US Arctic : Trump advances icebreaker plan

Liz Ruskin, Alaska Public Media
Posted: Thursday, June 11, 2020 at 09:59 — Last Updated: Monday, June 15, 2020 at 09:36
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A Canadian Coast Guard ship approaches the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy in the Arctic Ocean in 2009. (Patrick Kelley/Coast Guard)

President Donald Trump is calling on his administration to get a fleet of new icebreakers on the water by 2029.

A memorandum Trump signed on Tuesday advances an agenda Congress and the Coast Guard are already pursuing, to build three heavy and three light icebreakers. And it speeds up the timeline.

The memo also orders the Homeland Security Department to study the benefits of leasing an icebreaker until the new ships are built.

Alaska Congressman Don Young pressed that idea in 2016. He wanted the Coast Guard to lease an icebreaking tug from Edison Chouest, a company whose owners and employees are major donors to his re-election campaign.

Potential homeport in Alaska

The government of Finland also has icebreakers for lease.

The president’s memo raises the possibility the new icebreakers may have an Alaska homeport. It orders a study of two optimal U.S. locations.

The Coast Guard has only one heavy icebreaker in operation now, and its homeport is in Seattle.

The memo cites national security as the main reason the United States needs icebreakers. It says they should also be considered for commercial missions, including resource exploration and undersea cable maintenance.