Fairbanks News Miner.  Tucked away in this year’s Image result for shell oil logoCoast Guard Reauthorization Act, a $175 million bill that just passed the Senate by a unanimous vote, is a land transfer that could be consequential for Alaska’s future role in the Arctic. Conveying 2,500 acres of federal land to state control at Point Clarence on the Seward Peninsula, the provision could set the location for a long-sought deepwater port for the northern half of the state. It’s the latest in a slow-moving chain of events coming together into a framework for Alaska’s future role as a leader in arctic affairs — if those here and in Washington, D.C. maintain their focus.

Point Clarence is northwest of Nome, near the tip of the Seward Peninsula that constitutes the westernmost reach of the North American continent. It’s 786 miles almost due north of the state’s closest existing deepwater port in Unalaska. In shipping terms, that’s a world away. The port in Unalaska is well more than 1,000 miles from offshore oil exploration sites in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, a fact that complicated producer Shell’s efforts to coordinate the movements of its oil platform and associated ships when drilling test wells.