The U.S. Coast Guard is testing Arctic waters — feeling out what sort of military presence might be needed along Alaska's northernmost coastlines.
The operation, Arctic Domain Awareness, a 16-day mission based in Barrow during July and August, gave the Coast Guard an opportunity to research the ever-changing sea ice, coastline, waters and risks associated with patrolling the region.
Coast Guard officials said maritime travel is increasing because of melting ice, creating potential new trade routes in the region. Russian and Canadian fishing vessels pushing international boundaries are also a concern.
“There are other facts, the presence of cruise ships in Barrow, the presence of potential oil exploration and oil lease sales. It's the presence of the potential for general ship movement through the Bering Straight,” said Rear Adm. Arthur Brooks, Commander of the 17th Coast Guard Division in Alaska.
“We are really doing a test bed to learn what do we need to do, how we should we do it and what resources will it take to do what we need to do for Americans in the Arctic,” Brooks said.
“There are ships that are coming through here from every flag you can imagine,” said Richard Glenn, vice president of Arctic Slope Regional Corp. “There's activity offshore that is unprecedented and there is our continuing dependence on the natural resources for our life.”
North Slope Borough Search and Rescue Director Pat Patterson said he is glad to see the Coast Guard in Barrow. The rescue group does about 300 medical rescues a year with its small fleet of planes and a helicopter.
Read the rest of the story from the source, The Alaska Star newspaperStory Resources:
USCG D17 Auxiliary website
USCG D17 (main USCG website)
Overview of Coast Guard operations in Alaska
The Alaska Bear, online magazine of USCG D17
Units within USCG D17 (includes list of cutters and air stations)
Unified Command: USCG and State of Alaska
Alaska Journal of Commerce: USCG Exploring Arctic Base
Other Coast Guard reports from Sam Spade's San Francisco:
U. S. Coast Guard's 218th Birthday - Happy Birthday from San Francisco!
Big Changes for the U. S. Coast Guard
USCGC Bertholf - Great Video!
Coast Guard D11 San Francisco Changes Command
USCG Ocean Rescue - See Video Here
Coast Guard and Wizard's Keith Colburn Join Forces
Cal Maritime's Golden Bear Aids Coast Guard in Daring Sea Rescue
Coast Guard Gets Fifth HC-144A Ocean Sentry Aircraft
USCGC Morgenthau Gets New Commander in Singapore
USCGB Eagle Meets USCGC Bertholf in San Francisco - Historic Photo!
Coast Guard's Waesche - 2nd National Security Cutter - is Christened
USCGC Berthold Comes Home to Alameda for First Time
SemperPeratus.com - lots of Coast Guard links and information
Learn more about the United States Coast Guard here!
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1 comments:
I am blown away at how much press coverage has been given to Adm. Thad Allen's comments on climate change in the Arctic. As the head of a 40K person federal agency I would expect him to put as much effort into the climate inside his agency. Lets talk about real and tangible climate change ... we need it inside the Coast Guard. Allen's Director of Civil Rights, Ms. Terri Dickerson has seen the single larges exodus senior Civil Rights staff in Federal Government history in the 24 months has led the office. She is also the only Senior Executive Service level Civil Rights Official in the Federal Government to have Civil Rights Complaints filed against her by senior staffers. In one such case, the charges against Dickerson were egregious that they were mediated by the Vice Commandant of the Coast Guard to the complainants satisfaction.
Allen's Director of Civil Rights is responsible for providing him and the service with the tools necessary to ensure a fair and equitable command and service climate. To that end Dickerson is responsible for the agencies MD-715 report yearly which is based on nearly 22 Equal Opportunity Reviews of Coast Guard commands service wide. Sadly since Dickerson took office, none of these reports have been signed out and returned to the Commanding Officers of the units reviewed. This act alone prevents the Commands reviewed from having the benefit of the reports, the transparency they present and tools necessary to take self correcting actions.
Dickerson not only has seen two years of declining command climate inside Coast Guard but has seen three noose hung in effigy under her leadership. None of these three hate crimes have ever been solved. Dickerson has continued to insist that certain commands in the Coast Guard have serious Equal Opportunity issues to Flag Officers in the Coast Guard, but she has yet to travel to the locations first hand to see and learn for herself. Instead, Dickerson has traveled to every Afro-Centric event in the nation without regard for concern or equality in representing the other groups inside Coast Guard such as Hispanics, Latinos, Asians, Jews, Muslims and European Americans.
Correcting Climate Changes needs to start at home.
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The Thomas Jackson Center
for Equal Civil Rights &
CoastGuardReport.org
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