Allen: CG expedition to assess Arctic waters

Allen: CG expedition to assess Arctic waters
By Philip Ewing - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jan 16, 2008 15:13:18 EST

As part of the Coast Guard’s exploration into how it will operate in the Arctic, the service plans to deploy a buoy tender north of the Bering Strait this summer to assess the state of navigation in waterways that previously had been buried under ice, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen said Wednesday.

Allen said he didn’t want to get into the political debates about the human role in or potential consequences of global warming, but whatever its cause, “I have water now where I had ice before,” he said, meaning the Coast Guard will be expected to ensure safe navigation and provide rescues over an increasing area.

In the coming years, Allen said he expects a spike in exploration for energy and mineral resources in the Artic, so the Coast Guard will need to mark and maintain channels, establish transit separation schemes in the new waterways, and expand its hardware and fleet so that it can operate in the brutal cold.

The first step will be the navigation and buoy expedition this summer, to be managed by Rear Adm. Arthur “Gene” Brooks, commander of the Coast Guard’s 17th District in Alaska, who Allen said would be responsible for working out the specifics of the mission. The expedition will likely take place during a warm-weather window of a few weeks, Allen said, giving the Coast Guard its clearest picture yet of what its navigation jobs will be in the melting Artic Circle.

A next step would be making sure that the Coast Guard had the aircraft and vessels needed to extend its responsibilities into the Arctic, Allen said. He said he agreed with a 2006 finding by the National Science Foundation that recommended the U.S. operate a fleet of three icebreakers, but he said that two of the Coast Guard’s three icebreakers — the Polar Star, commissioned in 1976, and the Polar Sea, commissioned in 1978 — were “tired and worn out.”


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/01/coastguard_allen_sna_080116w/



uhc comment: The meltdown is part of the Deepwater program meltdown -->

http://cdrsalamander.blogspot.com/2007/03/deepwater-cutters-cancelled.html
http://www.defensetech.org/archives/003916.html
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/04/cost_guard_mean.html
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=3156836&C=navwar
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=8013
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=8725
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