[Senate Hearing 112-169]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 112-169
KEEPING THE COAST GUARD
``ALWAYS READY'' IN ALASKA
=======================================================================
FIELD HEARING
before the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON OCEANS, ATMOSPHERE, FISHERIES, AND COAST GUARD
of the
COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE,
SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
AUGUST 12, 2011
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation
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71-578 WASHINGTON : 2011
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0SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia, Chairman
DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas,
JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts Ranking
BARBARA BOXER, California OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, Maine
BILL NELSON, Florida JIM DeMINT, South Carolina
MARIA CANTWELL, Washington JOHN THUNE, South Dakota
FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi
MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia
CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri ROY BLUNT, Missouri
AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
TOM UDALL, New Mexico PATRICK J. TOOMEY, Pennsylvania
MARK WARNER, Virginia MARCO RUBIO, Florida
MARK BEGICH, Alaska KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire
DEAN HELLER, Nevada
Ellen L. Doneski, Chief of Staff
James Reid, Deputy Chief of Staff
Bruce H. Andrews, General Counsel
Todd Bertoson, Republican Staff Director
Jarrod Thompson, Republican Deputy Staff Director
Rebecca Seidel, Republican General Counsel and Chief Investigator
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SUBCOMMITTEE ON OCEANS, ATMOSPHERE, FISHERIES, AND COAST GUARD
MARK BEGICH, Alaska, Chairman
PDANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, Maine, Ranking
JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi
BILL NELSON, Florida JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia
MARIA CANTWELL, Washington JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey MARCO RUBIO, Florida
AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire
MARK WARNER, Virginia DEAN HELLER, Nevada
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Hearing held on August 12, 2011.................................. 1
Statement of Senator Begich...................................... 1
Witnesses
Admiral Robert J. Papp, Jr., Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard........ 2
Prepared statement........................................... 5
KEEPING THE COAST GUARD
``ALWAYS READY'' IN ALASKA
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FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2011
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and
Coast Guard,
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation,
Anchorage, AK.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 11:38 a.m. at
the University of Alaska-Anchorage, Edward Lee Gorsuch Commons
Building, Sharon Gagnon Lane, Anchorage, Alaska 99508, Hon.
Mark Begich, presiding.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MARK BEGICH,
U.S. SENATOR FROM ALASKA
Senator Begich. We will go ahead and call this field
hearing open. This hearing is on Keeping the Coast Guard
``Always Ready'' in Alaska.
We are pleased to welcome Admiral Papp once again to
Alaska. Thank you for being here, and thanks for bringing the
great weather. That is how it works with the Coast Guard. Is
that right?
Admiral Papp. Yes, sir.
Senator Begich. You only operate in good weather. But thank
you very much, and as Chair of the Senate Commerce Committee
Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, and Fisheries, and Coast
Guard, we have had many opportunities, I know, in Washington to
have discussions about the needs not only for Alaska, but for
the Coast Guard in general.
Again, thank you for being here, and I noticed you have
your wife here. And I know you told her that you are going to
give her as much free time as possible, which I am not sure has
occurred yet. So, thank you again for being here.
The Coast Guard is an incredibly important part of Alaska.
We are proud to host the largest Coast Guard base in the United
States in Kodiak. This is where the men and women of the air
station communication stations on the Cutter MONROE, ALEX
HALEY, and the SPAR brave the notorious Bering Sea to rescue
mariners in distress, and protect our fisheries by enforcing
our laws.
In Valdez, Anchorage, in Juno, the Coast Guard sectors
vessel traffic services and aids in navigation, protect our
economic lifelines and treasured marine environment by ensuring
the safety of marine commerce and responding to marine
pollution incidences.
And throughout southeast and south central, the Coast Guard
cutters, air stations, and small boat stations are the public
safety department of the sea. They serve as law enforcement,
fire, and rescue, and emergency services rolled into one multi-
mission, maritime military service that we could not do
without.
Today's Coast Guard is facing a host of challenges. With an
aging fleet of cutters and aircraft, the service is in the
middle of a major and expensive recapitalization effort. As we
have heard, however, Washington is looking to major cutbacks in
the government's spending. In jeopardy is the funding for the
new cutters and aircraft that we need the service to have so it
can do the job to protect us. In addition, the Coast Guard is
being asked to take on new challenges in the Arctic as melting
sea ice opens the region to new resource development, shipping,
and tourism.
As Admiral Papp pointed out during a meeting of this
subcommittee just a couple of weeks ago in Washington, Alaska's
Arctic needs new infrastructure to adequately address these
issues. Today we want to focus on some of those questions. How
should we ensure that Coast Guard funding gets priority? How
will the service adapt to budgetary realities?
The Coast Guard needs more than just ships and airplanes to
reform its many missions. However, Team Coast Guard is made up
of active duty, reserve, auxiliary, and silver service members.
These more than 3,900 Alaskans--I'll be patient. Do we need to
do anything? No? These more than 3,900 Alaskans, plus the
families that support them, are the true heart of the service.
From Ketchikan to Kodiak, they are the members of our
communities. We see them in grocery stores, volunteering in the
schools, and maybe even fishing for halibut or salmon once in a
while. We need to ensure they have the support they need to
keep the Coast Guard semper paratus--always ready--in Alaska.
I know all of these issues are important to Admiral Papp,
and I look forward to discussing them with you and having an
opportunity to hear your comments.
Admiral Papp.
