USCG updates mayor on summer marine traffic

By Diana Haecker

During a meeting last week in Juneau, Nome Mayor Denise Michels along with Dutch Harbor Mayor Marquart received an update from U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Thomas Ostebo regarding increased shipping traffic heading to northwest Alaska this summer. While all permits have not been issued, oil giant Shell is getting ready to commence exploration drilling in the Beaufort Sea and Arctic Ocean this summer.
Michels said in an email to The Nome Nugget that Shell plans to have a flotilla with 22 vessels, three fixed wing aircraft, three helicopters and more than 400 personnel heading to the drill sites. There would be more than 300 passenger transfers per week to the drilling rigs Discoverer and the Kulluk.
While Barrow would be the community closest to the drill sites, the USCG plans to use the community for Arctic Shield Operations, and deploy the cutter Alex Haley plus a buoy tender to the Arctic Ocean. The Coast Guard would use the Nome port to re-supply. Michels also said that there is a concern that protestors objecting to OCS drilling would show up and the USCG is coordinating with the Alaska Department of Public Safety to be ready for all eventualities.
If Shell succeeds to get all necessary permits, it would be the first company in 2012 to begin work. Every year, there could be an increase in exploration activities, and the Coast Guard projects five oil companies to drill in 2015. Oil and gas exploration are not the only activities projected for the near future. The U.S. Coast Guard expects that cargo traffic in the ice-free waters around the Northern Sea Route will increase and reach 64 million tons by 2020, up from 1.8 million tons in 2010.
USCG Rear Admiral Ostebo is scheduled to come to Nome on Feb. 29 to brief local and tribal leaders on the US Coast Guard’s plans.

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