00                      SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 10                                                                    
01 Relating to the presence and interests of the state and the nation in the Arctic; urging                                
02 appointment of a representative of the state to the Arctic Council; relating to                                         
03 icebreakers; and relating to United States Coast Guard operations and facilities in the                                 
04 Arctic.                                                                                                                 
05 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
06       WHEREAS this state alone qualifies the United States as an Arctic nation; and                                   
07       WHEREAS, according to the United States Geological Survey, the Arctic may hold                                  
08 up to 90,000,000,000 barrels of oil, the equivalent of 13 percent of the world's undiscovered                           
09 oil reserves, and 47.3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, the equivalent of 30 percent of the                        
10 world's undiscovered natural gas reserves, and the development of these resources would have                            
11 a profound economic effect on the state and promote energy security for the nation; and                                 
12       WHEREAS the amount of Arctic Ocean ice during the summer months has                                             
13 increasingly diminished, resulting in the opening of international shipping lanes through the                           
14 Arctic; and                                                                                                             
15       WHEREAS the Northwest Passage along North America and the Northern Sea Route                                    

01 along Eurasia both pass through the Bering Strait and decrease shipping time and costs                                  
02 between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans compared to traveling conventional routes through                               
03 the Suez Canal or Panama Canal; and                                                                                     
04       WHEREAS growing interest in economic and strategic opportunities in the Arctic has                              
05 led the Russian Federation to announce its interests in the region and, in August 2007, to plant                        
06 a Russian flag on the Arctic Ocean seabed and resume strategic bomber flights over the Arctic                           
07 region for the first time since the end of the Cold War; and                                                            
08       WHEREAS Russia has submitted a claim to the United Nations Convention on the                                    
09 Law of the Sea to an area of 460,000 square miles in the Arctic Ocean, an area the size of                              
10 Germany, France, and Italy combined; and                                                                                
11       WHEREAS the United States Coast Guard does not have a base on or adjacent to the                                
12 Arctic Ocean, inhibiting the nation's ability to respond to situations that could threaten United                       
13 States sovereignty in the Arctic and reducing the nation's emergency and disaster                                       
14 preparedness in the area; and                                                                                           
15       WHEREAS increasing interest in the Arctic as a result of emerging geopolitical and                              
16 economic factors has created a national priority for the United States to map the Arctic floor,                         
17 which is essential to establish legitimate claims to areas beyond the 200 nautical mile                                 
18 exclusive economic zone and best assert the nation's rights in the international community;                             
19 and                                                                                                                     
20       WHEREAS, as the use of international shipping lanes through the Arctic Ocean                                    
21 becomes possible, the demand for icebreaker vessels is increasing; and                                                  
22       WHEREAS Canada currently has six icebreaker vessels, with a plan to complete a                                  
23 seventh, the 459-foot John G. Diefenbaker, in 2017; and                                                                 
24       WHEREAS the Russian icebreaker fleet is the largest in the world, with 35 vessels,                              
25 including 22 government-operated icebreakers and six nuclear-powered icebreakers with at                                
26 least 45,000 brake horsepower; and                                                                                      
27       WHEREAS a seventh nuclear-powered Russian icebreaker is currently under                                         
28 construction, and three more nuclear-powered icebreakers are planned for completion by                                  
29 2017; and                                                                                                               
30       WHEREAS the most powerful icebreaker in the world, the Russian nuclear-powered                                  
31 50 Years of Victory, commissioned in 2007, is 524 feet long, has 75,000 horsepower, and can                             