STATEMENT OF ADMIRAL ROBERT J. PAPP, JR.,
COMMANDANT, U.S. COAST GUARD
Admiral Papp. Well, good morning, Chairman Begich. First of
all, it is great to be outside Washington, D.C. and back in
Alaska. And, sir, any time you want to hold a Senate hearing in
Anchorage, I would be delighted to come out here and
accommodate that.
Senator Begich. And we will do it in the summer.
Admiral Papp. Yes, sir. So, I want to thank you once again
for your continuing support of our Coast Guard.
As you fully and well know, the Coast Guard is no stranger
to Alaskan waters. We have patrolled here since 1867 when
Alaska was just a territory. And during the 19th century, we
ensured the stewardship of seal herds and salmon fisheries. We
introduced reindeer to provide more dependable food services
for the native tribes. We treated the sick, and we were
literally the law of both the sea and the land as our cutters
crews would embark federal judges to dispense justice.
Today we are no longer the law of the land, but we continue
to patrol the Alaskan waters, safeguard the public, protect the
environment and its resources, and maintain a sovereign
presence in the Alaska and Arctic maritime.
Over the last weekend, as I did last year, I have been
visiting our bases and observing our operations, and, most
importantly, meeting with our Coast Guard men and women to see
and hear firsthand what it is like to serve and live in our
most extreme area of operations. Having traveled to Kodiak, to
Anchorage, on to Valdez, Sitka, and even up to Barrow on the
North Slope, and flying out to visit our icebreaker HEALY, I
can report that our Coast Guard is ready to meet our mission
demands, but we are also facing many challenges.
These challenges include, first, completing the acquisition
of at least eight national security cutters or NSCs, to conduct
high seas missions like fisheries enforcement patrols in the
Bering Sea. Next, outlining our present and future
infrastructure and surface requirements to operate and respond
to operations in the Bering Sea and an increasingly iced
diminished Arctic. And then finally, to adequately provide for
the needs of the 1,600 Coast Guard active duties stationed
throughout Alaska.
So, first on the completion of the national security cutter
fleet, or NSC, it is our newest and most capable high endurance
cutter, and it is critical to our ability to continue the
Bering Sea's fisheries patrols, as well as other high seas
missions, like drug interdiction in the Eastern Pacific.
NSC number one, the cutter BERTHOLF, just recently finished
her first Alaska patrol, exhibiting remarkable sea keeping
ability that enabled her to launch and recover her boats,
boarding teams, and helicopters in sea states that heretofore
we would have been unable to do with our legacy cutters.
NSC numbers two and three are complete, and we just started
cutting steel on NSC number four. And I am confident that
within the next couple of days or so, we will complete our
negotiations on the contract for number five at a very
reasonable price.
We definitely need at least eight national security cutters
to preserve our future ability to protect our fish stocks, our
fishermen, and our fishing industry. And as you know, a $5
billion industry like that is responsible for thousands of
jobs.
Second, we need to enhance our Bering Sea and Arctic
response capabilities. Every year we respond to search and
rescue cases along the Aleutian chain and in the Bering Sea.
These are never simple requests for assistance; rather, extreme
weather conditions and great distances make each of these
missions an epic challenge with life or death circumstances.
In order to reduce our response times, we follow the
fishing fleet and forward deploy our helicopters and flight
crews. For instance, during the winter of grabbing season, our
helicopter crews forward deploy to Cold Bay and also to St.
Paul Island. However, conditions for our crews at these
locations can be very austere. Cold Bay, in particular, is a
challenge. The hangar is in disrepair. It has no heat, and
there is only limited berthing, which is graciously provided by
the Alaska State troopers. Our crews do not complain because
they know that being forward deployed ultimately saves lives.
However, it is vital that we invest in upgrading Cold Bay
because it lies at the crossroads of the Bering Sea. Even when
our crews are not seasonably deployed here, numerous helicopter
missions stop in Cold Bay to refuel as they fly missions along
the Aleutian chain and into the Bering Sea.
Up in the Arctic Circle, as you know, the ice conditions
continue to diminish, and an entire new ocean is emerging.
These new waters are spurring an increase in human activities,
such as natural resource exploration, shipping, and eco-
tourism. Oil companies are seeking and obtaining permits to
conduct exploratory drilling. Increased vessel traffic,
including large foreign tankers, are using Russia's ice free
northern sea route, which exits through the Bering Sea into our
richest fishing ground. And small cruise ships are pressing
even further above the Arctic Circle.
However, we have extremely limited Arctic response
capabilities. We do not have any infrastructure on the North
Slope to hang our aircraft, moor our boats, or sustain our
crews. And I have only one operational icebreaker.
We need to be about the business of finalizing our
capability requirements to meet our responsibilities in these
new Arctic waters, which still remain frozen and dark for much
of the year. Our recently released high latitude study provides
us with an excellent first strategic look at our Arctic risks
and needs.
I remain very concerned that our nation currently has only
one operational icebreaker. Having ice capable surface assets
is vitally important, both for science, sovereignty, and many
other missions. Indeed, most of our search and rescue missions,
or even environmental response, you need a surface ship to
carry out the response. Surface assets can break out and tow a
ship. They can clean up oil. Aircraft cannot.
Going forward, as Arctic oil exploration starts and
advances toward production, we need to decide what Arctic
pollution response capability we want our Coast Guard and our
nation to have. While oil companies can assert they have
sufficient assets on the scene to respond to a worst case
discharge scenario, prudence dictates that we also acquire an
appropriate level of Arctic pollution response capability.
Presently, we have none.
