Last Friday, the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard said that the country needs to make up it's mind as to what's expected from the Coast Guard relative to national security and any need for an enviroental cleanup in either the Bering Sea or the Arctic Ocean, both bordering Alaska. The Coast Guard CO said they have minimal equipment, bases or personnel in that region. He went on to say that most of the ships and equipment we have there is reaching the end of it's life cycle.

There have been other articles reporting on what's happening with regard to oil exploration in the Arctic Ocean. With the rapid melting of the polar ice cap Russia is well along in building and placing dozens of drill rigs in newly opened water, as well as fleets of oil tankers and ice breakers. We don't even have one ice breaker assigned to that region. (Let's not argue about whether global warming is melting the polar ice--something is melting it and Russia is responding in a big way while the U.S. is doing nothing.)

So why is this important? Because the shortest route to get crude oil from the northern seas to refineries and markets is down through the Bering Straights, only a few miles off the environmentally sensitive Alaska coastline and the productive fishing grounds in the Bering Sea and off western Canada. Any environmental disaster in those oceans could be carried down through the Bering Sea and through the Aleutian Islands until picked up by the southbound Japanese Current and ultimately spread along the entire west coast of the U.S. Note that disasters in these oceans would not effect the country that may have caused them, Russia.

A disaster like either the Exxon Valdez or a "blown" drill rig like Deepwater Horizon could not be responded to or contained by either the U.S. or Canada. If we thought either of the former disasters was bad, something similar would be far, far worse.

So what should the U.S. do? Should we spend money we don't have to improve the capability of our Coast Guard? We really can't rely on the Russian oil companies to protect our environment, can we? From all reports, all the money they're spending is on production equipment and facilities, with nothing being reported on safety or equipment to confront environmental disasters.

So, what do we do? What's the answer? What's the role of government? Which government? What should be expected of the private sector? Which companies? From what countries? For those who say that the private sector will solve problems such as this, how can an international economy effectively regulate or require actions by private companies in multiple countries? Who has legal authority over companies from one country which may be taking actions detrimental to other countries?

Comments?