ANCHORAGE — President Obama wants to accelerate by two years plans to acquire a new icebreaker and will ask Congress for money to build additional ones for the Coast Guard, in an effort to keep up with ship traffic that is increasing as the Arctic waters off Alaska grow warmer.

The president also said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Coast Guard will map and chart the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort seas, for which existing maps and charts are outdated.

Vessels such as the now-inactive heavy icebreaker Polar Sea could be a boon for Alaska, President Obama said. Reuters

The moves are nods toward Alaskan leaders who have been urging the administration to bolster the paltry ability of the Coast Guard to monitor the largest state’s 6,640-mile coastline.

The announcement Monday night was an acknowledgment that the U.S. has fallen behind other nations, especially Russia, which possesses 40 icebreakers and plans to add at least 11 more.

The White House said that after World War II, the U.S. had seven icebreakers – four under the Navy and three under the Coast Guard. Today, the U.S. has only two fully functional icebreakers, and just one is a heavy-duty icebreaker.

The acquisition of a new icebreaker would happen in 2020 instead of 2022.

Monday’s announcements – after Obama’s speech to senior ministers from Arctic nations – were also an acknowledgment that climate change is prompting a scramble for the rights to develop the Arctic’s resources.

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