Swimming With Polar Bears and Other Arctic Challenges

By Scotty Greenwood

On the heels of last week’s oil and gas meeting in Norway, in which the Norwegians and Russians worked on collaboration on issues in the Bering Sea, two other Arctic nations, Canada and the U.S., are gathering to talk about Arctic issues in a North American context.

The Pacific NorthWest Economic Region (PNWER) Arctic Caucus, a broad, bipartisan group of Canada-U.S. leaders, convened yesterday in the U.S. Senate Visitors Center. Canada, itself, is set to assume the next chairmanship of the international Arctic Council, which promotes cooperation among the eight Arctic states of Canada, Denmark (including Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the U.S. as well as six international organizations representing Arctic Indigenous Peoples.

Canada’s Ambassador to the U.S., Gary Doer, had to miss the gathering, but he sent his envoy, Kevin O’Shea, who said Doer’s claim to fame is that he is the only diplomat who has swum with polar bears and lived to tell about it…

The two U.S. Senators from Alaska came by to give remarks, but couldn’t stay long due to a series of votes on the Senate floor, including key votes on the Keystone XL project. In her remarks, Senator Lisa Murkowski had remarkable bipartisan praise for President Obama and Secretary Clinton for their commitment to addressing Arctic issues by participating robustly in the Arctic Council.

Senator Murkowski went on to raise questions for consideration, including, for example, should the U.S. propose that the Arctic Council be officially recognized by treaty? Should the Arctic Council develop a ten year strategic plan?

And beyond Arctic issues, Senator Murkowski pondered whether or not Canada and the U.S. should adopt a NORAD-style approach to cross-border infrastructure development for bridges, tunnels, and other crossings.

Dave Ramsey, a member of the legislative assembly from Canada’s Northwest Territories (NWT) and its Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment and Minister of Transportation, described his jurisdiction in this way:

We have a population just over 43,000 people, which wouldn’t fill half of FedEx Field at a Redskins game. And yet the territory for that small population is larger than Texas and California combined. Canada’s Arctic contains one fifth of all the oil and gas reserves in the world. And NWT has tons of resources, including gold, uranium, zinc, and rare earth metals. NWT produces 15 percent of the world’s diamonds.

For additional helpful information on issues that the Arctic Caucus is dealing with, follow the work of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission.

As the U.S. Senate debates various provisions related to Canada-U.S. energy policy, including Keystone XL, the Arctic Caucus is showing itself to be an important forum for bipartisan cooperation and policy dialogue on issues shared by the U.S. and Canada, including energy and many more.