Obama pledges more icebreakers

During a three-day trip to Alaska, Aug. 31-Sept. 2, President Barack Obama said he would take steps to accelerate acquisition of additional icebreakers to ensure the United States can operate safely in the Arctic.

The U.S. currently has three icebreakers, only two fully operational, compared to a Russian icebreaker fleet of 40. The U.S. has a new icebreaker planned, but it wasn’t scheduled to go into service until 2022. The president said he would take action to advance that in-service date to 2020.

The president said the administration would also begin planning for construction of additional icebreakers, calling on Congress to provide resources to fund the investment.

The administration also said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard will begin mapping and charting efforts in the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort seas, including a joint NOAA-USCG survey of a transit route through the Aleutians and Bering Strait, and a joint effort among NOAA, the U.S., Geological Survey and the state of Alaska to use satellite data for shoreline and near-shoreline coastal mapping.

Ports are also an issue, with no deepwater ports in U.S. Arctic waters north of Dutch Harbor on the Aleutian Chain.

The administration said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began evaluating the feasibility of deepening the harbor at Nome and extending that harbor’s capabilities in February.

The goal would be to enhance the region’s ability to shelter ships from Arctic weather and also to serve as a safe standby location for vessels involved in operations farther north.

The administration also said that in the near future NOAA will modernize and install additional instrumentation on the Arctic coast to monitor climate change and enable safe marine operations and transportation. This will include a permanent National Water Level Observing Network station to monitor sea-level rise and as many as six temporary water-level stations.

Prior to the president’s Alaska trip, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell used her authority to rename Mount McKinley, the highest peak in North America. The mountain is now officially known as Denali, the traditional Athabascan name for the mountain. The state adopted Denali as the name for the mountain in 1975.

In 1896 a prospector named the mountain after William McKinley, in recognition of McKinley’s nomination to be president. McKinley became the 25th president, but never visited Alaska.

- KRISTEN NELSON