nome makes it

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MAP/COURTESY/US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS

Fourteen sites from Bethel to Prudhoe Bay were studied by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as potential deep water Arctic ports. Nome and Teller emerged as the most viable places for a port according to the study released this past March.

Coast Guard, Navy and National more attractive,� Cordova said.

Arctic Slope Regional Corp. Oceanic and Atmospheric AdminExecutive Vice President of Lands istration regarding government vesand Natural Resources Richard sel activity, she said. Additionally, Glenn wrote in an email that the Cordova said she has spoken with Native corporation has been in officials at the Graphite Creek and contact with the U.S. Coast Guard Lost River mines on the Seward about its needs for a port to moni- Peninsula about how their operator future offshore oil and gas ac- tions might use a port. tivity in the Arctic. Glenn wrote that ASRC foresees a “constellation� of new port sites along the Arctic coastline as opposed to just one hub port. “ASRC and its coastal communities wish to play a real role with all the players in the visioning for new Arctic infrastructure, but we do not have any specific plans to infrastructure such as a port for the Alaska OCS (Outer Continental Shelf) at this time,� he wrote.

Glenn added that ASRC is in the early concept feasibility stages of developing a port for exporting coal from the region. According to the corporation, nearly two billion tons of coal — about one-third of undeveloped U.S. coal — lies along the North Slope.

The Corps held a planning charette in April to bring together prospective users and other groups that would be impacted by a port near Nome. Cordova said 53 participants expressed their interests and concerns about the potential project. Of big concern was the impact a port serving large vessels could have on the subsistence lifestyles in nearby villages.

Moving forward, Cordova said her team is working to establish a user-group for such a port. The Corps has been in contact with the Arctic Ocean marine shipping routes

She said oil support companies such as Lynden Inc. and Crowley Maritime Corp. have shared their interest in a new deep-water port, but the oil and gas companies themselves have been less forthcoming.

Until a prospective fleet can be determined, Cordova said it’s im-

possible to speculate on the size or cost of a port. “I hope that we get some more out of the oil companies, but I don’t know that they’re going to share too much with us,� she said.

Elwood Brehmer can be reached at elwood.brehmer@alaskajournal.com.

MAP/COURTESY/ARCTIC COUNCIL

Page 8

2013 Week of the Arctic

Page 9

2013 Week of the Arctic

Please contact Nils Andreassen at nandreassen@institutenorth.org or 907-786-6324 with any questions or input, or if your organization would like to co-host/sponsor one of these events.

Register at www.institutenorth.org

11:30am – 1:00pm

MONDAY, August 12

THURSDAY, August 15

Workforce Development in Northern Regions

Arctic Research Highlights and North Slope Scenario Planning

at the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program (ANSEP), UAA

Lunch will be provided; $35 to attend Registration required

Noon – 1pm

at the Institute of the North

Working in Arctic environments is both complex and challenging, requiring years of knowledge and expertise.

Some of Alaska’s greatest assets are its companies, training programs and people who can consistently and safely operate under these conditions.

11:30

Doors Open

Moderated by Todd Bergman, Executive Director of APICC:

Scope of Discussion:

Tabetha Toloff, Alyeska Pipeline Co. Fred Esposito, AVTEC Dr. Herb Schroeder, ANSEP Sam Hill, ASRC Energy Services

What’s different about “Arctic” workforce development?

What assets does the state have that are working well?

What challenges do we face? If we could address one priority, what should it be?

Can you think of unique opportunities that aren’t being addressed or are under-appreciated?

Welcome and Introductions Senator Mark Begich Institute of the North board member Richard Reich, General Manager, UMIAQ

1:00

Close and begin informal follow up discussion about action items and next steps

1:30

Speakers will address trends in Arctic research, including the goals and objectives of the United States, the role of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, and an update on key issue areas. Additionally, the North Slope Science Initiative will launch their North Slope scenarios planning project.

12:00

Introductions and Welcome

Institute of the North board member Mike Sfraga, Vice Chancellor, UAF

Adjourn

Presentations by:

Fran Ulmer, Chair, U.S. Arctic Research Commission ♦ 2013-2015 Goals and Objectives ♦ National Arctic Policy and Strategy

$50, RSVP required Limit twenty participants

1:30pm – 5:00pm

An Arctic Business Roundtable will be mutually-beneficial for the business community and public officials working on Arctic issues. It has the potential to allow partnership opportunities to develop, while providing space for broader conversation about social, economic and environmental issues in the North. The Institute of the North will produce a summary from these sessions to deliver to the State Department and other key stakeholders. This will be an addendum to our recently-launched At the Table: Crossroads of Business and Policy in Alaska’s Arctic, a compilation of and commentary on trends and activities affecting Alaska’s business community, from a national and international stage.

1:30

Welcome and Introductions Institute of the North board member University of Alaska Fairbanks

Northern Energy Efficiency, Architecture and Design: Workshop at the Dena’ina Center, Khatnu 1 & 2

Presentations and roundtable discussion

Sponsored by REAP, RSVP required

Invited participants and subject matter experts only should RSVP this portion; the lunch is open to the public and registration is available online. Participants should include subject matter experts, community leaders and agencies, organizations and companies involved in this topic. Contact Nils Andreassen at the Institute of the North if you have further questions or want to RSVP.

