Alaskans should lead America's activities in the arctic.

• Author: Begich, Mark
• Position: ARCTIC POLICY OP-ED

It's often lost on those in Washington, DC, that the only reason America is an Arctic nation is because of Alaska. Yet today, the Arctic is a hot topic.

With global warming changing the Arctic before our eyes, the opportunities and need to proceed carefully there are enormous. I believe Alaskans have proven that development in the Arctic--oil and gas exploration, shipping, tourism--can be done responsibly.

The United States needs to set the bar high for doing Arctic development right. That means using strong science and data, incorporating local traditional knowledge, having critical supporting infrastructure in place, and effective regulations to protect our Arctic people and communities and the subsistence resources upon which they depend.

Making the Right Investments

We're also working with President Barack Obama's administration to make the right investments now to ensure safe and responsible development, such as adequate icebreaking capacity.

At the urging of Alaska's congressional delegation, the administration recently issued its Arctic Strategy, amplifying the existing national policy in presidential and Homeland Security directives.

In many respects, the strategy is still a work in progress--a template that needs to be fleshed out. But it's an important start that shows the administration's interest in--and commitment to--the Arctic. All of that is necessary because climate change is melting Arctic ice, opening the region to new development possibilities and maritime shipping. Consider that the Arctic waters beneath the Chukchi and Beaufort seas hold an estimated 24 billion barrels of oil and over 100 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

And shipping in the Arctic is already booming. In 2010, just four ships carrying slightly more than one hundred thousand tons of cargo crossed Russia's Northern Sea Route. Last year, 250 ships were operating in the Arctic Ocean, making nearly five hundred transits through the Bering Strait.

I've always said we face greater risks from the increasing traffic we're seeing along Russia's Northern Sea Route and later through Canada's Northwest Passage, than we do from oil and gas drilling in the Arctic.

No Harbors of Refuge

In the challenging Arctic marine environment, where there are no harbors of refuge and few aids to navigation or search and rescue assets, mariners have less accurate weather forecasts and must rely on charts with dozens of miles between accurate depth readings.

We need a forward...