Minority Statement

• Frank R. Lautenberg

  Senator
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  Minority Statement

  Frank R. Lautenberg

  Let me thank both chairs for today’s hearing.  I strongly support America’s participation in the upcoming International Polar Year.  In 1882, twelve countries set out on fifteen expeditions in the First International Polar Year.  That expedition taught us lessons about Earth’s science and geography we still rely on.  It also taught us the value of international science cooperation—a legacy I hope we will continue.

   

  I have been to Antarctica and to the Arctic.  I know that changes are underway that can alter the marine life in both poles, raise each region’s temperatures, and increase the sea level across our planet. Many of these changes are the result of global warming, and I hope the coming International Polar Year will deepen our knowledge into the harm global warming causes to our polar regions and globe.

   

  Several federal agencies will help contribute to the success of the International Polar Year, including the NSF, the Coast Guard, and NOAA. I hope the impacts of global warming, including its role in changing the ocean food chain, will be a major part of our nation’s research agenda for the International Polar Year.

   

  I also want to talk about the condition of the Coast Guard’s icebreakers.  We have three vessels which break polar ice and serve as research platforms for our scientists.  Two of these icebreakers are thirty years old and rife with maintenance trouble. Congress has provided insufficient funding for the Coast Guard in the past and I hope we will not repeat that mistake.  Let us give the Coast Guard the money it needs, both for the Arctic and Antarctica, and for protection of America’s seas.

Testimony

• Mr. Mead Treadwell

  Chairman

  Arctic Research Commission
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• Vice Admiral Robert Papp

  Chief of Staff

  United States Coast Guard
  Download Testimony (15.21 KB)

Witness Panel 2

• Dr. Robin Bell

  Research Scientist

  Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University
  Download Testimony (39.32 KB)

• Dr. Buck Sharpton

  Vice Chancellor

  University of Alaska Fairbanks
  Download Testimony (48.24 KB)

• Dr. Alan Parkinson

  Deputy Director

  Arctic Investigations Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  Download Testimony (59.36 KB)