We also need the Senate to accede to the Law of the Sea
Treaty. All other Arctic nations and most other nations
worldwide have already done so. U.S. accession would secure
important rights to ensure the Coast Guard mobility, freedom of
navigation, and provide us with greater influence to shape
desired national outcomes for maritime safety, security, and
environmental protection.
With that said, I want to assure you that we remain
committed to Alaska. Following the loss of a helicopter out of
Air Station Sitka last year, we immediately re-racked missions
at other Coast Guard stations to obtain a back-fill helicopter.
Operations in Sitka are too important to allow them to go below
three helicopters. We are also pleased that Congress has since
appropriated funding to replace this helicopter.
Additionally, I am temporarily assigning a fifth HH-60
helicopter at Kodiak to support the crab season, and in 2013 I
will permanently assign an HH-60, pending appropriation in the
Fiscal Year 2012 budget request.
I also plan to station two of our new Sentinel class fast
response cutter patrol boats in Ketchikan. In the interim, I am
moving one of our older patrol boats, a 110-foot patrol boat,
from Miami to Ketchikan until the FRCs arrive.
Finally, I cannot forget our hard working Coast Guard men
and women and their families who serve here, and many in remote
locations. We appreciate your continued support in enabling us
to provide for these families. In the Coast Guard, we work as a
crew, but we also serve as a family, and there is nothing more
important than ensuring the needs of our Coast Guard families
are being meet.
So, in conclusion, thank you, sir, for the opportunity to
testify today, and I look forward to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Admiral Papp follows:]
Prepared Statement of Admiral Robert J. Papp, Jr.,
Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard
Good morning, Chairman Rockefeller, Ranking Member Hutchison and
distinguished members of the Committee. I am pleased to be here today
to discuss the Coast Guard's operational presence in the Arctic. I
thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today.
An Evolving Arctic
The United States is an Arctic Nation, and the Coast Guard has been
operating in the Arctic Ocean since Alaska was a territory to assist
scientific exploration, chart the waters, provide humanitarian
assistance to Alaskan Native tribes, conduct Search and Rescue (SAR),
and enforce the law. Today our mission remains remarkably similar to
what it was in 1867; however, as open water continues to replace ice,
human activity is increasing. With increasingly navigable waters, comes
increased Coast Guard responsibility.
Along with our statutory responsibilities, U.S. Arctic policy is
set forth in the 2009 National Security Presidential Directive (NSPD)
66/Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD) 25. The Arctic
Region Policy directive identifies objectives for the Arctic including
directing the Department of Homeland Security to work with other
nations and through the IMO to provide for safe and secure Maritime
Transportation in the Arctic. NSPD-66 also directs the Secretaries of
State, Defense, and Homeland Security, in coordination with heads of
other relevant executive departments and agencies to carry out the
policy as it relates to national security and homeland security
interests in the Arctic. Executive Order 13547 (National Policy for the
Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts, and the Great Lakes) adopts and
directs federal agencies to implement the recommendations of the
Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force. These recommendations include, as
one priority objective, identifying and implementing actions to address
changing conditions in the Arctic through better stewardship. The Coast
Guard is moving forward to execute its responsibilities under these
directives.
The Coast Guard is the Nation's principal maritime safety,
security, environmental protection and law enforcement entity. We have
the lead role in ensuring Arctic maritime safety, security and
stewardship.
From an operational perspective, in order to meet the requirements
set forth in NSPD 66 and EO 13547, we must determine our Nation's
vessel requirements for transiting ice-laden waters, consider
establishing seasonal bases for air and boat operations, and develop a
force structure that can operate in extreme cold and ice. As a matter
of policy and stewardship, the Administration encourages the Senate to
ratify the Law of the Sea Treaty. Law of the Sea has become the
framework for governance in the Arctic. Every Arctic Nation except the
United States is a party. As our responsibilities continue to increase
in direct proportion to the Arctic's emerging waters, it is more vital
than ever that the United States accedes to the Law of the Sea Treaty.
Arctic Trends
The Arctic domain has been gaining national attention. Gradually
increasing accessibility to waters previously covered by ice has
increased the significance of maritime issues including freedom of
navigation, offshore resource exploration and exploitation, and
environmental preservation. Observations and trends relevant to Coast
Guard operations include:
Dynamic changes in ice conditions: The recession of the ice
edge continues to open new water in the summer months. While
there is less ice and more water, the unpredictable movement of
existing ice flows and uncharted waters beneath a previously
frozen sea could present risks to ships that venture into these
waters.
Offshore Resource Development: Oil companies are in the
process of taking advantage of drilling and exploratory
opportunities in the Arctic. In May 2011, Shell submitted a
plan of exploration to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) that details company plans
to drill exploratory wells in the Chukchi Sea beginning in
2012. Other companies, including ConocoPhillips and Statoil,
own leases on the Arctic outer continental shelf and may submit
exploration plans as well. Shell is currently in the process of
retrofitting a mobile offshore drilling unit (MODU), the
Kulluk, designed for drilling in the offshore Arctic
environment and plans to have the drilling platform operational
in the spring of 2012. Shell modified their exploration plan
and updated their worst case discharge estimates from 5,500
barrels per day to 24,000 barrels per day to comply with new
BOEMRE requirements. The Coast Guard received Shell's revised
oil spill response plan from BOEMRE in May 2011 to review worst
case discharge estimates against the current Area Contingency
Plans and is now updating the North Slope and Northwest Arctic
Subarea Contingency Plans to reflect this new activity.
Extended Continental Shelf: This summer marks the fourth
year the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter (CGC) HEALY and the Canadian
icebreaker LOUIS ST. LAURENT will work together to collect
seismic and bathymetric data in the Arctic Ocean. This data is
necessary to delineate the outer limits of the continental
shelf beyond 200 nautical miles.
