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A transition ahead for US Arctic White House official overviews Arctic policies as change of administration looms, Arctic Council chairmanship enters final months ALAN BAILEY Petroleum News
With a change in the U.S. administration in the offing and the chairmanship of the Arctic Council passing from the United States to Finland in May 2017, the coming months will see a period of transition for the U.S. Arctic, Amy Pope, vice chair of the White House Arctic Executive Steering Committee, commented on Oct. 25 during a keynote speech at a geopolitics, security and energy in the Arctic event hosted by the Atlantic Council and sponsored by the Arctic Energy Center.
Pope argued for continuity in U.S. Arctic policies, saying that the country has been pursuing a strategy of international cooperation to safeguard peace and stability, ensuring decisions over development in the region are informed both by science and by local knowledge.
“The United States is an Arctic state and our continued leadership in this region is in the global and national interest,” Pope said.
Peaceful and stable The Arctic region enjoys a history of being peaceful, stable and free of conflict, and the Obama administration wants this situation to continue, she said, commenting that, despite tensions in relationships with some countries with interests in the Arctic, the United States has been able to use its role as chair of the Arctic Council to advance this long, peaceful tradition.
Pope also reflected on the recent heightened interest of the administration in the region.
“The impact of the Arctic on the United States is tremendous,” Pope said. “And it’s been a game changing year for the Arctic as far as U.S. policy is concerned.”
But the region is also moving through a period of transition under the impact of climate change, with the opening of the region to trade and travel bringing both new opportunities and new challenges.
“The looming (climate change) crisis in the Arctic in Alaska is a tangible preview of the looming crisis in the global condition,” Pope said.
Oil and gas development In terms of oil and gas development in the Arctic, Pope said that the administration sees Arctic resources as supporting the president’s approach of encouraging the development of an array of energy resources in the United States. At the same time, the administration has a strong focus on what Pope characterized as “meeting the highest environmental and safety standards.”
“And on the specific question of energy security, our strategy recognizes that the (Arctic) region holds sizable proved and potential oil and natural gas resources that will likely continue to provide valuable supplies to meet U.S. energy needs into the future,” Pope said. “But responsibly developing Arctic oil and gas resources aligns with United States’ ‘all-of-the-above’ approach to developing domestic energy resources, whether it’s renewables, expanding oil and gas production, increasing efficiency and conservation efforts to reduce our reliance on imported oil and strengthening our nation’s energy security.”
Collaboration Pope also commented that the Arctic Executive Steering Committee is charged with promoting collaboration with the state of Alaska, Alaska Native tribal governments and indigenous communities.
“This consultation is absolutely paramount to a successful approach in the region,” she said, also commenting that the administration continues to advance the bilateral and multilateral commitments of Canada and the Nordic states to conducting commercial activities in the Arctic only when the highest environmental and safety standards are met, including the achievement of national and global climate and environmental goals.
And as examples of the administration’s efforts towards international cooperation, Pope cited the GLACIER Conference in Anchorage in 2015 (Global Leadership in the Arctic: Cooperation, Innovation, Engagement and Resilience) and a recent conference of Arctic science ministers hosted by the White House. The GLACIER Conference helped build a coalition of 22 nations that are resolved to take urgent action to address climate change in the Arctic region, she said. In recognition of concerns about climate change as a national security issue, the president has issued a memorandum requiring federal agencies to consider the impacts of climate change in the development and implementation of security plans.
Furthermore, the administration is seeking funding for Denali Commission assistance over coastal climate resilience, and for icebreakers that could allow year-round navigation of the Arctic region, Pope said.
Regional stewardship Stewardship of the Arctic region, to ensure open seas and provide for regional peace and security, requires the United States to assert a more active and effective Arctic presence, to protect national interests and project sea power into the region, Pope said. Consequently, the president has proposed accelerating the replacement of the country’s existing heavy icebreaker and planning for additional icebreakers, she said.
Pope also argued for U.S. accession to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the international treaty that sets, for example, rules for determining the outer limits of a nation’s outer continental shelf. With the outer continental shelf of Alaska likely to extend out more than 600 nautical miles, accession to the convention is of geo-strategic importance in the Arctic, she said.
Regardless of the outcome of the accession question, the U.S. extended continental shelf task force will continue gathering data, completing the work needed to establish a continental shelf claim that is consistent with international law, Cope said.
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