The state of play – current and emerging technologies, solutions, strategies and efforts

11:30am – 1pm

Hospital; and Scott Waterman, Alaska Housing Finance Corporation – Review of Alaskan Energy Audits.

Following the presentations small group sessions, chaired by speakers and other subject matter experts, will address: ♦ Strategies to address barriers

11:30

♦ Differences within and between Alaska communities ♦ Innovative design in the built environment ♦ Emerging technologies ♦ Statewide regulations and building codes

Drue Pearce, Institute of the North Board Chair University of Alaska Fairbanks Presentations:

5:00

Adjourn

Lunch will be provided; $35 to attend

Mark Everett, U.S.Coast Guard; Member of U.S. Delegation to EPPR Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Mark Robbins, Office of the Governor John Payne, North Slope Science Initiative; Member of U.S. Delegation to CAFF; Chair, Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Programme Jim Gamble, Aleut International Association; Permanent Participant; Member of Delegation to SDWG and PAME

Scope of Discussion: Review of Swedish Chairmanship Deliverables Update on Workplans for 2013-2015, Canada’s Chairmanship Discussion/ Q&A session

1:00

Close and begin informal follow up discussionabout increased Alaska participation

1:30

Adjourn

SATURDAY, August 17 Robert O. Anderson Sustainable Arctic Award Dinner Help us recognize CH2M Hill for their commitment to Arctic sustainable development

Approaching Integrated Arctic Management Limited to 75 participants.

RSVP required. Lunch will be provided, small cost anticipated.

at the Institute of the North

World Café – Three rounds Discussants act as table captains and host small group sessions to address question of their choice, which can range anywhere from development and testing methods to implementation strategies and workforce development.

at the Dena’ina Center – Khatnu 1 & 2

Welcome and Introductions:

WEDNESDAY, August 14 8:00am – 3:00pm

Dr. Mark Myers, Vice Chancellor, Research, University of Alaska Fairbanks Bruce Harland, Vice President, Crowley Marine Barkley Lloyd, President & CEO, Alaska Clean Seas Lieutenant Matthew Mitchell, U.S. Coast Guard Sector Anchorage Martin Robards, Wildlife Conservation Society

Report out

During these informative and wide-ranging presentations, attendees will hear from speakers who actively participate in an Arctic Council Working Group or Task Force.

The Arctic Council promotes cooperation, coordination and interaction among Arctic nations on issues including oil spill response, search and rescue, climate change impact, biodiversity, marine shipping, infrastructure development and environmental protection. The six Working Groups are: Arctic Contaminants Action Program (ACAP), Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF), Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response (EPPR), Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME) and Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG).

Lunch will be provided; $35 to attend Registration required

Moderated by Chris Rose, Renewable Energy Alaska Project (REAP), and Cady Lister, Alaska Energy Authority, groups will report out from their morning discussions.

Audience members will hear presentations of findings and recommendations, as well as have an opportunity to ask questions or provide feedback.

The morning session, moderated by Rob Jordan, Alaska Craftsman Home Program, will feature case studies from Aaron Cooke, CCHRC – Northern Prototypes; Matt Prouty, USKH – Esther Library; Matt Vogel, RIM Architects – Barrow

ASRC Energy Services Vince Mitchell, Vice President Special Products, Lamor Corporation

Arctic Council Working Groups

Northern Energy Efficiency, Architecture and Design: Presentation at Dena’ina, presentation begins promptly at noon

Moderated by Theodore Rockwell, the Battelle Group, Alaska Arctic Regional Coordinator

FRIDAY, August 16

Northern energy efficiency and the architecture and design of the built environment are critical but often overlooked aspects of sustainable economic development. In Alaska, an antagonistic environment drives a constant search for innovative and practical solutions, much like the rest of the Arctic. Peoples of the North have learned to respond to these challenges in different ways. Often, individual and community behavior has adapted dynamically to new circumstances. Join us for this Week of the Arctic event as we explore and highlight northern energy efficiency, architecture and design.

12:00 – 1:30pm

Sponsored by Prince William Sound Science Center, RSVP required

A comprehensive overview of the responsibilities of stakeholder engagement will be explored, while examining available and emerging oil spill response technology and tactics. Presentations and discussions will focus on incoming solutions that help mitigate risk in the event of an oil spill while effectively understanding community perspectives and impacts. The importance of developing strategies that consult and cooperate with local peoples and their shared risk in spill response will be highlighted.

TUESDAY, August 13 8:30am – noon

at the Institute of the North

Participants should include subject matter experts, community leaders and agencies, organizations and companies involved in this topic.

Contact Nils Andreassen at the Institute of the North if you have further questions or want to RSVP.

Join us for the inaugural Alaska Arctic Business Roundtable

♦ Brief private sector leaders in Alaska on developments in the Arctic – key themes, potential opportunities, trends and questions. Briefings will be given by subject matter experts, federal staff, state officials, and other key stakeholders. ♦ Gather feedback from Alaska’s business community on important issues facing industries in the Arctic.