Meeting Homeland Security Needs in the Arctic
As part of a multi-agency effort to implement the Arctic Region
Policy, the Coast Guard continues to push forward and assess our Arctic
operational limits. In 2008, 2009 and 2010 the Coast Guard set up
small, temporary Forward Operating Locations on the North Slope in
Prudhoe Bay, Nome, Barrow and Kotzebue, AK to conduct pulse operations
with Coast Guard boats, helicopters, and Maritime Safety and Security
Teams. We also deployed our light-ice capable 225-foot ocean-going buoy
tenders to test our equipment, train our crews and increase our
awareness of maritime activity in the region. Additionally, from April
to November we fly two aircraft sorties a month to evaluate private,
commercial, and governmental activities. These initial missions have
provided valuable information that we are applying to future
operations, gaining insight on infrastructure requirements and force
structure development.
Protecting the Maritime Environment
To protect the Arctic environment, we engage industry and the
private sector to address their significant responsibilities for
pollution prevention, preparedness, and response capability.
Recognizing that pollution response is significantly more difficult in
cold, ice and darkness, enhancing preventative measures is critical.
Those engaging in offshore commercial activity in the Arctic must also
plan and prepare for emergency response in the face of a harsh
environment, long transit distances for air and surface assets and
limited response resources. We continue to work on raising awareness of
these challenges, and foster continued development of contingency
plans, and communications.
While prevention is critical, the Coast Guard must be able to
respond to pollution incidents where responsible parties are not known
or fail to adequately respond. The Federal On-Scene Coordinators and
their staffs at Sector Juneau, Sector Anchorage, and Marine Safety Unit
Valdez provide incident management expertise and limited pre-positioned
response equipment. Additionally, the Coast Guard Pacific Strike Team
based in Novato, CA maintains response equipment and specialized
personnel which can deploy to the Arctic on short notice. Furthermore,
Air Station Kodiak C-130 crews are trained to deploy the Aerial
Dispersant Delivery System (ADDS) out of Anchorage.
We have exercised the Vessel of Opportunity Skimming System (VOSS)
and the Spilled Oil Recovery System (SORS) in Alaskan waters, but we
have yet to conduct exercises north of the Arctic Circle. Both of these
systems enable vessels to collect oil in the event of a discharge. The
VOSS is deployable and capable of being used on a variety of ships and
the SORS is permanently stored and deployed from the Coast Guard's 225-
foot ocean-going buoy tenders. However, these systems have limited
capacity and are only effective in ice-free conditions.
The Coast Guard needs to test and evaluate these systems in icy
waters. Notably, the President's Fiscal Year 2012 Budget supports
research and development work, including research on oil detection and
recovery in icy water conditions.
There are five Oil Spill Removal Organizations (OSROs) classified
in the State of Alaska that support vessel and facility response plan
holders. Two large OSROs service Prince William Sound and Prudhoe Bay;
one OSRO provides response capabilities in Cook Inlet; and two service
the Aleutian chain and Southeast Alaska with response capability for
refined products only. None of the OSROs in Alaska are classified for
open ocean responses.
Fisheries are also a major concern. The National Marine Fisheries
Service, based on a recommendation from the North Pacific Fisheries
Management Council, imposed a moratorium on fishing within the U.S. EEZ
north of the Bering Strait until an assessment of the practicality of
sustained commercial fishing is completed. Regardless of the outcome of
this assessment, the Coast Guard will continue to carry out its mission
to enforce and protect living marine resources in the region.
Facilitating Safe, Secure, and Reliable Navigation
The Coast Guard continues to update the Waterways Analysis and
Management System to determine navigational requirements, vessel
traffic density and appropriate ship routing measures. The Coast Guard
is also moving forward with a Bering Strait Port Access Routing Study,
which is a preliminary analysis to determine navigational and vessel
traffic and other safety requirements. This study is in the initial
phase and, because the Bering Strait is an international body of water,
this requires coordination with the Russian Federation before it can be
acted upon by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
Supporting Multi-Agency Arctic Region Policy Implementation
The Coast Guard continues to support international and multilateral
organizations, studies, projects and initiatives, including work with
the Arctic Council, IMO and their respective working groups. The Coast
Guard also conducts joint contingency response exercises with Canada
and maintains communications and working relationships with Canadian
and Russian agencies responsible for regional operations, including SAR
and law enforcement. Additionally, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
recently signed an Arctic SAR agreement, which memorialized the intent
of all Arctic nations to cooperate in SAR operations. The Coast Guard
will continue to engage Arctic nations, international organizations,
industry and Alaskan state, local and tribal governments to strengthen
our partnerships and inter-operability. To meet this end, the Coast
Guard is cooperating with the Department of State, BOEMRE, the National
Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and others in
leading U.S. participation in the Arctic Council and EPPR to develop an
Arctic wide instrument focused on improving availability and access to
Arctic capable equipment and personnel for catastrophic incident
response.
In particular, engagement with Alaskan Native Tribes continues to
be highly beneficial. Efforts to learn from their centuries of
knowledge--and their willingness to share it--have made operations
safer and more successful. This year, the Coast Guard is again working
with tribes in remote villages on the North Slope and along
northwestern Alaska to conduct boating safety exchanges. The Coast
Guard is working hard to ensure tribal equities are recognized and
considered. The Coast Guard continues to value our partnerships with
our Native Alaskan friends.
