Anchorage Daily News, Fairbanks D. Miner, etc: A new icebreaking stimulus RV ship, and (lots more ink) a reason why: natural gas reserves and the coming Arctic melee
A little wisp of a question turned this morning into a whole ball of geopolitical, environmental, and resource-rivalry yarn.
The Tracker glanced this morning at the NSF’s daily Science360 site (press releases in Grist below) – highlighting its own news via, essentially, its releases. One thing caught the eye right off. The agency’s first splash in the sea of economic stimulus money will go to buy a new, American made, ice hardened (though not quite full bore ice breaking) research vessel dubbed the ARRV that’s been in the proposal stage for some time now. The grant’s eventual size, says its projected operator, the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, will be $123 million more or less. (LATE ADDITION: The NSF release has nothing but a press officer there, Dana Topousis, relays word it comes to $200 million.) The 242 foot long ship project will, they say, generate 750 jobs for construction and another 3,600 in the “broader economy.” The letters stand for Alaska Region Research Vessel. It will no doubt bear some famous oceanographer or other such person’s name on its bow by the time it launches in 2011 or so. Back when I had a real job, at USNews five years ago an assignment put me aboard the Coast Guard icebreaker Healy in the Arctic as university scientists on board studied marine systems and climate change. The ship was a good but hardly ideal science platform. So this seems to be notable news. The question occurred: Wonder who covered this?
The release is just out. So far, one taker on the NSF grant is to be easily spotted: the Fairbanks Daily Miner‘s Dermot Cole has a brief post. Beyond the science infrastructure angle the story surely ought to get a bit more coverage for business and national security reasons. The Coast Guard may not have time for hosting many more science expeditions. It is going to need its icebreakers (while trying to find money to build some more of them) for coast guard duties as commercial activity up there rises. Plus the jobs angle is worth a close look. Interesting is that reporter Cole at the Miner refers readers directly to the NSF press release for further info.
As for broader context as to why the US seems likely to pursue more marine science ability and more uniformed armed patrol ships in the region, I noticed another Alaska paper provides a glimpse of the resources undersea land rush and claim-staking frenzy that looks likely. The Anchorage Daily News, in a story knit from wire and staff reporting, tells readers that a new US Geological Survey study estimates that enormous natural gas reserves are under the Arctic’s dwindling seasonal pack ice – and most of it is on the continental shelf controlled by Russia. The wire story involved, presumably, is this from the AP‘s Randolph E. Schmid, based in turn on a report out today in Science Magazine. Schmid’s story inspired a roundup:
Other stories on USGS Arctic oil and gas estimate:
- Toronto Globe & Mail – Shawn McCarthy: Arctic holds 13 percent of world’s undiscovered oil / Figures come as Canada and its polar neighbours pursue competing claims to vast areas of continental shelf ;
- Bloomberg – Torrey Clark: Arctic May Hold 30% of Undiscovered Gas, Strengthening Russia ;
- LA Times – Margot Roosevelt: World’s undiscovered gas and oil is largely north of Arctic Circle, geologists say ;
- Guardian (UK) Alok Jha: New survey of Arctic’s mineral riches could stoke international strife ;
Finally, for an over-the-top rendition of the upcoming turmoil in the Arctic, check the usually celebrity-besotted Daily Mail in the UK. In a piece with the breathless tech-savvy feel of a Tom Clancy fiction, the paper’s Owen Matthews earlier this year reported the Arctic’s looming “devastating new cold war” for resources. Terrific illus, too: take a look at its image of a minisub the Russian Academy of Sciences operates. For a more expert and sober analysis of US military attitudes toward the new Arctic and its technical and defense challenges, a long piece lay them out in the February issue of the U.S. Naval Institute’s Proceedings Magazine, by Rear Admiral David Gove . The article may be a good one to show anybody who really believes that the thawing far north is some kind of fantasy restricted to lefty scientists and eco-goofball seal and polar bear huggers.
Whew.
Grist for the Mill:
New ship: NSF Press Release ; Univ. Alaska-Fairbanks Press Release ; US Arctic Research Commission Press Release (Aug 2007) ;
Arctic Oil and Gas Resources: No press release on the new estimates apparent (!) other than the materials AAAS, publisher of Science, sent directly to reporters. One wonders. Why has USGS’s press room nothing, or at least nothing easily spotted? If I missed it, let me know via the contact us or suggest story function at this website’s top.
-CP
