An overlooked Arctic menace?

TO: Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Sen. Mark Begich

Dear Senators,

No doubt you've heard that the Fairbanks area recently hosted 2009's International Talk Like a Pirate Day. The holiday celebrates the fun aspects of pirates and piracy, such as flamboyant shirts, colorful parrots, silky sashes, truly-free-market economies and salty language full of vowel drift and consonantal elision. People who celebrate that special day sure seem to have fun, but we're not laughing.

As you may know, the Arctic is melting, and northern species, human and non-, are struggling to adapt to their warming habitat. Alaskans are becoming frustrated with extreme flooding, raging wildfires, coastal erosion, unpredictable salmon runs and declining ocean stocks. It was a bad year all around for Alaskans, and many climate predictions indicate that environmental problems will get worse, perhaps much worse. When we add high fuel prices, another pipeline boom seeming very far off, and drastically reduced tourism, the outlook for Alaska's future isn't inspiring.

However, a warming Arctic isn't all bad news, and it may just end up bringing salvation to people whose livelihoods it threatens. The summer icepack is retreating enough now to allow more ship traffic through the Arctic Ocean than ever before. Most prominently this summer, two German cargo ships became the first commercial vessels to complete the Arctic crossing from South Korea to Denmark, and a cruise ship carrying German tourists across the Beaufort Sea recently made news when one of its passengers had to be medevaced for a serious illness.

Which brings us to the crux of our worries. There really isn't much security in Alaska's Arctic waters yet, and if things get bad enough for Alaskans, those living along the icy Northwest Passage may turn to a life of piracy -- for real this time. We're certain that whaling and fishing crews already possess ample means, skill and bravery to knock off a lumbering cargo ship, to strip a scientific research vessel, or to ransom a cruise ship full of unarmed tourists. Nothing like that happened this summer, so there's still time to address this issue, but probably not much. We're afraid that a rapidly changing climate and worsening economic conditions in far-flung parts of Alaska could soon provide plenty of motivation and initiate a "Golden Age" for Arctic pirates. Piracy could seem a sane response to such insane times.

Frustrated rage is a powerful motivator, but perhaps you know that already, having recently been on the losing side of a Senate vote to expand offshore oil and gas exploration on the outer continental shelf. We don't want Alaska's oceans to turn into colder, grayer versions of the Gulf of Aden, and we don't like the idea of Arctic residents turning to a life of yo-ho-ho, bad rum and garish silk shirts. You both stand in unique positions to prevent this dire sequence of events. If piracy begins to flourish in the Arctic, it will seriously hinder our state's economic opportunities. Please, we beg of you: Do everything possible to prevent Arctic piracy before it begins.

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