WHERE:  Gorsuch Commons, University of Alaska Anchorage
 
WHEN:  2:00 – 5:00 pm on June 14, 2013

WASHINGTON BRASS GATHER IN ANCHORAGE TODAY.

Today Federal Administration officials will meet in Anchorage to discuss a National Strategy for the Arctic Region.  Jim Egan (NGP Photo), of Commonwealth North, sent us a notice, "that on May 10, Jim Egan, Commonwealth North, Arctic Policy, Photo by Dave Harbour2013, the President signed the National Strategy for the Arctic Region. At that time—recognizing that successful implementation of the National Strategy will depend upon productive collegial engagement with Alaska Natives, the State of Alaska, Members of Alaska’s congressional delegation, and other key stakeholders—the White House Fran Ulmer, Alaska Lieutenant Governor, Arctic Policy, University of Alaska, Photo by Dave Harbourannounced that it would host initial meetings in Alaska in June to discuss how best to move forward."

The roundtable will be moderated by Alaska’s former Lieutenant Governor, Fran Ulmer (NGP Photo), Egan said.  Ulmer is also Chair of the Arctic Research Commission. Participants will include :
 

Commentary:  With federal officials gathered en masse today in Anchorage, we suggest they consider yesterday’s natural resource policy commentary (below).

We also suggest the visitors review the RDC position regarding one of many examples of EPA overreach, here.  

We further urge readers to respond to the RDC summons and send in a comment today (Here is how).

-dh
Nancy Sutley (Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality)
 
Kathy Sullivan (Acting Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
 
David Hayes (Deputy Secretary of the Interior)
 
Tommy P. Beaudreau (Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management)
 
Rear Admiral Thomas Ostebo (U.S. Coast Guard)
 
Ambassador David Balton (Department of State)
 
Tony Ceraolo (Director, Maritime Security and Director, Arctic Region Policy, National Security Staff)
 
Brendan P. Kelly (Assist. Director, Polar Science, Office of Science & Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President)
 
Egan said that, the Arctic priorities that Commonwealth North has published include :
 
·         With the State of Alaska, the U.S. should adopt a concrete plan of action to meet the broad opportunities and responsibilities America faces as an Arctic nation.  Recognize that the Arctic’s diverse “natural capital,” energy, fish, minerals, and location are strategic U.S. assets.  Managed right, these assets will sustain us today and tomorrow.
·         The Arctic’s cold helps moderate the Earth’s climate, and keeps large amounts of carbon locked into permafrost that would otherwise enter the atmosphere.  We must respond to climate change with adaptation measures as well as effective mitigation.  For example, coastal erosion threatens to wash some of our Arctic communities out to sea.  We need to develop and fund a plan to secure their future. 
·         Define our needs for arctic infrastructure – for access to resources, air, land and sea transport, environmental protection, research, communications and health – and develop a plan to enlist international, national, state, and private funding.
·         Allocate the resources necessary to enable the Coast Guard do its job as the Arctic Ocean becomes increasingly accessible to all comers.  Provide funding for two new Polar-class icebreakers, replacing those now in near-caretaker status.
·         Ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and aggressively prepare a U.S. claim for extended continental shelf.  Engage our neighbors in developing common rules and investments for safe, secure and reliable shipping.  Manage our common assets – air, water, fish and wildlife – in concert with other Arctic nations.
·         Improve the standard of living for all Arctic residents by addressing basic medical care, high infant mortality rates, youth suicide, poor access to clean water and reliable sanitation.  Help indigenous languages and culture survive.  Work to reduce high energy and food costs, and contamination of subsistence foods from trans-boundary pollution.
·         Encourage greater indigenous participation in Arctic decision-making.
·         And continue scientific exploration to unveil the Arctic’s mysteries.  Education and outreach help us to respond to the Arctic’s opportunities and responsibilities. 
Alaska Dispatch.  The clock is ticking for Alaska’s major oil companies and a Canadian pipeline builder who committed to produce an agreement to spend hundreds of millions of dollars for a summer of field work to advance a blockbuster project to ship natural gas from the North Slope to hungry world markets.
From Petroleum News Bakken:
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  • Streamlining Bakken permitting  The federal government’s interagency Bakken Federal Executive Group, an advisory group representing 12 federal agencies involved in the federal oil and gas permit review process in the Bakken, met in Billings, Mont., on June 5 where, according to a June 6 Department of the Interior press release, th….