Adjourn

Oil Spill Response and Stakeholder Engagement

in Wells Fargo’s Boardroom

These quarterly, two-hour sessions will:

♦ Spill response (specifically the infrastructure needed and a status report on 1:00 the National Academy study effort) ♦ Water and sanitation efforts (emphasizing the coordinated effort in Alaska) ♦ Intentions to improve marine navigation and safety (AIS and digital select calling)

Dr. Cheryl Rosa, Deputy Director, U.S. Arctic Research Commission ♦ Arctic marine mammals (and the status of the investigation into the mysterious and unexplained mortality event of 2011) Denny Lassuy, Deputy Director, North Slope Science Initiative

Inaugural Alaska Arctic Business Roundtable 3:00pm – 5:00pm

Sponsored by U.S. Arctic Research Commission. Brown bag lunch; Free and open to the public, RSVP required

A Federal Listening Session – Facilitated by the Institute of the North in order to advance stakeholder engagement, identify consensus points, and work toward next steps. Participation: Invited from Alaska community and civic leaders, Alaska Native corporations and organizations, state and federal officials, policy makers, industry, researchers and subject matter experts.

The recently released National Strategy for the Arctic Region articulates the goal to “establish and institutionalize an integrated Arctic management framework.” The Administration seeks “collaboration with partners engaged in Arctic stewardship activities.” Join a constructive discussion that involves stakeholders from Alaska’s private, public, civic, academic and nonprofit sectors who will come together to develop creative solutions to addressing consensus areas. The starting point for this discussion, as described in a recent Report to the President, is general agreement around a vision for the future of Alaska’s Arctic: Healthy Economies, Thriving Cultures, and Sustainable Ecosystems. The agenda will include presentations by Administration officials, small group work sessions tasked with answering pre-designed questions, and facilitated dialogue that works to develop and prioritize goals and action items.

6pm

at Hotel Captain Cook Ballroom

Reception at 6:00pm Registration and RSVP required

Dinner and Award Presentation at 7:00pm, $150 for an individual seat, $1,250 to sponsor a table

The Institute of the North established the Robert O. Anderson Sustainable Arctic Award to recognize an individual or organization based in Alaska or around the circumpolar North for their long-time achievements balancing development of Arctic resources with respect for the environment and benefit to communities and peoples of the North.

Awardees are selected by a nominating committee that reviews: ♦ Active development of a resource in the Arctic ♦ Social license and community support

♦ Environmental sensitivity ♦ Innovative solutions that have brought community economic development and or addressed crucial environmental challenges ♦ Respect for culture and local/traditional knowledge ♦ Term of service

The Institute of the North honored Anderson in 2001 with the creation and presentation of the Robert O. Anderson Sustainable Arctic Award for his vision and commitment to sustainable development within a framework of the Arctic environment.

Succeeding recipients have included Dr. Vincent Ostrom; U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens; the Honourable Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, President of Iceland; Jacob Adams; and in 2012 the Red Dog Mine partnership between NANA and Teck Alaska.

Update on Arctic Search and Rescue Planning and Exercises 6:00pm – 8:30pm

at the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center

Presenters represent the federal and state agencies and personnel working toward safe and secure operations both on and off Alaska’s coast. Updates will be given on recent and upcoming search and rescue operations that are relevant to Arctic operations and domain awareness. These presentations provide the opportunity to understand the significant amount of effort and resources currently invested in addressing this topic.

6:00PM Welcome and Introductions:

Presentations:

Institute of the North board member University of Alaska Fairbanks

Paul Vanderweide, Joint Task Force Alaska SAR expert Lt. Col. Karl Westerlund, Director, Alaska Regional Coordination Center Cmdr. Shawn Decker, U.S. Coast Guard Sector Anchorage

Title Sponsor

Pioneer Sponsor

Scope of Discussion: Planning and logistics Workforce development Recent and planned exercises Technology and equipment Roles and responsibilities

Statesman Sponsor

SUNDAY, August 18

Reception to follow; $15 to attend Registration required

Governor Walter J. Hickel Day of the Arctic 1pm-3pm

at the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, Arctic Studies Center In recognition of Governor Hickel’s dedication to Alaska and his many accomplishments on behalf of our state, we honor him on his birthday, the Governor Walter J. Hickel Day of the Arctic.

We acknowledge his service to his country, to Alaska, the people of the North and to the world.

7:15pm Reception 8:30pm Adjourn

The toast will feature a special dramatic reading by Rick Goodfellow of Governor Hickel’s 1973 Reader’s Digest article, The Day of the Arctic Has Come.

Following the reading a short discussion and update from key leaders will take place, highlighting what has and what hasn’t happened since that article came out.