CGC HEALY is presently supporting Arctic research efforts
throughout the summer and into early fall. These operations are
supporting research by the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA), Naval Research Lab, National Science Foundation,
Office of Naval Research, and the Department of State. Presently, NASA
scientists are aboard CGC HEALY conducting their ICESCAPE mission--
``Impacts of Climate on Ecosystems and Chemistry of the Arctic Pacific
Environment'' to study the impacts of climate change in the Chukchi and
Beaufort seas. NASA does part of this mission from space--but also
needs ``boots on the ice'' to better understand satellite data from
this complex and emerging region.
Law Of The Sea Treaty
All other Arctic nations and most other nations worldwide have
acceded to the Law of the Sea Treaty. Arctic nations are using the
treaty's provisions in Article 76 to file extended continental shelf
claims with the U.N. Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf
(CLCS) in order to expand the territory over which they have exclusive
rights to resources on and beneath the Arctic seabed. If the United
States made an extended continental shelf claim, the Nation could
potentially assert sovereignty over 240 miles of additional seabed
territory out to 440 miles from our land base line, far beyond the
existing 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone. This area
reportedly contains some of the richest deposits of oil and natural gas
in the Arctic. However, until the United States accedes to the Law of
the Sea Treaty, it is unlikely CLCS will entertain any U.S. submission
of an extended continental shelf claim. Acceding to the Law of the Sea
Treaty also provides the United States with standing to work within the
Law of the Sea Convention framework with other Arctic Nations on issues
such as environmental stewardship. As such, the Administration, along
with other industry and academic leaders, supports favorable action on
the part of the U.S. Senate with regard to the Law of the Sea Treaty.
Current Arctic Capacities And Limitations
The U.S. Coast Guard's extensive history of Arctic service provides
both experience and an expansive network of governmental, non-
governmental, and private partnerships to draw upon. However, while
summer operations continue to provide valuable lessons and help us gain
insights regarding the Arctic, we must acknowledge the seasonal
limitation of these efforts.
There are few national assets capable of operating in the harsh
Arctic maritime environment. As new capabilities are developed, the
Coast Guard will work to ensure its force structure is appropriately
sized, trained, equipped, and postured to meet its Arctic mission
requirements. Currently, the Coast Guard has one operational ice
breaker, the 11-year-old HEALY, a medium icebreaker or Polar Class 3,
specifically adapted for scientific research. Our two heavy polar ice
breakers, or Polar Class 1s, are not operational. The 34-year old POLAR
SEA has been out of commission due to a major engineering casualty, and
is now in the process of being decommissioned. The 35-year old POLAR
STAR, which has been in a caretaker status since 2006, is currently
undergoing a major reactivation project, funded by 2009 and 2010
appropriations, and is expected to be ready for operations in 2013.
Surface capability is vital to meet our responsibilities in the region.
Although the risk of an incident in ice-covered U.S. waters is
currently low, our Nation must plan for ice capable assets in the
future that can effectively carry out SAR and environmental response in
ice-laden waters. In the near term, the Coast Guard can utilize the
HEALY to manage the response or rely on our foreign arctic partners
that have icebreakers operating in the area.
The Coast Guard's most immediate operational requirement, however,
is infrastructure. Energy exploration is emerging on the North Slope of
Alaska, but the existing infrastructure is extremely limited. The Coast
Guard needs facilities to base crews, hangar aircraft, and protect
vessels in order to perform prevention and response missions.
Conclusion
With an emerging Arctic Ocean comes increased national operational
responsibilities. National Security Presidential Directive (NSPD) 66/
Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD) 25 and Executive Order
13547 guide the Arctic region mission objectives for all agencies
including the Coast Guard. To meet NSPD 66's and EO 13547's direction,
the Coast Guard is working closely with its many inter-agency partners,
and Alaska State, local and tribal governments. For the past 4 years,
the Coast Guard has been conducting limited Arctic operations during
open water periods. However, as operational tempo increases in the
Arctic, the Coast Guard will require specialized vessels, aircraft, and
crews trained to operate in extreme climates.
The nation must build toward a level of mission performance and
preparedness commensurate with the relative risks posed by Arctic
activity. The Coast Guard must continue working amongst the interagency
to refine future mission requirements, identify the precise mix of
national assets, capabilities and infrastructure needed to meet these
requirements, and look for collocation opportunities. Coast Guard will
continue to seek out opportunities with our Arctic neighbors and the
global community to address the critical issues of governance,
sovereignty, environmental protection, and international security.
While there are many challenges, the increasingly open Arctic Ocean
also presents unique opportunities. The relatively undeveloped
infrastructure, current low commercial maritime activity levels, and
developing governance structure provide an opening to engage in
proactive, integrated, coordinated, and sustainable U.S. and
international initiatives. The Coast Guard looks forward to working
with the Congress on how we can support our emerging national
objectives and responsibilities in the Arctic Ocean.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. I look forward to
your questions.
Senator Begich. Thank you, Admiral Papp. And again I want
to thank you and your folks here not only in Alaska, but around
the country, because any time there is a disaster, no matter
where it is, they are--you draw from wherever your resources
are. So, thank you for the men and women that work for the
Coast Guard, both in uniform and civilian. They do an
incredible job. And it is always a pleasure to go to the
facilities, but also to go to some of the events that they are
engaged in, such as the annual recognition of the work they do.
So, thank you for that.
Let me, if I can, you hit on one thing, and this will be
very quick. I ask you this on every opportunity because I
continue to want to make it part of the record. You said it
toward the end there, and that is just briefly the importance
of the Law of the Sea. It is, at least from my perspective, it
is the one document that it seems like everyone agrees. It is
just the process of getting it to the Senate and have some
action on it.
