Coast Guard says icebreakers key To U.S. future in Arctic

The Coast Guard's top officer, Adm. Thad Allen, called Wednesday for a national dialogue on U.S. national security interests in the Arctic, which has become the arena of increasingly intense international competition for territorial rights and resources. The debate, Allen said, must include plans to replace the Coast Guard's two badly aged icebreakers.

The Coast Guard commandant, who spoke at the Surface Navy Association's annual conference, said he would "let the scientists argue" about global warming and other environmental issues concerning the Arctic regions, but "I have operational requirements."

Allen noted that his newest icebreaker, the Healy, has been conducting research in the Arctic that could lead to a major extension of the legal boundaries of the continental shelf off Alaska. Such an extension would put a large amount of Arctic waters under U.S. control and open it to possible exploration for oil and natural gas.

With a steady shrinkage of the Arctic ice cap, the waters north of Canada and Alaska have become more accessible to shipping, creating the possibility of the long-sought "Northwest Passage" that would provide a much shorter ocean route from Europe to Asia. But the shrinking ice field also has sparked rival claims to the Arctic region by Canada, Russia and the United States.

Allen said the Coast Guard will send a buoy tender into Arctic waters this summer to study what would be required for extended operations by U.S. ships and aircraft in that challenging region. He cited the risk of jet fuel turning nearly solid in the Coast Guard's C-130 turboprop patrol planes as one example of the difficulties operating in Arctic conditions.

The admiral said one of the top goals in his final two years as commandant was to get a decision on replacing his two oldest icebreakers. While the Healy is only 11 years old, the other two, Polar Star and Polar Sea "are tired and worn out."

Polar Star, which is 31 years old, is in a caretaker status and would require extensive work to be returned to operations. Polar Sea, two years younger, still is operational. All three ships are based in Seattle.

Although icebreakers are used mainly to keep shipping lanes open, the Coast Guard vessels are designated as research ships and their operating budgets for the last several years have been given to the National Science Foundation, which then pays the Coast Guard to run the ships. Allen noted that a study by the NSF advocated replacing the two old icebreakers.

Without use of Polar Star, the NSF has had to lease foreign icebreakers, including Russian vessels, to support its research programs in the Arctic and Antarctic.

Congress has ordered replacement of the two old ships in the Coast Guard's budget, but has not provided additional funding to build new icebreakers.

In an address to the Surface Navy Association conference, Allen also discussed the progress the Coast Guard has made in the last year in correcting some of the major problems with its massive Deepwater acquisition program. He cited the creation of an integrated acquisition office that will manage procurement, supply and life-cycle support of all Coast Guard systems and the approaching operational tests of the new HC-144 patrol planes and the previously troubled National Security Cutter.

"We still have work to do," Allen said. "We're not out of the woods yet, but we're cutting wood."