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 Today's Congressional Action:
The House is in session to consider non-Arctic legislation. The Senate adjourned until Monday.
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 BOEM Marine Ecosystem Study Solicitation. The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOl), Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), on behalf of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), intends to competitively award a contract that is being conducted in accordance with FAR Part 15. The BSEE Acquisition Operations Branch is the contracting office for this procurement and the resultant contract administration. The Government intends to award an Indefinite-Delivery, Indefinite-Quantity type of contract with a 60-month ordering period. Task orders are anticipated to be issued either on a firm-fixed-price, time-and-materials, or cost-plus-fixed-fee basis, subject to the availability of funds. The applicable NAICS Code is 541712, Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology). All potential offerors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) (www.sam.gov) in order to receive Government contracts. Federal Business Opportunities
 Survey Now Open for Input on Alaska Arctic Policy Committee Preliminary Report. AAPC seeks comments on Preliminary Report, released on January 30, 2014. AAPC is accepting comments via a 10-minute survey on the content and recommendations of the preliminary report. The comment period closes on May 15. The survey is available here.
Project to Restore Herring, Starting in Sitka. Before statehood and the advent of scientific management, Southeast Alaska's herring populations were harvested - and depleted - without much thought for the future. Many believe the herring population in Sitka Sound now is a fraction of what it was in those days, and wonder if herring stocks - like salmon - can be restored. Alaska Public Radio
 Whales Hear Us More than we Realize: Sonar signal 'leaks' likely audible to some marine mammals. Killer whales and other marine mammals likely hear sonar signals more than we've known. That's because commercially available sonar systems, which are designed to create signals beyond the range of hearing of such animals, also emit signals known to be within their hearing range, scientists have discovered. The sound is likely very soft and audible only when the animals are within a few hundred meters of the source, say the authors of a new study. The signals would not cause any actual tissue damage, but it's possible that they affect the behavior of some marine mammals, which rely heavily on sound to communicate, navigate, and find food. Science Daily
Siberian Scientists Prove Russia Has Right to Huge Arctic Mineral Resources. Undersea rocks on the Mendeleev Ridge match those of the New Siberian Islands, says Valery Vernikovsky of the Trofimuk Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics in Novosibirsk. The scientist explained that a series of studies, including sample drilling at a depth of over 2,500 meters, give sufficient evidence that that the Lomonosov and the Mendeleev Ridges are made of continental crust about 460-470 million years old. The Siberian Times
 Exxon Sticks with Russia Despite Ukraine Sanctions. Exxon Mobil Corp. is pushing ahead with its plans to drill in Russia's Arctic seas-its biggest opportunity to discover untapped deposits of oil and gas-even though deteriorating relations between Moscow and Washington have increased the risks. America's biggest energy producer is set this summer to tap what it calls the University Prospect in the Arctic's Kara Sea, a trove that could hold the equivalent of 9 billion barrels of oil-more than a third of Exxon's proven reserves. Wall Street Journal
Is a Warming Arctic a National Security Threat? With the Arctic Ocean warming at an alarming rate, the enhanced ability of foreign vessels to navigate through the region is putting a greater demand on the U.S. Coast Guard to confront what may be the newest threat to U.S. national security. "With increased activities in the Arctic come increased risk," said Cmdr. Karin Messenger, deputy chief of the Coast Guard's emerging policy staff in Washington, D.C. "The remote nature of the region and the operational conditions will make any national or international emergency response, such as a mass rescue operation, challenging." Navy Times
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Legislative Action
H.R. 4553, to authorize appropriations for fossil energy research and development programs at the Department of Energy, and for other purposes. (Introduced by Representative McKinley (R-WV) and referred to the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology)
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Future Events
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. Updated meeting information is available here.
Marine Mammal Commission's Annual Meeting, May 6-8, 2014 (Washington, DC). The meeting will include a session on "The Changing Arctic",  on May 6th, from 1:30 to 2:15 pm, that focuses on understanding and managing the impacts of climate change and increased human activities on Arctic marine mammals and subsistence activities. John Farrell (USARC) will moderate a panel consisting of Sue Moore (NMFS), Jim Kendall (BOEM), Vera Metcalf (AEWC), and Julie Gourley (State Dept.). The meeting will be held in Fellowship Hall, Mt. Vernon Place United Methodist Church, 900 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC. Agenda here.
Responding to Oil Spills in the US Arctic Marine Environment, May 12. (Webinar)
This webinar will provide a briefing on the new National Research Coucil report Responding to Oil Spills in the U.S. Arctic Marine Environment. Martha Grabowski, chair of the study committee, will discuss the report's main points regarding key oil spill research priorities, critical data and monitoring needs, mitigation strategies, and important operational and logistical issues. There will be an opportunity for questions at the conclusion of the briefing. See agenda 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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