Payback

[BigV]

Senator Maria Cantwell, (D) WA, stuffed Senator Ted Stevens' (R) AK, attempt to "piggyback" a provision to permit drilling in ANWAR recently. (cite. There are numerous others, it was all over the news.) Now the payback for her impertinence has begun.

Alaskans want Seattle ship

By Alicia Mundy
Seattle Times Washington bureau

WASHINGTON — It's difficult to nab a 420-foot ship and its crew and whisk them 2,100 miles away. But U.S. Rep. Don Young and U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens are trying to do just that.

Alaska's lone congressman and its senior senator have been quietly pushing to move the Coast Guard cutter Healy from the Port of Seattle, where it has been based since its launch in 2000, to Anchorage.

...

The Coast Guard opposes the move because it would keep crew members away from their Seattle families an additional two months a year and would cost taxpayers an extra $8 million or more a year, according to an internal Coast Guard analysis. Neither Anchorage nor any other port in Alaska has a facility large enough to handle an icebreaker the size of the Healy.

...

I especially like this part:

But that same month, Young, a Republican, added one line to a 78-page bill on the Coast Guard and maritime transportation that would homeport the Healy in Anchorage, pending funding from the appropriations committees in Congress.

Young did not notify Puget Sound members of Congress or Coast Guard officers in Seattle, according to U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Bremerton. Dicks said the Coast Guard told him that "moving the Healy out of Seattle to Anchorage would be unnecessarily costly, and a terrible burden on the families."

...

For one thing, Anchorage's port would need dredging to handle the big ship, the analysis said.

It continued: "Relocating Healy would cause significant logistical difficulties with routine and emergency maintenance. Todd Pacific Shipyards is only one of two commercial shipyards (other in San Diego) which has the ability to haul out a vessel the size of Healy."

In addition, the Coast Guard recently spent more than $13 million on a pier-renewal project in Seattle, which also upgraded mooring capability and electrical power for the Healy, according to Todd Shipyards.

Payback...yeah.

U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, the Seattle Democrat whose district includes Todd Shipyards, said he knows why Young and Stevens want to move the ship.

"This is payback," McDermott said, referring to recent dust-ups between Alaska's top politicians and Washington lawmakers over issues such as Arctic drilling and oil shipments into Puget Sound. "Did you think it was anything else?"

Added McDermott, "It's not a done deal, but it's going to be hard to stop."

[xoxoxoBruce]

Where does this icebreaker break ice? Certainly not Seattle.

[BigV]

Artic Ocean.

Home port is Seattle. Repairs in Seattle. Drydock in Seattle. Haulouts in Seattle (or San Diego). Crew families in Seattle.

Memorable quote from AK pol: "I think the icebreaker should go where the ice is." Ahh, but he's not suggesting that the ship be based in Barrow. Anchorage. Year round ice free port.

The Coast Guard (a group that should know) has advised against the move, for several reasons, including significantly higher costs and lower morale.

My point mostly was: the pol put the move in **alone** without consultation. Not with the people he was moving, not with the committee responsible for understanding these issues, not with anybody. Just a power grab/f*ckyouverymuch.

I will say this. Unlike the previous attempt to slipstream the ANWAR drilling rider on the back of the Defense appropriations bill, this wide scope one sentence change was attatched a bill having to do with the Coast Guard. Perhaps that will be his mistake.

[BigV]

The entire USCG fleet has one homeport, Seattle. It makes sense to have all *three* ships in one place, don't you think? A certain economy of scale?

Links to all three ships

Healy

Polar Star

Polar Sea

the fleet

So, what DOES Alaska have in the way of a permanent USCG fleet? They're ALL based in Seattle? Shouldn't Alaska have SOMETHING? I mean there is a lot of coastal waters off the state of Alaska. And not that I agree with what appears to be some congressman's act of retaliation. Just curious.

[fargon]

There are Cutters stationed in Kodiak, Sitka, and Ketchican. The breakers need to be based in Seattle for logistical reasons. The congress critters need to stay out of things they dont understand. Terry L. Bell USCG 76-80 CG Aux 05- Present
PS I was stationed on the CGC Confidence in Kodiak

[xoxoxoBruce]

So it's the cutters and bases that are the first line in search & rescue, aid to ships, and law enforcement. The breakers are more for planned operations, scientific support and of course ice breaking.

With such a sturdy hull and high power to back it up, the 13,000-ton(13,200-metric ton) Polar Star is able to ram her way through ice up to 21 feet (6.4 meters) thick and steam continuously through 6 feet (1.8 meters) of ice at 3 knots (5.6 kph).

Shazzam!

[fargon]

Right Bruce you get a cookie.

[BigV]

Our proud fleet serves aid and comfort to Southern waters too.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Nobody calls Barrow a port, even in these warming times. There is of course a logistic logic to stationing icebreakers near or in their AO -- given the presence of the necessary facilities, of course. That would have to happen, right up front.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by Urbane Guerrilla

Nobody calls Barrow a port, even in these warming times. There is of course a logistic logic to stationing icebreakers near or in their AO -- given the presence of the necessary facilities, of course. That would have to happen, right up front.

Barrow's where the ice is, of course. The point made by the public servant from Alaska.

And among the many logical considerations as to the stationing of icebreakers, including logistics, when the AO is pole to pole, you're going to have to think a little harder to persuade me that Anchorage is better than San Diego.

And nothing in this maneuver has been up front. All stealth, misdirection and independent solitary initiative. Yay initiative. When you know what you're talking about.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by BigV

Our proud fleet serves aid and comfort to Southern waters too.

Where are the Aussies when you need 'em?