United States president Barack Obama yesterday proposed a faster timetable for buying a new heavy icebreaker for the US Arctic, where quickly melting sea ice has spurred more maritime traffic and the US has fallen far behind Russian resources.
The move, part of a push to convince Americans to support Mr Obama’s plans to curb climate change, has long been urged by Arctic advocates as climate change opens up the region to more shipping, mining and oil drilling.
The announcement came as Obama heads to the coastal town of Seward, named after US secretary of state William Seward, who negotiated the purchase of Alaska from Russia, in 1867.
In the first step of Mr Obama's new timetable, the government would buy a heavy icebreaker by 2020 instead of the previous goal of 2022. The US had seven icebreakers, but the fleet has dwindled to three creaky vessels, only one of which is heavy duty, the White House said. "Russia, on the other hand, has 40 icebreakers and another 11 planned or under construction," it said.
Mr Obama will have to convince Congress to pick up the tab for the icebreakers, at about $1 billion each. "The devil, as always, will be in the funding and procurement details," said Heather Conley of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who studied the need for more Arctic icebreakers.
Investments
The region also needs enhanced navigation aids, satellite communications, deep water ports and other related investments not mentioned in the White House announcement, Conley said.
At a time of dwindling weapons programmes, the announcement sets the scene for the US coastguard to launch a competition to build a new icebreaker.
“Great powers should have the capabilities for playing a role in the theatre,” said Malte Humpert, head of the Arctic Institute think-tank. “Russia is ready for anything that happens in the Arctic, and China is getting ready to have those capabilities,” he said. As the Arctic opens up to more activity, the US risks not having capacity to carry out search-and-rescue and oil-spill response missions.