Ishmael+&+Will

The United States federal government should substantially expand the United States Coast Guard’s non-military heavy polar icebreaking capabilities.
The U.S. __Coast Guard__ is facing a dilemma at the North Pole AND __A young and capable fleet of icebreakers would certainly come in handy then.__
 * Current heavy polar icebreakers are degrading – it threatens U.S. Arctic leadership **
 * Koren 7/11 ** – Staff Writer for National Journal (Marina, “What Happened to America's Most Important Arctic Ships?”, []) //J.N.E

Building two new icebreakers is sufficient for the US reclaim polar leadership
NRC 7 – working arm of the United States National Academies, which produces reports that shape policies, inform public opinion, and advance the pursuit of science, engineering, and medicine (National Research Council, “Polar Icebreakers in a Changing World: An Assessment of US Needs,” []) mj CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS The committee finds that both operations and maintenance of the polar icebreaker AND Arctic. Other agencies should reimburse incremental costs associated with directed mission tasking.

The plan immediately retrofits the Polar Sea as a stopgap solution while new Icebreakers are being built
[])//DH// //WASHINGTON — The U.S. Coast Guard’s No. 2 commander said refurbishing// // AND // // to act quickly .// “That window is now//,” he said.
 * Song, 14** (Kyung, The Seattle Times, “Coast Guard makes case to refurbish idled icebreaker” 6/18

Russian Arctic militarization is expanding rapidly – the lack of ice-capable ships prevents a US response
As the U.S. and E.U. keep a very close AND by entering into a military buildup simply to dominate Russia in the Arctic.
 * Mitchell 14** – Jon Mitchell is an independent author for Foreign Policy Journal, citing Naval Statements and Nicholas Cunningham, an expert in the field (“Russia’s Territorial Ambition and Increased Military Presence in the Arctic” April 23, 2014 []) zabd

Expanding militarization risks conflict among multiple rising Arctic powers
The Arctic, always before on the frigid edges of the international imagination, is AND exploitation of the Arctic “will become a future mission of the navy .”
 * Blank, 14** - Stephen J. Blank is a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council; served as the Strategic Studies Institute’s expert on the Soviet bloc and the post-Soviet world since 1989. Prior to that he was Associate Professor of Soviet Studies at the Center for Aerospace Doctrine, Research, and Education, Maxwell Air Force Base (Stephen, “Enter Asia: The Arctic Heats Up” World Affairs Journal, March/April, [|http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/enter-asia-arctic-heats)//DH]

Claims of Arctic cooperation don’t account for the decline in U.S. leadership which makes great power war likely
The Arctic in the unipolar moment One of the cornerstones of America's unipolar moment AND the structure are very likely to translate into changes to state security strategies.
 * Murray, 12** – Vice President of Research at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy and an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Alberta. He holds a senior fellowship at the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, a research fellowship at the University of Calgary’s Centre for Military and Strategic Studies, and a research fellowship at the University of Alberta’s European Union Centre of Excellence.(Robert, “Arctic politics in the emerging multipolar system: challenges and consequences” The Polar Journal, June, Taylor & Francis)//DH

Arctic conflict risks a nuclear confrontation
Wallace & Staples ‘10 – *Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia, **President of the Rideau Institute in Ottawa (Michael, Steven, “Ridding the Arctic of Nuclear Weapons: A Task Long Overdue,”) //J.N.E The fact is, the Arctic is becoming a zone of increased military competition. AND in which nuclear powers find themselves in military confrontation can be taken lightly.

That causes extinction
Vestergaard ’10 – visiting fellow with the CSIS Proliferation Prevention Program, researching uranium governance, specialist in nuclear weaponry for DIIS (“Conference on an Arctic Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Copenhagen, 10-11, 2009”, Danish Institute for International Studies, *note: the document was released in 2010) //J.N.E Global climate consequences of a regional nuclear war a certain number of small weapons will AND at four specific latitudes (as labelled) (Mills et al 2008).

