Obama seeks to close icebreaker gap as Arctic sea traffic competition intensifies

Barack Obama will propose on Tuesday accelerating the timeline for purchasing and building new icebreakers for the US coast guard in the Arctic Ocean, as part of an effort to close an increasing gap with other countries – particularly Russia.

The White House issued the announcement late on Monday, stating that Obama will call for speeding up by two years – to 2020 from 2022 – the acquisition of a replacement heavy icebreaker. The president will also call on Congress to pass sufficient funding for the construction of additional icebreakers, which the administration said would “ensure that the United States can meet our national interests, protect and manage our natural resources, and strengthen our international, state, local, and tribal relationships”.

The US has only two fully functional icebreakers in its fleet, according to a fact sheet distributed by the White House, while Russia has 40 icebreakers and an additional 11 that are planned or already under construction. Citing the melting of Arctic ice as a result of climate change, the White House said a dramatic increase was expected in sea traffic.

Alaska’s two Republican senators, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, have both urged the construction and deployment of icebreakers and improvements in the monitoring capabilities of the coast guard in the region.

Sullivan said Obama’s decision was a “step forward”, but he also urged the president to include in his budget more funding for related activities in the region.

“Today’s series of Arctic initiatives announced by the White House - especially with regards to addressing our lackluster icebreaker fleet - is a step forward. The highways of the Arctic are paved by icebreakers,” Sullivan said. “Right now the Russians have superhighways and we have dirt roads with potholes. This is the moment to become true leaders in the Arctic and I hope the administration’s words today are followed up with actions in the president’s budget priorities.”

A spokesman for Murkowski said the administration’s announcement “was less a plan than an acknowledgment that these needs must be addressed, falling short of any hard commitments made”.

“Senator Murkowski is fully aware of the observations shared by the administration today – being a global leader in advocating for investing responsibly in America’s Arctic future – and awaits seeing the priorities espoused today reflected in dollars in the president’s budget next year,” Murkowski’s spokesman, Matthew Felling, said in a statement to the Guardian.

Obama’s announcement comes in the midst of a three-day trip to Alaska focused largely on his climate change agenda. The president is set to visit the shrinking Seward glacier on Tuesday against the backdrop of the international, State Department-sponsored GLACIER conference in Anchorage.

Obama addressed the gathering on Monday, where he emphasized the need to take urgent action against climate change.

“The Arctic is at the leading edge of climate change, a leading indicator of what the entire planet faces,” Obama said. “Climate change is no longer some far-off problem. Climate change is already disrupting our agriculture and ecosystems, our water and food supplies, our energy and infrastructure.”

The president also plans to trek the Alaskan wilderness with Bear Grylls, the former special forces survival expert and host of NBC’s outdoor adventure show Running Wild with Bear Grylls, in an effort to highlight conservation.

Despite his ambitious trip centered on climate change, Obama has come under fire from environmental activists for his decision to allow Shell to conduct exploratory drilling in the Arctic waters. Obama defended the move in his weekly address on Saturday, insisting that his administration had made clear that the multinational oil and gas company would be held to high standards in how it carries out its operations.

“Even as we accelerate this transition, our economy still has to rely on oil and gas,” he said. “As long as that’s the case, I believe we should rely more on domestic production than on foreign imports.”

The president was also criticized by Republicans over his decision to rename the continent’s highest peak from McKinley to Mount Denali, the original name of the mountain that translates to “the Great One” in the Athabaskan language of Alaska natives.

But he was praised by all three Republicans who represent Alaska in Congress, as well as the state’s Republican governor. “I’d like to thank the president for working with us to achieve this significant change to show honor, respect, and gratitude,” Murkowski said.