WASHINGTON - Climate change is melting parts of the ice-lockedNorthwest Passage. China is building its first modern icebreaker inhopes of staking claims to Arctic waters. Frigid polar regions areopening up to increased shipping traffic, scientific exploration andtourism.
Yet, the United States is so short of icebreakers capable ofnavigating those still-unpredictable waters that since 2007, it hasmade the annual supply run to McMurdo Station, the American researchoutpost in Antarctica, with a ship leased from Sweden.
The nation's two heavy-duty U.S. icebreakers sit sidelined inSeattle, home of the Coast Guard's three-ship icebreaker fleet. ThePolar Sea and its twin, the Polar Star, are 1970s-era cutters thathave been patched up to keep going past their original life span.
The only working icebreaker is the 12-year-old Healy, whichboasts elaborate scientific labs but can break through only thinnerice.
This week, after years of hand-wringing over the nation'sdiminished Arctic ambitions, Congress will receive what is meant tobe the definitive independent analysis on whether it should buildnew icebreakers or eke even more service out of the two agedvessels.
Paradoxically, experts say, the thinning ice will increase demandfor icebreakers as more people flock to the hazardous polarenvirons.
A National Research Council panel in 2006 concluded the nation'sicebreaking capabilities were inadequate to support its polarmissions and urged immediate construction of two ships. Anotherindependent study by ABS Consulting in 2010 said the Coast Guardwould need three each of heavy and medium icebreakers - double itscurrent fleet.
Regardless of the latest recommendations, Sen. Maria Cantwell istrying to block the service from carrying out a plan she believeswould put the United States even further behind - mothballing the 33-year-old Polar Sea and raiding it for parts.
The Washington Democrat has co-sponsored a bill authored by Sen.Mark Begich, D-Alaska, to prevent the service from decommissioningthe Polar Sea before the Polar Star returns to service in 2013. Thelatter ship is undergoing a four-year, $57 million overhaul at VigorIndustrial (formerly Todd Shipyards) on Harbor Island. The work willadd seven to 10 years to the ship's service.
Cantwell argues that with a fleet containing only one currentlyworking icebreaker, the Coast Guard can't afford to junk the PolarSea, as decrepit as it may be. Constructing a new icebreaker couldtake a decade and as much as $1 billion, money that Congress isunlikely to approve anytime soon.
Cantwell said yanking the Polar Sea from service would leave theCoast Guard with no backup heavy icebreaker.
"What happens if something happens to the Polar Star?" she said.
The Coast Guard maintains that retiring the Polar Sea, now dockedat its base on Pier 36, would allow the service to channel resourcesto reactivating its sister ship. Not incidentally, the Polar Seacould be cannibalized for scarce parts.
The 60,000-horsepower Polar Sea was refurbished in 2006, but itsengines failed in June 2010. The Coast Guard hasn't fixed theengines because it would cost $22 million and wouldn't extend thePolar Sea's current service-end date of 2014, said CommanderChristopher O'Neil, a Coast Guard spokesman in Washington, D.C.
The Coast Guard, which is part of the Department of HomelandSecurity, has asked for $39 million in fiscal 2012 for its polaricebreaking program.
Icebreakers use their thick steel hulls and overhanging curvedbows to bust through ice. The Polar Sea and Polar Star can easilybreak 6 feet of ice at 3 knots, and 21 feet or more by backing andramming. They carry a crew of 146 and have room for 32 scientistsand a year's supply of food. The Healy, which has half the horsepower and needs about half the crew, can break 41/2 feet of icegoing forward.
The state of American capacity to ply frozen waterways has longcaused alarm. Thanks to warming polar climates, what was ice is nowsometimes water. Some scientists believe that the Northwest Passage,which links the Pacific and Atlantic oceans via Canada's ArcticArchipelago, could become ice-free in the summer in this century.That would open a shipping route that would be days or even weeksshorter than traversing the Panama Canal.
The result is more traffic - and more potential trouble, saidJeffrey Garrett, a retired Coast Guard rear admiral who has servedon all three icebreakers, including as commanding officer of thePolar Sea.
