The House and Senate are not in session today.

Marine Mammal Commission Meeting on Research and Management Priorities, December 14, 2012. The Commission plans to meet with regional management and scientific officials in each of the National Marine Fisheries Service's six regions to identify the most pressing marine mammal research and management needs. The Commission will use these meetings to develop a set of national priorities for guiding federal conservation efforts for marine mammals. Members of the public are invited to attend these meetings and to provide comments concerning priority issues.

Top Officials Meet at ONR in Response to Arctic Changes. The Navy's chief of naval research, Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder, met this week with leaders from U.S. and Canadian government agencies to address research efforts in the Arctic, in response to dramatic and accelerating changes in summer sea ice coverage. "Our Sailors and Marines need to have a full understanding of the dynamic Arctic environment, which will be critical to protecting and maintaining our national, economic and security interests," said Klunder. "Our research will allow us to know what's happening, to predict what is likely to come for the region, and give leadership the information it needs to formulate the best policies and plans for future Arctic operations." R & D Magazine

Arctic Inspiration Prize. An immense territory of majestic beauty, the Canadian Arctic is home to a growing population of over 100,000 northern Canadians, with a majority of indigenous peoples with a millennial history and rich culture. Once considered as the last frontier, change and modernization are rapidly making the Arctic more accessible and the subject of increasing public, scientific, industrial and political interest. Addressing the challenges and seizing the opportunities of accelerating changes in the Arctic environment, culture, technology and economy require innovative approaches, mobilizing the best knowledge from various sources into concrete solutions. Arctic Inspiration Prize

Nunavut Research Projects Clean Up at First-Ever Arctic Inspiration Prize: Three projects to be given more than $200,000 each. Nunavut came up trumps at the first-annual Arctic Inspiration Prize at the ArcticNet Annual Scientific Meeting in Vancouver, B.C. Dec. 13. The prize is awarded to four research projects that "address pressing issues facing Canada's Arctic and its Peoples." All four get a selected chunk of a $1-million prize given by the S. and A. Inspiration Foundation. Nunatsiaq Online

A Second Chance for Shell Oil's "Fourth Line of Defense." The containment dome Royal Dutch Shell hopes never to use has been transformed, following an accident this September that left it "crushed like a beer can" - hampering the company's groundbreaking effort to suck oil from the Arctic Ocean off Alaska's North Slope. The failed Puget Sound sea trial for the unique dome, essentially an undersea oil-sucking vacuum cleaner, plus construction delays on the Arctic Challenger barge that will house it, stymied Shell's plans this summer to drill deep enough to reach oil this summer. The problems delayed federal regulatory approval, so Shell was merely allowed to conduct well preparation and preliminary drilling that stopped nearly a mile short of where the company expects to find oil. Alaska Dispatch 

Top-Secret Submarine May Settle Russia's Claim in the Arctic. A unique Arctic expedition has brought a top-secret Russian submarine into the limelight. The AS-12 bathyscaphe Losharik has now been enlisted to help Russia gain evidence of its right to territorial waters in the Arctic. Moscow is prepared to present evidence to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea that would expand Russia's territorial waters in the Arctic, thus asserting its right to the bed of the Arctic that is extremely rich in hydrocarbons. Russia filed a similar application once before, but the bid was turned down due to a lack of geological samples. The new evidence has been obtained by AS-12 Losharik - Russia's top-secret deep-sea nuclear-powered bathyscaphe. Russia & India Report

Qiviut: Luxury Arctic Yarn that Almost Went Extinct. The musk ox, an ancient creature that was nearly wiped out of existence a century ago, has made a comeback in the Arctic, bringing with it one of the rarest and finest fur coats on the planet. The musk ox's wooly underlayer, qiviut (pronounced "kiv-ee-ute"), is spun into a highly-prized luxury yarn, envisioned as an Arctic cottage fiber industry. Once thought impossible, musk ox domestication has proven successful, and the yarn spun from this prehistoric mammal has been quietly providing Alaska Native knitters with supplemental income since the 1960s. Alaska Dispatch

Opponents Line Up Against Canadian Arctic Mega Mining Project. Organizations in Canada's eastern Arctic territory of Nunavut and beyond are lining up to take part in the environmental review of the Izok Corridor Project. The international company MMG wants to build two mines southwest of the community of Kugluktuk, Nunavut. All of the mining and construction will take place within the territory, but many groups outside Nunavut say they also need to have a say. The proposed project would see two mines joined by a 350-kilometre all-weather road and a port in the Coronation Gulf, and would have a significant environmental impact. Alaska Dispatch

Another Chance for US Icebreaker Polar Sea Amid Arctic Changes. Maybe the U.S. won't have just one heavy icebreaker - compared to Russia's six - after all. And that's important at a time when melting ice is opening new areas of the Arctic to commerce. The Polar Sea, one of the United States' two heavy icebreakers, is to be given another reprieve from being scrapped, under legislation passed by the U.S. Senate Dec. 12. The Coast Guard Authorization Bill, expected to be signed by President Barack Obama, includes an amendment from Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) that prohibits the U.S. Coast Guard from scrapping the 399-foot ship until the agency proves this is the most cost-effective option. Puget Sound Business Journal