But, again, for the record, the Coast Guard is supportive
of the Law of the Sea at this point.
Admiral Papp. Oh, absolutely, Mr. Chairman. We have--I have
stated that publicly in almost every forum I go to. And we are
continuing to work and make the round and speak to whatever
group that will listen to us to press the need for this to be
acceded to.
Senator Begich. Excellent. Let me--there is an effort--I
know the Arctic Council did some work in regards to oil spill
or rescue coordination, but now they are kind of focused with
the Arctic nations in regards to oil spill technology and what
can be done in the future.
The Oil Spill Commission recommended that the Coast Guard
work to involve more state and local in the planning and
training through regional councils. And we will have some of
those later that you and I will have a chance to listen to. Can
you give me kind of your thoughts on how the Coast Guard will
take that recommendation from the Oil Spill Commission, and
what to do with it next, and how to engage local communities? I
know we are doing it here obviously in the Prince William Sound
and the Cook Inlet, but the Arctic will be a future opportunity
in the Gulf obviously.
Admiral Papp. Yes, sir. I agree completely with the
philosophical concept of engaging. The Coast Guard is unique
amongst our five services because for the most part, we are
assigned locally. We have become parts of the communities that
we live in. And it is not unusual for us, even in a large port
like New York or any of our sectors, where we have safety
committees, we have maritime security commissions. We bring in
state, local, federal NGOs all together under the auspices of
our Coast Guard to listen, to gain consensus, and to leverage
each other, and form partnerships in order to get the jobs
done. In fact, one of my principles by becoming Commandant is
to strengthen our partnerships, knowing full well the Coast
Guard could never do the job on our own, nor do we know
everything, and we need to rely on other people's advice and
counsel.
I carried that forward by going up to the North Slope
during this visit and spending parts of two days up there
listening to Mayor Itta, listening to the assembly, talking to
the people in the community, and getting a feel for what goes
on up there. This is all very important to us.
The ultimate codification of that concept is--would be a
regional committee. Whether we need an official regional
committee in the Arctic I think is something that is worthy of
further consideration and discussion. I think it works well in
areas like--for instance, I met with the group over in----
Senator Begich. Prince William Sound.
Admiral Papp.--in Valdez for Prince William Sound
yesterday. And I think that that has developed and served us
well over time. Whether we need something as formalized as
that, I am not confident at this point, but I certainly agree
that we have to engage all parties, listen to their concerns,
and we will continue forward with that.
Senator Begich. Very good. Let me ask you. I know Canada is
doing some work with--you mentioned our icebreaker capacity,
and I should have--I want to ask you. We have three. Two are
not operational right now, and the one we have is how old, that
is out there right now?
Admiral Papp. The one that is out there right now is the
Cutter HEALY, and she is coming up on 12 years old right now.
Senator Begich. Twelve years. And I think what Canada is
doing, and I am just looking at my notes here, is an Arctic
capable offshore patrol. There has been about $3.3 billion in
the aid of these facilities. Is that something that is
worthwhile looking at--it is not a full icebreaker, but it is
Arctic capable--for patrol and enforcement. Is that worthy of
the Coast Guard? I know you just finished your high latitude
study and had a lot of resource needs which we would need in
the Arctic. Does this fit into it, or is what Canada is doing
just a little bit different in what their targeting goal is?
Admiral Papp. Well, they are looking at ice capable
vessels--
Senator Begich. Right.
Admiral Papp.--and I think the concept of ice capable
vessels is good. In fact, it is our intention next summer to
bring up a couple of ships, which I call ice capable. We have
225-foot buoy tenders, our WLBs. We have 16 of them in service;
they are very versatile, capable ships. We use them for
breaking ice on the Great Lakes. And, in fact, we have one of
them deployed in the Eastern Canadian Arctic this summer in
Operation Nanook. We have once before sent one up to the North
Slope, and it was probably the most successful large cutter
that we have had up there. It has an ice strength hull. It can
do minimal icebreaking.
It is my intention at this point to send two of them up
next summer because I think we have the capacity to do that.
And try to keep a one ship presence at all times up there as
exploration starts, also to give us some additional experience.
That should inform decisions made in the future. Obviously
I have got acquisition project baselines----
Senator Begich. Right.
Admiral Papp.--working right now that I need all the
capacity within our acquisition budget to execute. Taking ice
capable above and beyond what we have right now is another step
beyond that. But, as I said, I believe we have got ice capable
ships.
Senator Begich. Do you think you have some that are close
or similar capacity to what Canada is doing that you can have
ice capable? Again, it is not icebreaking; it is ice capable,
meaning that they could sustain--
Admiral Papp. Yes, sir, that is correct. And I would say
the only lack of capability that these ships that I would--that
we would deploy up there and have is that they do not have a
helicopter flight deck. I think ideally what you would like is
to have a ship up there that does have a flight deck, that can
hangar helicopters. You really--if you can put a ship up there
that has got worldwide communications, it is ice capable, it
has a flight deck and can hangar helicopters, you almost
eliminate your need for shore side infrastructure----
Senator Begich. Right.
Admiral Papp.--because you have got it all there.
Senator Begich. You have got it all there. It is a
floating----
Admiral Papp. A floating city.
Senator Begich. Yeah. Tell me the experience, and I know
you mentioned on the national security cutter, the BERTHOLF,
was there anything as you are continuing to construct new
facilities, did you learn something off of that experience that
said, aha, we have got to maybe make some modifications? Or
tell me how--I know you mentioned it went well, but did you--
was there things in that that really told you, we got to make
some modifications? What was your experience in that, or is too
early to kind of know at this time?
