Anchorage Daily News

BEAUFORT SEA -- As part of a series of moves to bolster its Arctic presence, the U.S. Coast Guard has started extending its high endurance cutter deployment from the Bering Sea into the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, and up into the Arctic Ocean, according to Petroleum News. The 378-foot Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton is leading the effort and the 225-foot Coast Guard Cutter Spar has also been deployed to the Arctic.

"This operation supports the Department of Homeland Security's efforts to extend maritime safety and security to the Arctic region in the face of retreating polar sea ice," a Coast Guard statement said. "There's more water in the Arctic than ever before and the Coast Guard is accountable for its security," said Admiral Thad Allen, Coast Guard commandant.

USCG has been operating biweekly surveillance flights up the Chukchi Sea coast since October using its Kodiak-based Hercules. And in July the Coast Guard deployed some personnel, helicopters and response vessels to Barrow, at the northwest end of the North Slope, for a few weeks, to evaluate what the Coast Guard can usefully do in the North Slope region.

ADVERTISEMENT