The perception of arctic counterbalancing induces Russian cooperation
The United States devotes much of its diplomatic and military energies to the Middle East AND Congress “to start building infrastructure up there” (Joling and Papp).
 * Dowd 11** – Senior Fellow of the Fraser Institute and Senior Editor of Fraser Insight. In addition to conducting research into defence and security, he has contributed to the Institute’s Economic Freedom of North America Annual Report. Dowd is an adjunct professor at Butler University; was as a founding member of the Sagamore Institute leadership team, where he continues to hold a senior fellow post; and was director of Hudson Institute’s corporate headquarters (Alan, “The Big Chill: Energy Needs Fueling Tensions in the Arctic,” []) zabd

Icebreakers are key to credible US diplomacy that diffuses the risk of conflict
While the other Arctic powers are racing to carve up the region, the U nited AND , the region could erupt in an armed mad dash for its resources.
 * Borgerson 8** -- International Affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (Scott G., “Arctic Meltdown: The Economic and Security Implications of Global Warming,” Foreign Affairs, March/April, [])BC

Oil spills in the Arctic are inevitable and destroy key local biodiversity and ecosystems – providing quick response times is key
O’Rourke ’14 – naval analyst for the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress, received a Distinguished Service Award from the Library of Congress (Ronald, “Changes in the Arctic: Background and Issues for Congress”, June 5th, //Congressional Research Service//) //J.N.E Oil Pollution and Pollution Response 120 Oi l Pollution Implications of Arctic Change Climate change impacts AND forming different states of water in oil, often described as “mousse.”

Status quo icebreakers are insufficient – __empirics__ prove we can’t get to spills quick enough
Doggett ’11 - energy correspondent for reuters (Tom, “U.S. icebreakers can't handle Alaska oil spills: official”, []) //J.N.E (Reuters) - The U.S. Coast Guard does not have enough AND with hulls that don't go more than 21 feet below the water line.

Extinction
Planetary Keystone The Arctic and the subarctic regions surrounding it are important for many reasons AND climate change, the Arctic is a keystone ecosystem for the entire planet.
 * WWF 10** (December 1, 2010 “Drilling for Oil in the Arctic: Too Soon, Too Risky” World Wildlife Fund []) zabd

Reject their defense- large Alaskan spills overwhelm natural checks and devastate ecosystems
Alaska’s North Slope is underlain by permafrost— a thick layer of earth material that AND a small fraction of spilled oil, especially under conditions of broken ice.
 * NAE 3** – National Academy of Engineering, American National Academies (“Cumulative Environmental Effects of Oil and Gas Activities on Alaska’s North Slope”, 2003; < []>) zabd

Reliance on foreign icebreakers is undermining the credibility and quality of US polar science leadership
and International Studies (CSIS).(Heather, “A New Security Architecture for the Arctic: an American perspective” January, csis.org)//DH Although the United States lacks an overarching Arctic economic development strategy and suffers from insufficient AND to miss the opportunities of the Arctic while watching other nations advance.”61
 * Conley, 12** - director and senior fellow of the Europe Program at the Center for Strategic

Icebreakers are vital to revitalizing US polar sciences leadership – it’s key to understanding the climate
NRC 7 – working arm of the United States National Academies, which produces reports that shape policies, inform public opinion, and advance the pursuit of science, engineering, and medicine (National Research Council, “Polar Icebreakers in a Changing World: An Assessment of US Needs,” []) mj Fundamental advances resulting from polar research have directly benefited society. Polar research led to AND adequate icebreaking capabilities will be essential to advancing research in both polar regions.

That’s key to adapting to climate change
Ross 7/19/14 – Victoria, San Diego Technology Examiner, “The Arctic holds the key to climate change” [|http://www.examiner.com/article/the-arctic-holds-the-key-to-climate-change //] JV In a place at the very top of the Northern Hemisphere scientists are collecting the AND the secrets of the phytoplankton in the Arctic for mankind of the planet.

Warming risks extinction
Costello 11 –, Anthony, Institute for Global Health, University College London, Mark Maslin, Department of Geography, University College London, Hugh Montgomery, Institute for Human Health and Performance, University College London, Anne M. Johnson, Institute for Global Health, University College London, Paul Ekins, Energy Institute, University College London [“Global health and climate change: moving from denial and catastrophic fatalism to positive action” May 2011 vol. 369 no. 1942 1866-1882 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society] Advocacy about the health consequences will ensure that climate change is a high priority. AND __as dissipation of metabolic heat becomes impossible,__ therefore __making__ many __environments uninhabitable.__

Research-driven adaptation strategies build in __resilience__ to prevent total ecosystem collapse
Major gaps exist in our current scientific understanding, limiting our ability to forecast the AND ) to //increase ecosystem resiliency// as well as local-scale mitigation efforts.
 * Doney, 8 -** Senior Scientist Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry Department Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (Scott, **“**The Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act: H.R. 4174” Written testimony presented to the Committee on Science and Technology, Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, United States House of Representatives6/5, []

Neg Strat- NEPA Counterplan Mid Terms DA Consumption Kritik Case Russia Natural Gas Topicality It's Coast Guard Trade Off Incremental Funding T-Dev Russian SOI DOD Consult Case