Admiral Papp. I have seen no problems. Now, I did not ride
BERTHOLF in the Arctic. I have got good reports from the
Commanding Officer. But I did have an opportunity a few months
ago to go to the Cutter WAESCHE, the sister ship, which was
operating off San Francisco at the time. Had a chance to ride
the ship for the entire day. I am a lifelong sailor. I am a
ship captain. And I am almost tempted to trade in my stripes if
I could go back and be captain of one of these ships. It just
has such great capability. I saw no flaws. I saw nothing that
steers me away from the course that we are on right now. We
just need to get more of them out there because they allow our
crews more flexibility, more capability, greater effectiveness,
and greater comfort when they are operating in the harsh
environments of the Arctic.
And as we know, the Arctic stretches all the way down to
the Aleutian Islands----
Senator Begich. That is right.
Admiral Papp.--for our purposes. And they have got to be
able to operate from the Gulf of Alaska all the way up above
the Arctic Circle.
Senator Begich. So, at this point, there is nothing that
stands out--it seems like a pretty good ship to continue to
construct and develop at this point.
Admiral Papp. Absolutely. And we have a fixed price for it
now.
Senator Begich. That is even better.
Admiral Papp. As long as we have predictability of the
shipyard. And, as I said, we are in the final negotiations on
number five now, so I cannot talk much about it. But I am
confident we are coming in at a good price. But what the
shipyard does is it needs the incentive of a predictable
funding stream in order for them to go out and buy long-lead
items and other things to keep the price low and to keep the
production line going.
Senator Begich. Very good. What--if I can move into another
realm--we have a little bit of time left here before we go into
the listening session. And that is, you have declared 2011 the
year of the Coast Guard family. And I know your wife has been
visiting some of the housing and some of the locations. Can you
give me some of your thoughts on what we need to be doing? And
I say we collectively. I know you are doing work on your end.
But what does Congress need to do, because the most important
thing--I mean, you know it better than anyone. If your families
are well taken care of, the odds are you increase the capacity
of response. And people who want to come to Alaska, work in
these incredible conditions. I know it is the scorecard every
Coasty wants to get to come to Alaska. But it is tough work,
and the families are an important part of it.
What are some of the things that you are working on? I know
housing, we are going to hear later today from folks concerned
about housing access capacity. But what are some of the other
things that we need to be doing collectively to really make a
difference for families, so when you put the call out for more
folks to be part of the Coast Guard, there is not a hesitation?
There is a great desire because it works not only for them as
individuals, but for their families.
Admiral Papp. What Linda and I have heard from our families
up here, and, yes, sir, it is the year of the family. I think I
made a mistake when I called it year of the family because it
implies one year. We have a number of option years which we
will exercise as we go along.
Senator Begich. For infinity basically.
Admiral Papp. I am humbled. I am humbled when I come up to
places like Alaska and other places in the country where I see
these patriotic young men and women who join up and serve for
the honor of serving, their dedication. And they will put up
with shortcomings because they love what they do. They love
being in Alaska, and they know they are making a difference.
They are saving lives.
But they should not have to put up with some of the things
they put up with. And if it was across all five of the
services, I might understand. But I have had a chance to visit
Navy bases, Air Force bases, Army forts, Marine Corps camps,
and I have seen the housing that they have been able to build
for their people over the last 10 years through public/private
ventures and other means. And the Coast Guard has fallen
woefully behind the other services in terms of the housing and
other benefits that they are able to provide.
Part of that is that community--being stationed in the
community that we talk about. We are in remote locations in
small numbers. Therefore, it is hard to like what the other
services do where they are primarily on large bases where they
have multiple services, family services, housing, and
everything else. The Coast Guard always lacks the critical mass
to get that done.
So, consequently, my estimate is we have about a $2 billion
backlog in shore projects. A lot of that is housing. Some of it
is station buildings, piers, bulkheads, and other things. And
we just, because of higher priorities--ships and aircraft,
which if you do not repair them or replace them, they either
sink or they fall from the sky. So, housing and shore things
always tend to take a backseat unfortunately to some of the
other higher demands that we have.
How we get about the business of chipping away at that
backlog is a severe challenge for us, particularly as we go
into more constrained budgets. But I would just ask for
Congress's consideration and remembering that there are very
needy Coast Guard families out there that need better housing.
Some of our housing, while we do our best to try and keep it
up, it is 50, 60 years old or more, and many times hand me
downs from other services that have left----
Senator Begich. Some of it has actually been moved onto the
Coast Guard bases that have been old stuff.
Admiral Papp. Absolutely.
Senator Begich. You know, it is interesting the military--
from the DoD end, you are right. There is this effort, this
kind of public/private partnership where they have been able,
because they have such quantity. Do you think there is an
avenue, even though you have remote locations, maybe taking,
you know, the top five or six or seven or maybe ten locations
that have at least a marginal volume, batching them together
into a national private/public partnership kind of deal where
you can say to--like what they have done--I know here we have
some incredible housing, you have probably seen it on the base
here, that has been developed over the years. And it is a
public/private partnership.
Is there way maybe that--because some of these companies do
work nationally, they are all over the place--to say, okay,
here are our 10 locations. We are going to batch them together.
And what we want to do is the same thing that the Army did or
the Air Force did where they do these 30-, 40-, 50-year lease
programs where it is actually huge benefit for the servicemen
and women. Is that worthwhile to explore do you think?