Navigator Sponsor

Activity Advocates

Champagne Toast; $25 suggested donation, RSVP required

2013 Week of the Arctic

Page 7

As traffic grows, U.S., Canada conduct Bering Strait drill

PHOTO/PETTY OFFICER 3RD CLASS GRANT DEVUYST/US COAST GUARD

The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter SPAR works with the crew of the Canadian coast guard ship Sir Wilfrid Laurier to transfer a USCG Vessel of Opportunity Skimming System between the vessels following an exercise near Teller on July 18. The exercise allowed crews to compare operating practices, maintain their proficiency with the system, and strengthen the relationship between the two services.

By Tim Bradner Alaska Journal of Commerce

In a signal of increasing concerns over Arctic shipping, U.S. and Canadian coast guard vessels have conducted their first joint Arctic offshore oil spill drill near the Bering Strait.

Two days of testing of vessels and equipment were scheduled at Port Clarence, a protected bay near the strait, although poor weather limited actual deployment of spill

gear to one day, said Chief Petty Officer Kip Wadlow, a spokesman for the Coast Guard.

Port Clarence has been designated by the coast guard as a port of refuge for vessels in distress.

A Coast Guard skimming system was successfully deployed from a Canadian vessel participating in the drill, but bad weather also prevented deployment of a large ship emergency towing system provided by the state of Alaska, Wadlow said.

“This system (deployed) is called the ‘Vessel of Opportunity’ skimming system because it’s intended to be used on any vessel that has a large enough working deck and a crane or boom of sufficient capacity that would allow the equipment to be safely deployed,” he said.

A larger fishing vessel or a research vessel would it that category. The exercise was held July 17 and 18.

The Bering Strait separates

PHOTO/PETTY OFFICER 3RD CLASS GRANT DEVUYST/US COAST GUARD

Mark Wagner, a member of the U.S. Coast Guard 17th District’s response advisory team, instructs the crew of the Canadian coast guard ship Sir Wilfrid Laurier on the correct method for deploying a Vessel of Opportunity Skilling System during a joint exercise near Teller on July 18. The exercise marked the first time a Canadian coast guard crew deployed U.S. Coast Guard VOSS equipment in the Arctic.

PHOTO/PETTY OFFICER 3RD CLASS JONATHAN KLINGENBERG/US COAST GUARD

The Coast Guard Cutter SPAR and Canadian coast guard ship Sir Wilfrid Laurier sail side-by-side during a VOSS equipment test near Teller on July 18. The VOSS system uses a remote controlled skimmer, submersible pump, and inflatable barge to collect oil and small debris from the surface of the water.

Alaska and Russia, and there is rising concern among Coast Guard and Alaska officials about increased non-U.S. vessel traffic including and oil tankers and liquefied natural gas carriers using the Russia’s Arctic Northern Sea Route from Europe to Asia, a route that transits the Bering Strait, which can be constricted by ice and bad weather.

The loss of summer Arctic sea ice, which are at record lows this year, is making the Arctic sea routes more available for commercial shipping, including for vessels that are non-ice strengthened.

So far this year Russian authorities have given permission to 204 vessels to use the Northern Sea Route, compared to 250 for all of 2012 and 130

in 2009, Alaska officials said. Some of those are fuel carriers.

Alaska Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell has been informed by the Coast Guard that at least two tankers carrying fuel from Norway to Asia are among vessels now en route to the Bering Strait.

Wadlow said this is the first joint U.S.-Canada spill drill held in Arctic waters, although joint exercises are regularly done at Dixon Entrance, along the U.S.-Canada border in Southeast Alaska.

The exercise at Port Clarence involved the Coast Guard cutter SPAR, a 225-foot buoy tender, and the Canadian Coast Guard’s 272foot icecreaker Sir Wilfrid Laurier, See Drill, Page 16

Page 6

2013 Week of the Arctic

Treadwell applies decades of Arctic interest to policy debates

By Tim Bradner Alaska Journal of Commerce

as an Arctic nation. That awareness is imprinted in the minds of residents of other Arctic nations, such as Canada.

Treadwell, in an interview, said the U.S. actually has a good Arctic policy, developed by the former Bush administration, and what is now being proposed by President Obama is an implementation strategy.

That strategy is missing a few things, Treadwell said. Canada, however, has it right, with an emphasis on economic development, sustainable northern communities and marine safety.

The U.S. goals, stated in the current federal administration’s recently published strategy document, are less focused, Treadwell said. They include advancing U.S. security interests, pursuing responsible Arctic region stewardship and strengthening international cooperation.

Laudable goals, Treadwell said, but incomplete.

“There’s no mention of economic development or most important, marine safety, in U.S. policy aims

Few Alaskans are more identified with the Arctic today than Mead Treadwell, now Alaska’s lieutenant governor and a candidate for U.S. Senate.

Treadwell and his long-time mentor and friend, the late Walter J. Hickel, are as responsible as anyone for making Alaskans more aware of their role as residents of the only U.S. Arctic state, and Alaskans’ responsibility to help shape federal and international policies toward the Arctic.

Treadwell is Alaska’s senior statesman on Arctic issues and is today the point man on the Arctic for Gov. Sean Parnell.

The crux of the challenge today is that the Arctic Ocean is opening fast because of climate change and the U.S. is woefully behind other Arctic nations on developing a strategy for dealing with the change.

