April 22, 2014

capital Today's Congressional Action:

The House and Senate are not in session.

Media

NOAA's New Arctic Action Plan Calls for Enhanced Weather and Sea-Ice Forecasts. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has launched a five-year science initiative to better understand the impact of Arctic weather and changing climate on the mid-latitude zones of the United States, where weather extremes have become common in recent years. That science initiative is part of NOAA's contribution to the National Strategy for the Arctic Region released by President Obama last May and the implementation plan released by the White House in January, the agency said on Monday. Alaska Dispatch

The Arctic's Devastating Transformation. There was no snow, no sea ice anywhere to be seen. These would be my last days in Svalbard in August of 2011. The only snow was in the many glaciers that bled deafening waterfalls into milky turquoise-colored fjords and into the dark sea. I lowered my gaze, averted my eyes whenever someone on the ship said to me, "See you next season!" I knew I was finished. MSNBC

A Place to Study Arctic Oil Spills. The University of Manitoba is proposing a unique research centre at Churchill that would study the potentially profound environmental effects of industrializing the Arctic. The $28-million Churchill Marine Observatory would develop ways of detecting oil in ice-covered waters, study its impact on the ecosystem and develop technologies for cleaning up Arctic waters in case of a spill. Winnipeg Free Press

Putin to Discuss Russia Policy in Arctic with Russia Security Council. Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a meeting with the Russian Security Council on Tuesday on the fulfillment of Russia's policy in the Arctic in the interests of national defense, the Kremlin press service reported. "Participants in the meeting will debate practical aspects and will outline the scope of measures to make fulfillment of documents previously adopted by the president more efficient, particularly that on foundations of Russia's state policy in the Arctic for the period until 2020 and further on and the strategy on development of Russian Arctic zone and ensuring national security for the period until 2020," the Kremlin press service said. Itar-Tass News Agency

US Takes International Approach to Arctic, Offshore Energy. Exploiting oil and gas resources in the Arctic and the Gulf of Mexico, while also avoiding disastrous spills, will require an eye that looks far beyond America's borders. "This is an international challenge," Christopher Smith, the Energy Department's principal deputy assistant secretary for fossil energy, said Monday at a conference organized by the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C. "When we think about the opportunities and the challenges and the risks in the frontier areas, be they in the Gulf of Mexico or the Arctic, we have to realize that we are in an international game." US News and World Report

Four Years After the BP Gulf Disaster-More Spills, No Safeguards, and a Push to Drill. A few months after the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in flames, sending 210 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, President Obama said that "... one of the lessons we've learned from this spill is that we need better regulations, better safety standards, and better enforcement when it comes to offshore drilling." These remarks were just one voice in a wave of outrage that rippled far beyond the coast in the wake of the worst oil spill in United States history. You might assume that, four years after the spill, the U.S. would have implemented the safeguards and policies needed to prevent similar disasters. But you'd be wrong. We've made little progress in preventing future spills, and the situation is getting worse. Huffington Post

Legislative Action

No Arctic legislation was formally considered Friday.

Future Events

The Arctic in the Anthropocene: Emerging Research Questions, April 29, 2014. (Webinar) This webinar will provide a briefing on the new National Research Council report "The Arctic in the Anthropocene: Emerging Research Questions". The co-chairs of the authoring committee will present emerging research questions that span traditional disciplinary boundaries as well as tools for meeting the challenges of understanding a rapidly changing Arctic. There will be an opportunity for questions at the conclusion of the briefing.

AAAS Forum on S & T Policy, May 1, 2014. (Washington, DC) The American Association for the Advancement of Science will host a forum on science and technology policy. On May 1, AAAS will host a breakout session on US Leadership in the Arctic Council: International Science Cooperation. Presenters include executive director of the US Arctic Research Commission John Farrell.