Admiral Papp. Absolutely. Yes, sir. In fact, we have a
number of locations right now where we have worked with the
authorities that the Department of Defense has. And what we
have done is we have done inter-service transfers of property.
For instance, we have property in Hawaii where we transfer the
property over to the Army. The Army has a public/private
venture. They went in, tore down the old housing----
Senator Begich. Gotcha.
Admiral Papp.--building new housing. And the Coast Guard is
able to use it. Elmendorf has been great in terms of offering
opportunities for our people, and we have other locations where
the--for instance, I have Coast Guard people in Washington,
D.C. that live down at Fort Belvoir in the public/private
venture housing. So, we take advantage of that wherever we can.
We do inter-service trades wherever we can. But right now,
the Coast Guard does not have its own authority to----
Senator Begich. Right.
Admiral Papp.--to enter--we once had it, but then we ran
into a problem because, I believe it is--I have to clarify
this, but I believe it is a GAO rule in terms of scoring
against your budget. And what you have to do is you have to
come up with upfront money scored against your budget to the
entire cost of the project, which we have never been able to
absorb within our appropriation. So, we are investigating other
ways we might get around that before we come back to all of you
and ask for the authorities once again to enter into it.
Senator Begich. Well, I will tell you. I thought we would
have a hearing without mentioning CBO, but I will leave that.
Yeah. But, no, you know, you and I probably go crazy with the
way they do their work. For the public as an audience, the
Congressional Budget Office does all this scoring, which is
really trying to figure out how things are paid for or not, and
then later in life we find out they were off. But we will put
that aside for another debate. I will do that in the Budget
Committee, I will have that argument.
But I will say this, that we should look at this. I mean, I
know there were some issues last time on the scoring. But as we
move forward for reauthorization of the Coast Guard, you know,
I think we are anxious, because I think the housing and the
onshore facilities are critical. And if DOD can get the
authorization, we got to figure out how to skin this cat, allow
you the same authorization, or at least have that tool in your
box. So, how you use it will be your determination.
But CBO is a mystery group. I do not know where they are in
the Capitol, but they are probably in some room down with no
windows. And they make stuff up, and they bring it to us, and
we go, that is the answer, I guess. You have had to suffer
through it. I have had to suffer through it.
Admiral Papp. Well, just to show you how deeply I believe
in this, we actually sold the Commandant's house. We owned a
home in Chevy Chase for the Commandant for close to 45 years, I
think it was. We looked at public/private ventures. The Air
Force allowed us to get into it. I now live on Bolling Air
Force Base in Washington, D.C., and I pay my housing allowance
each month for at least--it is owned by a private company. And
the Committee last year in our authorization bill gave us the
authorities to take the proceeds from the sale of homes, turn
that back into Coast Guard housing projects.
Senator Begich. Excellent.
Admiral Papp. So, we sold the Commandant's house, the Vice
Commandant's house, and the Chief of Staff's house. Brought in
about $4 million, which we will gladly now turn into housing
for our enlisted people.
Senator Begich. Oh, that is great. Well, let us clearly
work on that. I know we are at our last minute here. I will
just say one thing in regards to that, and another area that we
will want to work on. I know as I have traveled throughout the
State, especially down in Ketchikan and Kodiak and others, as
you mentioned, when you kind of look at the priorities of your
ships, your airplanes, your air capacity, and then shore, it is
always kind of the last to get the money just because you got
to keep these moving.
As we figure out and work on the housing, let us--I know
you need additional resources for facilities to maintain the
air capacity and the water capacity. So know there are some
efforts that we need to make in regards to ensuring that there
are resources there to provide the facilities. Otherwise, you
cannot do the full maintenance, or you are doing it because I
have seen those guys. They are working unbelievable, and they
are working in conditions that if they just had more space, or
a better hangar, or a better docking facility, they could
actually produce even more capacity and, my bet is, save us
money. I am guessing that, watching how they have to work in
very tight quarters when they are moving ships in and out to
maintain them or aircraft. And so, that is an area of real
concern that we have.
Admiral Papp. And I would just put in a plug that we do
have a lot of money in the 2012 budget, part of which goes
towards Ketchikan----
Senator Begich. Right.
Admiral Papp.--to prepare the piers and waterside
facilities for those two patrol boats that we intend to put
there in the future.
Senator Begich. And when is the timetable again on the
patrol boats, do you think, the two new ones?
Admiral Papp. We have to put critical mass--in other words,
in terms of--we prepared support for them in Key West and in
Miami, and that is where the first boats will go. That is why
we are freeing up one of the patrol boats from Miami, will come
up here to sort of fill a little bit of the gap right now.
I anticipate by the time we get the facilities built in
Ketchikan and the patrol boats, given the expectation that that
contract will continue on schedule, I think it is probably
going to be about three or four years before the boats actually
arrive in Ketchikan.
Senator Begich. But still, that is not bad at all.
Let me say, Admiral Papp, thank you very much. This is
actually the official hearing, and what we are going to step
into next, and I understand you are going to join me up here
for a listening session. We have a great group of Alaskans and
others who want to present on different issues to us, which we
are anxious to accept.
The official field hearing will close now, but we will
leave the record open for additional comments for the next
weeks.
But, again, Admiral Papp, to your wife, thank you very
much. And to your team that is here, thank you for what you do
every day to keep our waters and air and keep our--especially
our fishing season right now, which I know is very busy,
keeping things safe on the line.
Thank you very much.
Admiral Papp. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Begich. This field hearing is adjourned, and we
will reassemble as a listening session in just a few minutes.
[Whereupon, at 10:35 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]