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AP PHOTO/PETTY OFFICER 3RD CLASS GRANT DEVUYST/US COAST GUARD

From left, Mayor Denise Michels, of Nome, Rear Adm. Thomas Ostebo, Coast Guard District 17 commander, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Alaska Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell brief the media in Nome Jan. 15, 2012, after the delivery of more than 1.3 million gallons of fuel to Nome by the Russian tanker Renda under the escort of the Coast Guard Cutter Healy. Although the fuel delivery had a happy ending, the incident also highlighted the lack of icebreakers in the U.S. fleet, with only the Healy available to escort the tanker into Nome.

so far,” Treadwell said.

Fortunately those goals will be advanced by Canada this year as chair of the Arctic Council, the multi-national group of Arctic nations (In 2015 it is the U.S. turn to chair).

Canada’s first objective will be to flesh out an accord on oil spill prevention. An agreement on oil spill pollution preparedness and response was reached earlier this year at the Arctic Council Ministerial in Kiruna, Sweden, said Patrick Borbey, a top Canadian official who chairs the Arctic Council Senior Arctic Officials.

Marine safety is Alaska’s top concern too, Treadwell said.

“I have learned that one of the largest cruise ships yet is headed for Arctic waters and that two oil tankers from Norway are heading across (Russia’s) northern sea route.

These ships have not informed the U.S. Coast Guard or the state and they are headed toward two choke points, the Bering Strait and the Aleutians,” Treadwell said.

“We would like to see those two vessels have spill contingency plans just like U.S. ships must.”

Treadwell and Hickel, the former Alaska governor and U.S. Interior Secretary, have a long history on Arctic issues. The two had a close association and friendship that spanned decades.

Treadwell credits trips across the Canadian Arctic made by Hickel in the 1970’s, and trips Treadwell and Hickel made across Russia beginning in 1981.

He also credits early Alaska economist and historian George Rogers and Cambridge University historian Terrance Armstrong and their book, “The Circumpolar North,” published in 1978, with stimulating his and Hickel’s interest.

Wave of the future Treadwell remembers being with Hickel in 1981 in northern Russia, standing on the Ob River, Russia’s major north-south navigation artery in eastern Siberia. He recalled the conversation: “Hickel said that as ships reached the Arctic Ocean on the

river they could turn left and go to Europe or turn right and go to Vladivostok and Asia, through the Bering Strait, and past Alaska.”

Hickel went on, Treadwell recalled: “That’s the wave of the future, the northern sea route. How are we going to make this happen?”

Hickel saw this early, and three decades later, it is happening.

With his interest in the Arctic, Hickel went on to create the Institute of the North, a private, nonprofit group, and Treadwell was its director from 1994 to 2000 (Nils Andreassen is the current director).

A focus on Arctic navigation, marine safety and the commercial possibilities of the opening of the Arctic, have always been among the Institute’s core missions.

Today the Institute is credited today with helping sustain awareness of the Arctic among state and federal leaders and it staffed the Arctic Council’s Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment, which is a benchmark. Dr. Lawson Brigham of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, who originally led the assessment, is also coordinating an update on safety and economic issues for the state.

Treadwell built his Arctic experience at the Institute of the North and expanded it when he became the chair of the Arctic Research Commission, which he also helped create in its current form.

Former Lt. Gov. Fran Ulmer now heads this commission, a presidentially appointed group of citizens and scientists that guides Arctic research by U.S. federal agencies.

Policy participation Treadwell believes the current U.S. federal thinking about the Arctic is still dominated by military and defense concerns (“security” and “peace” being two of the Obama administration’s three priorities), but this reflects a residue of Cold War thinking in the defense establishment which is influential in shaping U.S. Arctic strategy as it exists now, Treadwell said.

For others, though, the end of the Cold War brought a sea change in the thinking of other

Arctic nations and Alaska, but it hasn’t yet seeped totally into the U.S. federal thinking.

“The most important effect (of the Cold War end) was to allow Arctic nations (including Russia) to have normal relations in sharing the neighborhood,” Treadwell said.

This actually led to the creation of the Arctic Council, so that nations who share the Arctic can coordinate activities.

“For Alaska, the most immediate benefit of the Cold War end was to allow families to be reunited across the border,” Treadwell said.

“Another benefit was the building of a relationship with Russia on environmental and research issues (a relationship with Canada existed previously.) That led to creation, in the early 1990’s, of an informal ‘Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy’ modeled on the European Arctic nations who shared borders, Norway, Finland and Russia.

“This eventually became the Arctic Council of all Arctic nations we have today.”

What is important, however, is that the working groups of government officials of Arctic nations formed under the Arctic Protection Strategy were continued when the Arctic Council formed.

An important addition to this made by the Arctic Council, however, was the formal recognition of six indigenous Arctic groups, including four from Alaska, were given permanent status as “participants” at the Council, meaning they can speak at and officially participate in meetings of the council.

They also participate in the government staff working groups and can even chair these groups.

There has been a lot of recent attention on nations like China and India being given “observer” status at the Arctic Council, Treadwell said, but these nations’ representatives will be only able to watch from the sidelines.

