{"id":33927,"date":"2018-04-09T01:45:45","date_gmt":"2018-04-09T01:45:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/04\/09\/as-arctic-waters-open-nations-plant-their-flags\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:23:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:23:35","slug":"as-arctic-waters-open-nations-plant-their-flags","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2018\/04\/09\/as-arctic-waters-open-nations-plant-their-flags\/","title":{"rendered":"As Arctic waters open, nations plant their flags"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Amid rising global temperatures, vast stores of untapped resources and next-level transit potential, the race is on for who will set the course in the Arctic.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arctic panel at the Navy League\u2019s Sea-Air-Space exposition comes at a time when the sea ice on top of the world continues to retreat, presenting billions of dollars in new economic potential that is surfacing alongside new environmental and security challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere will be strategic competition over resources \u2014 hydrocarbons and shipping routes, primarily \u2014 and global warming will exacerbate them by exposing those resources,\u201d retired Navy Adm. James Stavridis,<\/a> a former leader of U.S. European Command, said in a 2016 interview with sister publication Military Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melting sea ice could for the first time render roughly 13 percent of the Earth\u2019s undiscovered oil, as well as a third of its undiscovered gas, viably accessible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s more, about $1 trillion worth of gold, zinc, nickel and platinum is believed to lie in the region, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transiting the increasingly open waters of the Arctic could prove as valuable as the resources that lie in wait. Melting sea ice will likely increase the use of three routes that cross the Arctic, opening them up for potential year-round transit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Increased use of the Northern Sea Route, the Northwest Passage and the Transpolar Route would save thousands of miles and days\u2019 worth of transit for ships moving between major trading blocs, according to the GAO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLiterally a new ocean is transforming before our eyes,\u201d Heather Conley, an Arctic issues expert for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Military Times in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, more ships transiting the Arctic could lead to more pollution and greater environmental impacts on the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newly available spaces could also bring about territorial claims that did not have to be adjudicated when the Arctic wasn\u2019t melting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the five Arctic coastal states \u2014 the United States, Canada, Russia, Norway and Denmark (of which Greenland is a territory) \u2014 prepare submissions regarding where their territory will extend into the Arctic, Moscow\u2019s plan includes a ridge that would span a considerable distance across the Arctic Ocean, according to a February report by the Congressional Research Service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While areas of cooperation have emerged among the Arctic countries, Russia has made clear its aim to increase its presence in the far north. Countering these claims will make icebreaker ships that much more vital, and U.S. icebreaker assets are lagging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two of the U.S. Coast Guard\u2019s three polar icebreakers have exceeded their 30-year planned service lives, and a third is currently nonoperational.<\/p>\n\n\n\t