WASHINGTON - The country’s two heavy-duty icebreaker ships are old and broken, and Congress and the White House are at odds over how to respond, as the melting of polar ice increases the economic and security stakes in the Arctic region.
The House yesterday was working on a Coast Guard spending bill that would decommission the Polar Star, which would be the last somewhat seaworthy icebreaker after its sister ship, the Polar Sea, goes out of service in the near future.
The White House said Thursday that it “strongly opposes’’ the legislation because decommissioning the Polar Star would “create a significant gap in the nation’s icebreaking capacity.’’
Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington, is trying to block the decommissioning of either ship with a provision she added to a Coast Guard bill in the Senate. The ships are based in the Seattle area and support hundreds of jobs there.
“Our nation needs icebreakers,’’ she said. “With Russia moving many troops to the Arctic, and Chinese investors buying parts of Greenland, this is also a national security issue.’’
There is little disagreement on the need for a US presence in the Arctic. In a report last year, the Congressional Research Service said the shrinking of the icecap will result in increased commercial and military ship activity and greater exploration for oil and other resources.
That increases the need for icebreakers to help defend US sovereignty and economic interests, monitor sea traffic, assist law enforcement and scientific research, and conduct search and rescue operations.
“We desperately need the Coast Guard and the administration to do what we have asked them to do really now for more than 10 years - define what our mission is in the Arctic,’’ said Representative Frank LoBiondo, a New Jersey Republican and chairman of the Coast Guard subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
He said it costs tens of millions of dollars a year to keep the two vessels tied up at the dock, and he hopes the House effort to take them out of service will push the administration into deciding how large a fleet is needed in the future.
Representative Don Young, Republican of Alaska, opposes decommissioning icebreakers and wants to increase the number of vessels, spokesman Luke Miller said. Young has introduced a bill that would authorize the Coast Guard to enter into long-term lease agreements for two new icebreakers.