Being able to actually participate in the discussions alongside the top government officials from all the Arctic nations — SecreSee Treadwell, Page 15

2013 Week of the Arctic

Page 5

US ICEBREAKER FLEET AP PHOTO/PETTY OFFICER 1ST CLASS SARA FRANCIS/US COAST GUARD

PHOTO/ELAINE THOMPSON/AP

The Coast Guard Cutter Healy breaks ice around the Russian-flagged tanker Renda 250 miles south of Nome Jan. 6, 2012. The vessels are transiting through ice up to five-feet thick in this area

A 25-foot harbor patrol boat passes by the 399-foot U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Star as it sits moored at a dock March 10, 2010, in Seattle. The ship had been deactivated since 2007 before returning to the sea in 2013 after a four-year, $57 million restoration. After reaching Unalaska, the ship headed north June 28 in search of Arctic ice for trials.

AP PHOTO/JAMES BROOKS/KODIAK DAILY MIRROR

The Coast Guard Cutter Healy is moored at City Pier 2 in Kodiak on July 18. The Healy, which arrived July 17, remained in Kodiak until July 22, when it embarked for the Arctic Ocean and three months of scientific missions.

AP PHOTO/PETTY OFFICER 3RD CLASS PAMELA J. MANNS/U.S. COAST GUARD

In this photo taken Oct. 6, 2009, the Coast Guard Cutter Polar Sea breaks ice in the Northern Arctic ocean in support of various scientific research projects. Engine problems had the Polar Sea destined for the scrap heap in 2012, but legislation signed by President Obama prohibits dismantling the Polar Sea until certain conditions are met.

US Coast Guard icebreakers Healy The U.S. Coast Guard only has three icebreakers, with just two of those now functional, so it’s not much of a contest that the cutter Healy is easily the best known thanks to its critical role escorting a Russian fuel tanker into the Port of Nome in January 2012. It is also the newest, with construction completed in 2000.

Clearing the path through more than 300 miles of sea ice, the Healy action garnered worldwide attention while highlighting the inadequacy of the US icebreaker fleet. The Healy is the smallest of the three icebreakers, and at the time its sister ships were either under repair or scheduled for the scrap heap. As a medium-duty ship, the Healy is designed to crush ice 5 feet thick.

The Healy recently made port in Kodiak during July, where its 80 crewmen and 50 scientists enjoyed a few days of sunshine before heading north to the Arctic for a three-month research mission.

Serving the Northwest Arctic Region and beyond for more than 30 years

Polar Star Now the only functional heavy-duty icebreaker for the U.S. Coast Guard, the 35-year-old Polar Star returned to service in June 2013 after being deactivated in 2007. A four-year, $57 million restoration effort and retro-fit at Vigor Shipyards gave it a complete overhaul.

While the smaller Healy can crush ice up to 5 feet thick, the Polar Star can break through ice up to 21 feet thick. The Polar Star has other unique engineering features designed to aid in icebreaking. An installed heeling system can rock the ship to prevent getting stuck in the ice. The system consists of three pairs of connected tanks on opposite sides of the ship.

Pumps transfer a tank’s contents (35,000 gallons) to an opposing tank in 50 seconds and generate 24,000 foot-tons of torque on the ship. That goes a long way in rocking the ship loose from any tight spots.

Northwest Alaska’s Preferred Source For: CIVIL CONSTRUCTION, BARGING, & AGGREGATES

Polar Sea Like its sister ship the Polar Star, the Polar Sea is 35 years old and past its lifespan. A massive engine failure in 2010 sent the ship out of service, and it was scheduled to be dismantled in June 2012.

However, just six months after the Healy escort to Nome drew attention to the needs for heavy icebreakers, the Washington and Alaska U.S. Senate delegations succeeded in getting the Coast Guard to postpone scrapSee Icebreakers, Page 16

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2013 Week of the Arctic

Coast Guard updates report on icebreaker fleets worldwide

By US Coast Guard

The Coast Guard Office of Waterways and Ocean Policy began producing the chart of major icebreakers of the world in July 2010. Since then, we have gathered icebreaker information and recommendations from a variety of sources and experts, including icebreaker subject-matter experts, internet posts, news updates, Arctic experts and Coast Guard offices with icebreaker equities.

We validate our information within the public forum and update the chart at least semi-annually based on new information and feedback. This chart represents the Coast Guard’s current factual understanding of the major icebreaker fleet. This chart is not intended for icebreaker fleet comparisons and no inference should be drawn regarding a country’s icebreaker “ranking” against another.

Scope Vessels meeting the general definition of a polar icebreaker per the 2007 National Research Council report on “Polar Icebreakers in a Changing World” are included. These vessels “have sailed in significant sea ice in either the Arctic or the Antarctic,” have “ice strengthening sufficient for polar ice” and possess “installed power of at least 10,000 horsepower.”

Minimally ice-strengthened ships (enough to survive in ice, rather than operate in it) and icebreakers of less than 10,000 horsepower are not included. With the exception of the Baltic icebreakers, this chart does not indicate where their owners may actually operate them. In addition, the chart does not specify whether a vessel’s crew is civilian or military.

