With a short time remaining before the end of the regular legislative session, and with a possible special session to close the state's multibillion-dollar budget deficit looming, Gov. Bill Walker noted that this year's overarching responsibility is to "fix Alaska." The governor observed that "we have reached a point in our state's history that we need to be thinking beyond oil."
As state political leaders consider cuts in spending, a variety of taxes, the use of budget reserves and Permanent Fund earnings to finance state government amid low oil prices, the governor's sense of urgency for a "beyond oil" strategy is underscored by the volatility in the price of oil.
To achieve long-term sustainable fiscal stability requires a rethinking. How can Alaska develop diversified revenue streams and new ways to integrate them into Alaska's economy?
Long-term thinking beyond – or in conjunction with – natural resources is vital despite the large deposits of oil, natural gas and hard rock minerals that rest beneath Alaska's surface.
Preparation for commercial and cruise line shipping offers a solid point of departure. Alaska has more miles of seacoast – 6,640 – than any other state in the U.S. One opportunity appears to be presenting itself as diminishing sea ice is drawing commercial, security, search and rescue, and marine ecosystem research scientists to the region's high North.
As commercial shipping, cruise lines, research vessels, commercial and subsistence fishing, and, in the long term, oil and minerals move through the Bering Strait and, past the Aleutians – both north and south – nearly every coastal community with a port appears to be getting ready by seeking an upgrade.
Perhaps the two ports with the greatest potential for development, both individually and in tandem, are the port at Nome and Port Clarence, the latter recently returned to the Bering Straits Native Corporation (BSNC).
The 2013 Army Corps of Engineers' Alaska Deep-Draft Arctic Port Study for the Nome/Port Clarence Region identified substantial gaps in marine capabilities along the Alaska coast. For example, some estimate it would take the Coast Guard about seven days by sea to respond to a cruise ship disaster or other incident in Alaska's northernmost waters from its base nearly 1,000 miles away at Kodiak.
The Army Corps report noted the "limited" navigational and communications infrastructure in the high North, leaving a potentially growing number of commercial mariners at risk as future traffic increases, with few assets to stage a major rescue.
The following year, BSNC commissioned a study of Port Clarence in anticipation of building a modern deepwater port facility that could serve a variety of vessels: cruise ships, fishing boats, cargo shippers and research vessels. The Anchorage-based Northern Economics team that produced the study cautioned that "Port Clarence development and revenues must be directly linked to oil and gas exploration to cover both development and annual costs."
In the current climate, this otherwise logical thinking must be redirected. With a degree of vision, a key challenge is to kick-start a two-part project: 1) Build or upgrade the ports and a port-to-port relationship between Nome and Port Clarence, and, 2) cooperate with the Russian deepwater port Provideniya across the Bering Strait, on the eastern end of the Chukotka Peninsula – viewed, significantly, as the gateway to the Northern Sea Route moving west.
Building a network of ports would allow for Alaskans, and both sides of the Bering, to operate from strength, coordinate with each other for trade, and meet specific requirements for safe and environmentally responsible conditions required by vessels – at this stage primarily for destination Arctic, intra-Arctic and safety measures.
With Arctic ice melting faster than anticipated, and lengthening shipping seasons, Sen. Lisa Murkowski has referred to both the transfer of Port Clarence back to BSNC for future development, and Nome's desire to expand its port capabilities, as key steps to "make Alaska a leader in the Arctic."
The Army Corps has encouraged a combined public-private alignment to secure financing for port development in both Nome and Port Clarence. Putting in place a network of situation-appropriate small-scale port developments would undoubtedly spur more investment in the region, anticipate projected increases in shipping over the next several decades, enable the U.S. to meet new obligations for Arctic shipping under international law, and build a cash economy that would integrate with subsistence and traditional economies to form an economic heartbeat of the state.
An improved shipping-related economy has national security imperatives as the Arctic becomes more commercial; constabulary imperatives as Russian and U.S. Coast Guards (or equivalents) act both individually and jointly; and increases in cruise line tourism – such as the Crystal Serenity, the 1,400-passenger cruise ship expected to cross the Northwest Passage this summer, launching from Seward to reach its final destination in New York.
A network of ports and port facilities with permanently stationed assets to ensure reliable and integrated marine coverage – allowing the U.S. and Alaska to extend their presence in the North – is vital to Alaska's economy and coastal communities. A network of small-scale ports with interlinked capabilities would offer a sound foundation for a diversified economy – one that could support a future resurgence of oil and gas. However, this next time Alaska, Alaskans and the United States would be ready.
Anita Parlow, an Oxford-educated attorney, was the advisor to the Harvard-MIT Arctic Fisheries Project. She just completed a project as team lead for the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars Polar Code Roundtable. This commentary draws from and builds upon her final report.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary@alaskadispatch.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@alaskadispatch.com or click here to submit via any web browser.