"Coast Guard expands patrol in Arctic; Role to grow as global warming melts icy waters" by Kirk Johnson | New York Times, July 22, 2012
BARROW, Alaska — The effort, called Arctic Shield, began this month as a pilot project combining search and rescue responsibilities with disaster response and maritime safety enforcement. It will presumably only expand, Coast Guard officials say, as global warming melts these once ice-locked waters....
“The Arctic has been identified as a priority,’’ said Commander Frank McConnell, the operations coordinator for Arctic Shield....
But the operation also introduces a new element to the complex and rapidly evolving portrait of what this vast, stark corner of the nation is becoming: a duty mission.
Related: Polar attraction
Oh, the ice formed and now the Sound is inaccessible?
Wherever re$ources are to be found.
Shell Oil, driven by a search for profits, is preparing for its first drilling operations next month in two spots northeast and northwest of Barrow.
The environmental group Greenpeace, vehemently opposed to Arctic drilling and its risks, has sent its own ship north for what the group says is a research project. Freight haulers have been streaming through, seeking a shortcut across the top of the world, and passenger cruise ships loaded with tourists have started to stake out new routes.
That keeps icing up.
Shell plans to have a daily Boeing 737 flight between Barrow and Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city, just to ferry personnel. The company will also have its own helicopter service from Barrow — population 4,000 — to the ocean drilling sites. The Coast Guard, in conjunction with the Navy and other agencies, is planning an oil spill cleanup response exercise on the water early next month.
“More traffic up there means more people,’’ said Commander Kevin Riddle, the captain of the Coast Guard cutter Alex Haley, which was preparing to deploy north this month from its base in Kodiak, Alaska.
With cruise ships full of hundreds of passengers potentially needing rescue, tanker ships going adrift in coastal areas or getting stuck in sea ice, and the energy boom itself, Riddle said, once largely empty waters are getting more crowded.
What do you mean getting stuck in sea ice? I was told it was all disappearing.
--more--"
"Oil rig aground in Alaska may pose threat; Tow lines fail in rough seas; no pollution so far" by John M. Broder and Henry Fountain | New York Times, January 02, 2013
WASHINGTON — One of Shell Oil’s two Arctic drilling rigs is beached on an island in the Gulf of Alaska, threatening environmental damage from a fuel spill and calling into question Shell’s plans to resume drilling in treacherous waters north of Alaska in the summer....
Steven Russell of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation said that, so far, there was no sign of harm to the environment or wildlife....
It was the latest in a series of mishaps to befall Shell’s ambitious plans to prospect for oil in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas off Alaska’s North Slope.
Shell halted drilling in September after equipment failures, unexpected ice floes, operational missteps, and regulatory delays forced the company to scale back its plans....
Unexpected what?
--more--"
Related: Most Ice Gain Ever Recorded
Are you tired of the AmeriKan media and its lies yet?
Never saw a word of that in my Globe, either.
Back to the rig:
"Drilling vessel nears Alaskan shelter" Associated Press, January 08, 2013
ANCHORAGE — The Kulluk, a circular drill barge without its own propulsion, ran aground New Year’s Eve in a powerful storm. It was being towed to Seattle for maintenance before it ran aground, but the lines that connected it to the towing ship broke....
The effort to move and salvage the ship involves more than 730 people, according to the Unified Command, which includes the Coast Guard, Shell, and contractors involved in the tow and salvage operation....
--more--"
"The Arctic sea ice shrinks over the summer and grows in the winter"
No kidding?
"The new record may not convince some global warming skeptics, who continue to question the general scientific consensus that human-generated greenhouse gas emissions are helping drive climate change."
As the ice has begun to reform.
You know where they are going with it.
"Earthquake sparks tsunami warning
JUNEAU — A powerful earthquake prompted a tsunami warning along hundreds of miles of Alaskan and Canadian coastline, but the alert was canceled when no damaging waves were generated. The magnitude 7.5 quake struck at midnight Friday and was centered about 60 miles west of Craig, Alaska, according to the US Geological Survey (AP)."
"Lost, blind dog finds way back to Alaska owners" Associated Press, December 26, 2012
FAIRBANKS, Alaska — Blind and alone in Alaska winter temperatures that dipped 40 degrees below zero, a lost 8-year-old Fairbanks dog wasn’t given much of a chance to make it home.
But after walking 10 miles to the edge of a local musher’s dog yard, Abby the brown-and-white mixed breed was found and returned to her owners....
‘‘It’s a miracle, there’s no other words to describe it,’’ said McKenzie Grapengeter, emotion choking her voice and tears coming to her eyes....
--more--"
That dog sees better than the global-warming cultists. Must be all the fart mist.