Classification Methodology The chart organizes the icebreakers first by country, then by installed power category, and finally in order of placement in service, youngest to oldest. The chart colors icebreakers by their relative capability estimated using brake horsepower as the most common basis. The most capable icebreakers are black, the next level sea-green and the lightest icebreakers are blue.

Icebreakers in construction are colored yellow, and planned icebreakers are white. Planned icebreakers are placed on the chart if we can reliably state they are funded. The chart identifies government-owned or -operated icebreakers with the country’s flag next to the icebreaker.

Nuclear-powered icebreakers are marked with an “N.” Baltic icebreakers designed to operate solely in seasonal, first-year Baltic Sea ice but meeting the icestrengthening and horsepower criteria are marked on the chart with a “B.” Most Baltic icebreakers may not have operated in the Arctic due to concerns with open-ocean sea-keeping ability for open water transits.

Fleet numbers and icebreaker size in context The fleet numbers and icebreaker size tend to align along

each county’s economic necessity for icebreaker resources. For example, the economies of Finland, Russia and Sweden have greater dependence on major icebreakers to pursue economic goals in the Arctic and Baltic winters than the

economies of other nations.

Also, ice in these countries’ shipping lanes, rivers and ports forms earlier, lasts longer, and requires more power to break, requiring more extensive icebreaking capabilities. Similarly, the Canadian

icebreaker fleet supports summer access and supply to Canada’s Arctic communities.

In contrast, in addition to the polar icebreakers already listed, the U.S has a number of icebreakers operating in the Great Lakes,

New England and the mid-Atlantic to facilitate commerce and for exigent circumstances, but these are not listed in this chart because the icebreakers are not required to meet the threshold of at least 10,000 BHP.

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2013 Week of the Arctic

Ulmer serving as Alaska pipeline to DC on Arctic policy

By Tim Bradner Alaska Journal of Commerce

Fran Ulmer is Alaska’s best pipeline into a White House group now shaping U.S. Arctic policy.

She chairs the Arctic Research Commission, a panel of scientists and influential Alaskans who advise federal agencies on Arctic research priorities.

While the commission is only advisory, “our advice is being asked for a lot these days,� Ulmer says, as federal officials scramble to shape a national Arctic strategy.

Case in point: As the commission chair Ulmer was asked to facilitate public “listening sessions� federal officials recently held in Alaska. The outline of a U.S. Arctic strategy was published last March as a report to President Barack Obama but the agency groups, led by White House officials, are now putting meat on the bones of the strategy.

Ulmer has credentials as a former lieutenant governor and chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage, and her acceptance in the federal and scientific community was underscored when the president appointed her to the national commission making recommendations after the disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil well blowout.

The incident had no connection with Alaska, but it is having an after-the-fact effect in that there are tightened federal rules for offshore drilling off Alaska’s coast.

PHOTO/COURTESY/UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA ANCHORAGE

At right, chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission Fran Ulmer listens as an audience member testifies at University of Alaska Anchorage in July 2011 with moderator Steve Lindbeck at left. Ulmer, a former lieutenant governor and chancellor at UAA, is a voice for Alaska at the White House as the national Arctic policy takes shape.

While Ulmer’s influence makes her an effective voice for Alaska’s interests, she is also under few illusions that Alaska can have a dominant role in Arctic decisions. “There are a lot of things that are not up to us,� she said in an interview.

Not only are the Arctic nations who are members of the Arctic Council sovereigns over their Arc-

tic territory, but others are also now engaged in the dialogue, “including industry and insurers,� Ulmer said.

That doesn’t mean Alaska shouldn’t assert itself as the only U.S. Arctic state, however. Ulmer is a big fan of the state’s new Arctic Policy Commission formed by the Legislature earlier this year to provide a platform for Alaskans to put forth concerns and ideas.

Legislators, state administration officials and citizens sit on the council, which is chaired by Rep. Bob Herron, D-Bethel, and Sen. Lesil McGuire, R-Anchorage.

In July legislators from U.S. northwest states and western Canadian provinces attending the Pacific Northwest Economic Region annual meeting in Anchorage voted to have Herron and McGuire co-chair the

group’s Arctic caucus, a move indirectly giving Alaskans more clout.

The state policy commission has meanwhile gotten attention in Washington, D.C., officials following a strongly-worded letter informing federal officials the commission intends to make Alaskans’ views heard.