Alaska Policy Commission. May 6-7, 2014 (Anchorage, Alaska). The Alaska Arctic Policy Commission (AAPC) has more important work to do in 2014. The Commission will strive to gather public input and engage with Alaskan communities, state agencies, federal partners, and the international organizations working in the Arctic. In order to meet our goals AAPC will convene three in-person meetings over the course of 2014 and focus on implementation and final recommendations. The draft agenda is available here.

International Congress of Arctic Social Sciences, May 22-24, 2014. ICASS is held every three years, bringing together people from all over the world to share ideas about social science research in the Arctic. ICASS VII, held in Akureyri in June 2011, attracted 450 participants from 30 different countries. ICASS VIII's theme is Northern Sustainabilities. By using the plural, ICASS underscores both that 'sustainability' has social, cultural, economic, political and environmental dimensions, and that definitions of the concept vary. Yet, while debating specific definitions, most would agree that working toward sustainable ways of living in the North and on approaches to sustainable engagement with the North, are critical both to the North's and to the world's future. Community sustainability in the North, whether for small settlements or large urban conglomerations, requires new models of food and energy security, and of access to employment, health care and social and cultural services for residents.

Arctic in the Athropocene. June 23-July 2, 2014 (Potsdam, Germany). Under the overarching theme "Arctic in the Anthropocene", this two-week interdisciplinary and interactive event will be the first in a series of Potsdam Summer Schools to be held annually. The goal is to bring together early-career scientists and young professionals from research departments, governmental and non-governmental agencies and organizations, as well as the private sector from all around the world. Participants will deal with global challenges and address urgent questions on how to shape sustainable futures in the Arctic and beyond from a scientific and socioeconomic point of view.

Alaska Policy Commission. August 26-27, 2014 (Kotzebue-Nome, Alaska). The Alaska Arctic Policy Commission (AAPC) has more important work to do in 2014. The Commission will strive to gather public input and engage with Alaskan communities, state agencies, federal partners, and the international organizations working in the Arctic. In order to meet our goals AAPC will convene three in-person meetings over the course of 2014 and focus on implementation and final recommendations.

Arctic Circle, October 31-November 2, 2014 (Reyjavik, Iceland).

The Arctic Circle is nonprofit and nonpartisan. Organizations, forums, think tanks, corporations and public associations around the world are invited to hold meetings within the Arctic Circle platform to advance their own missions and the broader goal of increasing collaborative decision-making without surrendering their institutional independence. The Arctic Circle will organize sessions on a variety of issues, such as: Sea ice melt and extreme weather; Polar law: treaties and agreements; The role and rights of indigenous peoples; Security in the Arctic; Shipping and transportation infrastructure; The prospects and risks of oil and gas drilling; Clean energy achievements and sustainable development; Arctic resources; Business cooperation in the Arctic; The role of Asian and European countries in the Arctic; Greenland in the new Arctic; Fisheries and ecosystem management; The science of ice: global research cooperation; Arctic tourism; The ice-dependent world: the Arctic and the Himalayas.

Alaska Policy Commission. November 13-14, 2014 (Anchorage, Alaska). The Alaska Arctic Policy Commission (AAPC) has more important work to do in 2014. The Commission will strive to gather public input and engage with Alaskan communities, state agencies, federal partners, and the international organizations working in the Arctic. In order to meet our goals AAPC will convene three in-person meetings over the course of 2014 and focus on implementation and final recommendations.

The Arctic Biodiversity Congress, December 2-4, 2014. (Trondheim, Norway). The Arctic Biodiversity Congress will present and discuss the main scientific findings of the ABA; facilitate inter-disciplinary discussion, action and status updates on the policy recommendations in the ABA; provide scientific, policy, management, NGO, academia, Indigenous peoples and industry audiences the opportunity to collaborate around the themes of the ABA; advise CAFF on national and international implementation of the ABA recommendations and on the development of an ABA Implementation Plan for the Arctic Council; highlight the work of CAFF and the Arctic Council on circumpolar biodiversity conservation and sustainable development; and, contribute to mainstreaming of biodiversity and ecosystem services, ensuring that the recommendations of the ABA are implemented by not just governments, but many organizations and people across disciplines.

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