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USCG commandant outlines Arctic needs Papp emphasizes importance of U.S. icebreakers, support infrastructure and emergency response capabilities as sea ice recedes Alan Bailey Petroleum News
For several years the U.S. Coast Guard has been making moves towards a heightened presence in the seas around Alaska’s Arctic coastline, as summer sea ice retreats in response to global warming. And, with companies like Shell anxious to move forward with exploratory drilling on the Arctic outer continental shelf, as well as increased vessel traffic in newly accessible Arctic sea routes, many view ramped up Coast Guard operations north of the Arctic Circle as a necessary component of the changing Arctic world.
On Aug. 12 in Anchorage, Alaska, Sen. Mark Begich convened a field hearing of the U.S. Senate Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard Subcommittee, to hear testimony from Admiral Robert Papp, USCG commandant, on the future of the Coast Guard in Alaska.
“I can report that our Coast Guard is ready to meet our mission demands, but we’re also facing many challenges,” Papp said. “There is increased vessel traffic, including large foreign tankers using Russia’s ice-free northern sea route which exits through the Bering Sea into our richest fishing grounds.”
Limited capabilities The Coast Guard has very limited Arctic emergency response capabilities, no infrastructure on Alaska’s North Slope to support its operations and only one operational Arctic icebreaker, he said. And, with the necessity to deploy personnel to remote locations around Alaska, providing adequate accommodation for those personnel, as well as appropriate support facilities, at a time of budgetary constraints presents a significant challenge.
From the perspective of offshore oil spill prevention and response, as industry oil exploration advances, the Coast Guard currently has no pollution response capabilities and, working in conjunction with the U.S. Department of the Interior, is entirely dependent on ensuring that oil companies have adequate response resources in place, Papp said.
“While oil companies can assert that they have sufficient assets on site to respond to a worst-case (oil) discharge scenario, prudence dictates that we also acquire an appropriate level of (federal) Arctic pollution response capabilities. Presently we have none,” Papp said.
After the hearing, Papp told Petroleum News that the Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon disaster had demonstrated the impossibility of knowing everything that can possibly go wrong with an offshore operation and, that without the necessary response equipment available, people end up in a “stern chase,” trying to catch up with the situation. So, although it is essential to ensure that companies have the appropriate response equipment to support their operations “we should have some level of federal response equipment as well, so that we can join the fight and we can take care of those unexpected incidents or consequences that might develop,” Papp said.
Papp also expressed concern about the lack of pre-authorization for the use of dispersants to respond to an Arctic offshore oil spill.
“We would like to have that in our tool pack,” he said.
New cutters As part of his testimony Papp said that the Coast Guard is in the process of acquiring eight national security cutters, to conduct high-seas missions such as fisheries patrols in the Bering Sea. These high-endurance cutters need to be able to operate anywhere from the Gulf of Alaska up to the Arctic Circle and beyond, he said. The first of the cutters has already gone into service and successfully demonstrated its ability to conduct operations such as launching and recovering boats and helicopters in sea conditions that would have previously rendered these operations impossible.
The second and third of these cutters are nearing completion; the cutting of steel for number four is under way; and contract negotiations for the construction of number five should be completed shortly, Papp said.
Need icebreakers However, the fact the Coast Guard now only has one operational icebreaker presents a major challenge when it comes to operations in Arctic waters. Having ice-capable surface assets is vital for scientific research and the maintenance of sovereignty, as well as for the provision of emergency response assistance. A surface ship, as distinct from an aircraft, can break a ship out of the ice and tow it, Papp said.
Questioned about the possibility of leasing icebreakers, given U.S. budgetary constraints on building new vessels, Papp said that, while this is an option worthy of consideration, leasing presents the risk of a vessel not being available when the U.S. needs it — perhaps some mix of icebreaker ownership and leasing might be a solution to the icebreaker shortage, he suggested.
Ice-capable buoy tenders Papp said that the Coast Guard is considering future roles for the 16 ice-capable buoy tenders that it owns, with a plan to bring two of these vessels up to the U.S. Arctic in the summer of 2012. These vessels have demonstrated a capability to break ice on the Great Lakes and the Coast Guard deployed one of the vessels in the Canadian Arctic this summer. The main limitation of a vessel of this type is the lack of a helicopter flight deck and hangar, he said.
The Arctic deployment of two buoy tenders in 2012 would help achieve a goal of maintaining the presence of at least one Coast Guard vessel at all times when Arctic offshore oil exploration starts, as well as providing the Coast Guard with more experience of Arctic operations, Papp said.
Papp told Petroleum News that the Coast Guard built oil skimming capacity into its buoy tenders, a feature that could prove valuable given the difficulty of Coast Guard access to skimmers owned by oil spill organizations but under contract to industry.
Community engagement Papp also stressed to the subcommittee the importance of engagement with local communities, saying that the Coast Guard becomes part of each community to which it is assigned, listening to what people have to say; promoting safety and security; and partnering with local people to do whatever needs to be done. He said that he had just spent nearly two days on the North Slope, listening to Mayor Itta of the North Slope Borough, the borough assembly and various members of the community. Papp said that he is not yet certain whether some kind of regional committee is needed for community liaison in the Arctic. The Coast Guard must listen to community concerns but may not need something as formal as a committee to do that in the Arctic, he said.
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