See Ulmer, Page 12

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Page 2

2013 Week of the Arctic

In rapidly changing Arctic, US plays catch-up

By Climate Central Princeton, NJ

301 Arctic Slope Ave. Ste. 350 Anchorage, AK 99518 P: 907-561-4772 F: 907-563-4744 www.alaskajournal.com

Regional Vice President Lee Leschper (907) 275-2179 lee.leschper@morris.com Managing Editor Andrew Jensen (907) 275-2165 editor@alaskajournal.com Production Manager Maree Shogren (907) 275-2162 maree.shogren@morris.com Cover and Layout Designer Nadya Gilmore (907) 275-2163 nadya.gilmore@morris.com Reporter Tim Bradner (907) 275-2159 tim.bradner@alaskajournal.com Reporter Elwood Brehmer (907) 275-2161 elwood.brehmer@alaskajournal.com Reporter Molly Dischner (907) 275-2158 molly.dischner@alaskajournal.com Photographer Michael Dinneen (907) 275-2105 michael.dinneen@morris.com Advertising Director Tom Wardhaugh (907) 275-2114 tom.wardhaugh@morris.com Account Executive Ken Hanni (907) 275-2155 ken.hanni@morris.com

ON THE COVER:

PHOTO/STEVEN KAZLOWSKI/ALASKA STOCK.COM

An Inupiaq whaler observes an open lead and looks for passing bowhead whales during spring whaling season on the Chukchi Sea near Barrow.

With Arctic sea ice thinning and shrinking rapidly in recent years, the U.S. military and scientific agencies are scrambling to cope with the looming prospect of a seasonally ice-free Arctic Ocean.

At a meeting in Washington in late July, top U.S. Arctic officials at the Coast Guard, Navy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, and other agencies acknowledged that the U.S. lags behind other nations in dealing with the rapidly changing Arctic environment. The agencies are facing serious deficiencies in the ability to map the sea floor and develop enforceable environmental policies, as well as construct onshore infrastructure that would be used for search and rescue and oil recovery operations. Currently, not a single Navy surface ship is even capable of navigating the icecovered waters.

There is also a big void in diplomacy, and how the U.S. will deal with other countries on issues involving the Arctic.

The U.S. has not ratified the United Nations agreement that irons out how countries make claims to offshore Arctic resources.

That’s despite the agreement having the overwhelming support of the military and both political parties.

Ratification of the treaty, which is known as the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea or UNCLOS, has been a top priority for national security officials for several years, but it remains stalled in the Senate due to a handful of senators’ concerns that it would compromise U.S. sovereignty.

The sweeping changes taking place in the Arctic are only just beginning to force policy discussions and strategies in the U.S. and among the eight Arctic states. On land, spring snow cover has been plummeting in recent years, permafrost has been melting, and average surface temperatures have been rocketing upward at twice the rate

AP PHOTO/KATHRYN HANSEN/NASA/REX FEATURES

Two crew members from the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy retrieve a canister of supplies dropped by parachute from a C-130 on July 20, 2011. The ICESCAPE mission, or “Impacts of Climate on Ecosystems and Chemistry of the Arctic Pacific Environment,” was NASA’s two-year shipborne investigation to study how changing conditions in the Arctic affect the ocean’s chemistry and ecosystems. The bulk of the research took place in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas in summer 2010 and 2011.

seen in most other regions of the world. At the same time, the Arctic Ocean’s sea ice cover that has existed year-round for all of modern human history is swiftly transitioning into a seasonally open ocean.

In the past two weeks alone, Arctic sea ice extent has plummeted from the 11th-smallest on record for this time of year, to the fifthsmallest, due to a stretch of favorable melting conditions. Compared to the 1981 to 2010 average, sea ice extent on July 15 was 409,000 square miles below average, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, or NSIDC. During the first two weeks of July, ice extent declined at a rate of 51,000 square miles per day, which was 61 percent faster than the average rate of decline over the period 1981 to 2010, NSIDC said.

Last year, Arctic sea ice extent declined to the smallest ever observed in the satellite era, and studies have indicated that it was very likely the smallest extent on record, based on observations taken by Cold War-era submarine cruises under the Arctic ice pack.

Accompanying the swift environmental changes has been an unprecedented increase in human activities in the Arctic, and these have prompted Arctic states, working through the Arctic Council, to strike cooperative agreements on matters such as conducting searchand-rescue operations as well as responding to oil spills. The eight member states are: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the U.S. The rapid decline of summer sea ice cover has permitted some shipping companies to take advantage of shorter shipping routes, primarily along the so-called Northern Sea Route straddling the northern coast of Russia, although some transpolar shipping has taken place as well.

According to Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, who addressed the conference on July 16, Northern Sea Route transits have jumped from none in 2007 to 46 in 2012. Last year’s shipping activity had an international flavor, with vessels flying the flags of Panama, Liberia, and the Marshall

Islands making the trip.

“These numbers show the Arctic is truly becoming part of a shipping network,” she said.

The Coast Guard has reported that there was a 118 percent increase in maritime transit through the Bering Strait between 2008 to 2012, and 1 million tons of cargo trans-shipped in 2012.

Yet, in the face of increased Arctic shipping, Murkowski said, the U.S. lacks shoreline infrastructure, such as a deepwater port with easy access to the Arctic, that could serve as a supply hub, something she’s stumping for constructing in her home state. “We are woefully behind in our infrastructure,” Murkowski said.

The closest U.S. deepwater port to the Bering Strait and Arctic lies in Dutch Harbor, Alaska. That is 1,100 nautical miles from Barrow, which lies above the Arctic Circle and is in close proximity to offshore drilling operations.

Speaking at the conference, Navy and Coast Guard officials See Arctic, Page 14