01 break ice up to 9.2 feet thick; and                                                                                     
02       WHEREAS the United States has five icebreakers, only three of which are United                                  
03 States Coast Guard vessels; and                                                                                         
04       WHEREAS only one of the United States Coast Guard icebreakers, the USCGC                                        
05 Healy, which has 30,000 horsepower and was designed primarily for research purposes, is                                 
06 presently in service; and                                                                                               
07       WHEREAS, of the two other United States Coast Guard icebreakers, the USCGC                                    
08 Polar Star and the USCGC Polar Sea, constructed in 1976 and 1977, the USCGC Polar Sea is                                
09 unlikely to return to service and the USCGC Polar Star is not anticipated to return to service                          
10 until late 2013 at the earliest; and                                                                                    
11       WHEREAS the Arctic Council is a high-level forum of Arctic states, is the only                                  
12 circumpolar forum that includes all of the Arctic states, and includes participation of Arctic                          
13 indigenous peoples for the purpose of holding political discussions on Arctic issues shared in                          
14 common and fostering Arctic cooperation; and                                                                            
15       WHEREAS the Arctic Council includes official state representatives from the                                     
16 governments of Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation,                                       
17 Sweden, and the United States; and                                                                                      
18       WHEREAS the chairmanship of the Arctic Council rotates every two years and,                                     
19 following the chairmanship of Canada beginning in May 2013, the United States will assume                               
20 chairmanship of the Arctic Council in May 2015; and                                                                   
21       WHEREAS the United States has a presence on the Arctic Council only because of                                  
22 Alaska's location in the Arctic; and                                                                                    
23       WHEREAS, in 2011, in the spirit of cooperation between the Arctic states, and                                   
24 cognizant of the harsh conditions that pose a challenge to search and rescue operations in the                          
25 Arctic and the vital importance of providing rapid assistance to persons in distress in those                           
26 circumstances, the Arctic Council signed the council's first legally binding agreement in                               
27 Nuuk, Greenland, to coordinate search and rescue operations in the Arctic Ocean; and                                    
28       WHEREAS the official state delegation of Canada to the Arctic Council includes                                  
29 representatives from the governments of the territories of Yukon and Nunavut; and                                       
30       WHEREAS the official United States delegation to the Arctic Council does not                                    
31 include any officially appointed representative from Alaska; and                                                        

01       WHEREAS the interests of the state are directly affected by Arctic policy;                                      
02       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature, recognizing the importance of                                 
03 diplomatic opportunities and the particular effect of Arctic policy on the state's interests, urges                     
04 the United States to include a designated representative from this state as a member of its                             
05 official delegation to the Arctic Council; and be it                                                                    
06       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the federal                                            
07 government to request the Governor to appoint a delegate and one alternate to join the nation's                         
08 official delegation to the Arctic Council; and be it                                                                    
09       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States                                      
10 Congress and the President of the United States to provide the United States Coast Guard with                           
11 sufficient funding to expand its Arctic operations, retrofit the nation's existing icebreaker                           
12 fleet, build needed vessels and facilities, including icebreakers and a United States Coast                             
13 Guard base for Arctic operations, to map the United States outer continental shelf for the                              
14 purpose of preserving and defending the nation's sovereign territorial rights, and to maintain a                        
15 strong presence in the region; and be it                                                                                
16       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States to                                   
17 continue to assert its political, strategic, environmental, and economic interests in the Arctic,                       
18 with particular emphasis on the well-being of the state, and to take a leadership role in guiding                       
19 international Arctic policy through diplomatic, military, and economic means.                                           
20       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of                             
21 the United States; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and                          
22 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable John F. Kerry, United States Secretary of State;                            
23 General Martin E. Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; the Honorable Janet A.                                
24 Napolitano, United States Secretary of Homeland Security; the Honorable Robert Menendez,                                
25 Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; the Honorable Michael T. McCaul,                               
26 Chair of the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security; the Honorable Thomas R. Carper,                                 
27 Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; the                                   
28 Honorable Barbara Mikulski, Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations; the                                   
29 Honorable Dave Camp, Chair of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee; the Honorable                                    
30 Bob Corker, ranking member, U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; Admiral Robert                                  
31 J. Papp, Jr., Commandant of the United States Coast Guard; and the Honorable Lisa                                       

01 Murkowski and the Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young,                                    
02 U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress; and all other members of                             
03 the United States Senate.