There is a serious crisis at our border. No, not the Southern border, where crossings are at close to a 50 year low. I am referring to our Northern border, the Arctic Sea, where the US has only one heavy icebreaker, the USCGC Polar Star, which at 42-year-old is just barely holding on. On her most recent mission, the Polar Star broke down repeatedly. The Coast Guard also operates a medium icebreaker and a research vessel with light ice-breaking capability. 

Now, Homeland Security has stripped $750 million in funding to build one new heavy icebreaker from its most recent budget proposal, allocating it instead to the proposed border wall. 

The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that the Arctic represents 13 percent of the world’s untapped oil reserves and 30 percent of its natural gas as well as vast mineral resources.  Russia and China are both moving aggressively in the Arctic. Russia has 41 icebreakers with 8 under construction. China, which has no claim on the Arctic, has two icebreakers and plans to acquire more. 

In 2013, Homeland Security recommended building three new heavy and three medium icebreakers.  Last February, the Senate tentatively approved $750 million to build one new heavy icebreaker.

Now, with mid-term elections looming the funding for the new icebreakers was removed from the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act. House Republicans are scrambling to find funding for roughly $5 billion dollars to build the promised border wall, notwithstanding that crossings at the US Southern border have been declining for years.

In a letter to the Appropriations and Homeland Security committees, signed by eight Democratic legislators, they wrote: 

“Russia has claimed natural resources and territories in the Arctic that exceed its international rights and is investing in ice-capable military assets to back up that claim… 

“We urge you in the strongest possible terms to reconsider the misallocation of resources, which would undermine all 11 of the Coast Guard’s statutory missions and place our nation at a distinct economic, geopolitical and national security disadvantage for decades to come.”

Stars and Stripes quotes Coast Guard commandant Adm. Karl Schultz referring to the new icebreaker in a speech on Wednesday in Washington, “We need that ship now.”

The icebreaker has not yet been torpedoed by the needless wall. Senate leaders have continued to earmark the money for a heavy icebreaker program.

“A lot of this will come down to what the Senate does,” Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-California, told the Navy Times on Friday. “This might come down to lawmakers seeking leverage and there might be a deal that’s already been done on the Senate side.”