Hearing

This is a hearing of the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation.

Witnesses:

Panel I
Admiral Charles W. Ray, USCG, Vice Commandant, United States Coast Guard | Written Testimony

Panel II
Rear Admiral Shepard Smith, Director, NOAA Office of Coast Survey | Written Testimony
Colonel Phillip J. Borders, Commander of District Alaska, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers | Written Testimony

Panel III
Ms. Heather A Conley, Senior Vice President, Europe, Eurasia, and the Arctic; Center for Strategic and International Studies | Written Testimony
Ms. Abbie Tingstad, PH.D, Senior Physical Scientist, RAND Corporation | Written Testimony
Admiral Thad Allen, USCG ret., Senior Executive Advisor, Booz Allen Hamilton | Written Testimony
Hon. Mead Treadwell, Co-Chair, Polar Institute Advisory Board, Woodrow Wilson Center | Written Testimony

Opening remarks, as prepared, of Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Ranking Member Bob Gibbs (R-OH):

The United States defines the Arctic as the area north of the Aleutian Islands.  That area includes 568,000 square nautical miles of the United States Exclusive Economic Zone, but very little maritime transportation infrastructure exists there. 

Extreme weather and sparse population have kept maritime transportation in the area to a minimum.  Fisheries and limited coastal transport occur there, and large commercial vessels skirt the southern part of the area following the Great Circle Route. 

Diminishing sea ice for longer periods of the year is making travel in the Arctic a more promising prospect for routine commercial vessel operations, resource extraction, farther North fisheries and even recreation.  In the last several years, a small number of recreational and passenger vessels have begun to venture into the far North. 

The Coast Guard has had no year-round presence north of the Aleutians since abandoning its three LORAN stations in 2008.  Cutters and air assets do venture into the area during the summer, and the HEALY conducts research north of the Bering Strait. 

Unfortunately, as GAO pointed out in 2016, the Coast Guard has no plan for, or assets to address increased vessel traffic and other maritime uses of the Arctic. 

This is troubling since vessel traffic and other uses seem certain to increase significantly over the next two decades, and even more troubling given the interest of Russia and China in the Arctic. 

The United States needs to be able to fully assert its sovereignty in the Arctic as well as carry out its search and rescue, maritime safety, living marine resources, and environmental protection responsibilities. 

Of course, this nearly blank slate gives us the opportunity to carry out these missions in new and innovative ways.  I look forward to hearing from the witnesses today about what they believe we need to do to assert our sovereignty in the north, to assure a safe and efficient maritime transportation system there.