Obama
pushes for more U.S. ice-breaking might in Arctic
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[September 01, 2015]
By Roberta Rampton
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - President
Barack Obama on Tuesday will propose a faster timetable for buying a new
heavy icebreaker for the U.S. Arctic, where quickly melting sea ice has
spurred more maritime traffic, and the United States has fallen far
behind Russian resources.
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It's a move that has long been urged by Arctic advocates inside
and outside the administration as the nation prepares for more
shipping, mining and drilling in the region.
But the vessels are valued at about $1 billion each, and the U.S.
Congress would need to agree to pay for the expansion.
Obama will say that the government should buy a heavy icebreaker by
2020 - a year when routine Arctic marine transit is expected -
instead of the previous goal of 2022.
He also will propose to start planning for additional icebreakers.
The White House said move is required for safety in the changing
Arctic - and to keep up with Russia.
The U.S. Coast Guard used to have seven icebreakers, but the fleet
has dwindled to three creaky vessels, only one of which is a heavy
duty vessel, the White House said.
"Russia, on the other hand, has 40 icebreakers and another 11
planned or under construction," the White House said.
During the past year, Obama has taken steps to seal off parts of
Alaska from new drilling, although environmental groups are howling
about a recent decision to allow Royal Dutch Shell to drill off the
northwest coast of the state.
Obama's administration also will update outdated maps for regions
with newly open waters, and survey a transit route through the
Aleutians and Bering Strait, the White House said. Obama will
spend the second day of his Alaska tour in the picturesque coastal
town of Seward, named after President Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of
State William Seward, who negotiated the purchase of Alaska in 1867
from Russia.
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Obama plans to hike the Exit Glacier near Seward and take a boat
tour of Kenai Fjords National Park to see the impact of rising seas.
"Climate change is no longer some far-off problem. It is happening
here. It is happening now," Obama said on Monday in an address
urging the world to agree later this year to new targets for cutting
carbon emissions.
On Monday, residents spruced up the town after a recent wind storm.
"We get to showcase our piece of paradise to the president of the
United States, and that means a lot to us as it would any town,"
Seward Mayor Jean Bardarson said in an interview.
(Additional reporting by Steve Quinn in Juneau, Alaska; Editing by
Nick Macfie)
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