For instance, more than 325 vessels crossed the Bering Straitbetween Russia and Alaska in 2010, a third more than just two yearsearlier. In 2007, a Canadian cruise ship became the first suchvessel to sink in Antarctica after puncturing its hull on submergedice.
Garrett traveled through the Northwest Passage last month. He sawhardly any ice, unusual for this time of the year. Now a MercerIsland maritime consultant, Garrett expects to see more oildrilling, tourism, and scientific and shipping activity in theArctic.
Garrett fears the United States is underequipped to navigate thatless-ice-covered world. Earlier this year, Sweden decided to keepits loaner icebreaker Oden closer to home in the frozen Baltic.
The National Science Foundation scurried to secure a Russian shipfor an upcoming restocking voyage to McMurdo in December or January.The Polar Star and Polar Sea have made those trips in past years.
"You're putting yourself at the mercy of other people'spriorities," Garrett said.
Rita Colwell, former director of the National Science Foundation,which runs the McMurdo Station and is the main user of the threeCoast Guard icebreakers, agrees. Colwell believes the United Stateshas long ceded dominance in the Arctic to Russia and other nations.
Like Garrett, Colwell served on the National Research Councilpanel that recommended building two replacement icebreakers for thePolar Sea and the Polar Star. She called it an urgent military,economic and scientific issue.
But Garrett and Colwell are both resigned to the likelihood thatit may be a long while before a modern icebreaker gets built. So itwould make sense, they say, to rescue the Polar Sea and squeeze morelife out of it.
Garrett acknowledges that could be akin to pouring money intofixing a beat-up gas guzzler.
Still, he said, absent any foreseeable money for new vessels,that "is the only tool we have in the short term."
MCT photo The nations two heavy-duty U.S. icebreakers sitsidelined in Seattle, home of the Coast Guards three-ship icebreakerfleet. The Polar Star (above), a 1970s-era Coast Guard icebreaker,is undergoing a four-year, $57 million overhaul at Vigor Industrialon Harbor Island in Seattle. Its twin, the Polar Sea, is idlednearby; that ships engines failed last year and its future is indoubt.
Lawmakers confront cold reality of pricey icebreaker ships
WASHINGTON - Climate change is melting parts of the ice-lockedNorthwest Passage. China is building its first modern icebreaker inhopes of staking claims to Arctic waters. Frigid polar regions areopening up to increased shipping traffic, scientific exploration andtourism.
Yet, the United States is so short of icebreakers capable ofnavigating those still-unpredictable waters that since 2007, it hasmade the annual supply run to McMurdo Station, the American researchoutpost in Antarctica, with a ship leased from Sweden.
The nation's two heavy-duty U.S. icebreakers sit sidelined inSeattle, home of the Coast Guard's three-ship icebreaker fleet. ThePolar Sea and its twin, the Polar Star, are 1970s-era cutters thathave been patched up to keep going past their original life span.
The only working icebreaker is the 12-year-old Healy, whichboasts elaborate scientific labs but can break through only thinnerice.
This week, after years of hand-wringing over the nation'sdiminished Arctic ambitions, Congress will receive what is meant tobe the definitive independent analysis on whether it should buildnew icebreakers or eke even more service out of the two agedvessels.
Paradoxically, experts say, the thinning ice will increase demandfor icebreakers as more people flock to the hazardous polarenvirons.
A National Research Council panel in 2006 concluded the nation'sicebreaking capabilities were inadequate to support its polarmissions and urged immediate construction of two ships. Anotherindependent study by ABS Consulting in 2010 said the Coast Guardwould need three each of heavy and medium icebreakers - double itscurrent fleet.
Regardless of the latest recommendations, Sen. Maria Cantwell istrying to block the service from carrying out a plan she believeswould put the United States even further behind - mothballing the 33-year-old Polar Sea and raiding it for parts.
The Washington Democrat has co-sponsored a bill authored by Sen.Mark Begich, D-Alaska, to prevent the service from decommissioningthe Polar Sea before the Polar Star returns to service in 2013. Thelatter ship is undergoing a four-year, $57 million overhaul at VigorIndustrial (formerly Todd Shipyards) on Harbor Island. The work willadd seven to 10 years to the ship's service.
Cantwell argues that with a fleet containing only one currentlyworking icebreaker, the Coast Guard can't afford to junk the PolarSea, as decrepit as it may be. Constructing a new icebreaker couldtake a decade and as much as $1 billion, money that Congress isunlikely to approve anytime soon.
Cantwell said yanking the Polar Sea from service would leave theCoast Guard with no backup heavy icebreaker.
"What happens if something happens to the Polar Star?" she said.
The Coast Guard maintains that retiring the Polar Sea, now dockedat its base on Pier 36, would allow the service to channel resourcesto reactivating its sister ship. Not incidentally, the Polar Seacould be cannibalized for scarce parts.
The 60,000-horsepower Polar Sea was refurbished in 2006, but itsengines failed in June 2010. The Coast Guard hasn't fixed theengines because it would cost $22 million and wouldn't extend thePolar Sea's current service-end date of 2014, said CommanderChristopher O'Neil, a Coast Guard spokesman in Washington, D.C.
The Coast Guard, which is part of the Department of HomelandSecurity, has asked for $39 million in fiscal 2012 for its polaricebreaking program.
Icebreakers use their thick steel hulls and overhanging curvedbows to bust through ice. The Polar Sea and Polar Star can easilybreak 6 feet of ice at 3 knots, and 21 feet or more by backing andramming. They carry a crew of 146 and have room for 32 scientistsand a year's supply of food. The Healy, which has half the horsepower and needs about half the crew, can break 41/2 feet of icegoing forward.
The state of American capacity to ply frozen waterways has longcaused alarm. Thanks to warming polar climates, what was ice is nowsometimes water. Some scientists believe that the Northwest Passage,which links the Pacific and Atlantic oceans via Canada's ArcticArchipelago, could become ice-free in the summer in this century.That would open a shipping route that would be days or even weeksshorter than traversing the Panama Canal.
The result is more traffic - and more potential trouble, saidJeffrey Garrett, a retired Coast Guard rear admiral who has servedon all three icebreakers, including as commanding officer of thePolar Sea.
For instance, more than 325 vessels crossed the Bering Straitbetween Russia and Alaska in 2010, a third more than just two yearsearlier. In 2007, a Canadian cruise ship became the first suchvessel to sink in Antarctica after puncturing its hull on submergedice.
Garrett traveled through the Northwest Passage last month. He sawhardly any ice, unusual for this time of the year. Now a MercerIsland maritime consultant, Garrett expects to see more oildrilling, tourism, and scientific and shipping activity in theArctic.
Garrett fears the United States is underequipped to navigate thatless-ice-covered world. Earlier this year, Sweden decided to keepits loaner icebreaker Oden closer to home in the frozen Baltic.
The National Science Foundation scurried to secure a Russian shipfor an upcoming restocking voyage to McMurdo in December or January.The Polar Star and Polar Sea have made those trips in past years.
"You're putting yourself at the mercy of other people'spriorities," Garrett said.
Rita Colwell, former director of the National Science Foundation,which runs the McMurdo Station and is the main user of the threeCoast Guard icebreakers, agrees. Colwell believes the United Stateshas long ceded dominance in the Arctic to Russia and other nations.
Like Garrett, Colwell served on the National Research Councilpanel that recommended building two replacement icebreakers for thePolar Sea and the Polar Star. She called it an urgent military,economic and scientific issue.
But Garrett and Colwell are both resigned to the likelihood thatit may be a long while before a modern icebreaker gets built. So itwould make sense, they say, to rescue the Polar Sea and squeeze morelife out of it.
Garrett acknowledges that could be akin to pouring money intofixing a beat-up gas guzzler.
Still, he said, absent any foreseeable money for new vessels,that "is the only tool we have in the short term."
MCT photo The nations two heavy-duty U.S. icebreakers sitsidelined in Seattle, home of the Coast Guards three-ship icebreakerfleet. The Polar Star (above), a 1970s-era Coast Guard icebreaker,is undergoing a four-year, $57 million overhaul at Vigor Industrialon Harbor Island in Seattle. Its twin, the Polar Sea, is idlednearby; that ships engines failed last year and its future is indoubt.
