I 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5770 
To ensure safe, secure, and reliable marine shipping in the Arctic including 
the availability of aids to navigation, vessel escorts, spill response capa-
bility, and maritime search and rescue in the Arctic, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 19, 2010 
Mr. YOUNG of Alaska (for himself and Mr. LARSEN of Washington) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Trans-
portation and Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To ensure safe, secure, and reliable marine shipping in the 
Arctic including the availability of aids to navigation, 
vessel escorts, spill response capability, and maritime 
search and rescue in the Arctic, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Arctic Marine Shipping 
Assessment Implementation Act of 2010’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds and declares the following: 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
01:57 Jul 20, 2010
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5770.IH
H5770
mmaher on DSK69SOYB1PROD with BILLS
(1) The Arctic Ocean and adjacent seas are be-
coming increasingly accessible to shipping, due to 
thinning ice cover, technological improvements allow-
ing greater efficiencies in the operation of ice-break-
ers and ice-strengthened cargo and passenger ves-
sels, satellite support for navigation and real-time 
ice-charting, and growing demand for Arctic tourism 
and natural resources. 
(2) It is in the interests of the United States 
to work with the State of Alaska and our neighbors 
in the Arctic to ensure that shipping in the Arctic 
Ocean and adjacent seas is safe for mariners, pro-
tective of the natural environment, including the air, 
land, water, and wildlife of the Arctic, and mindful 
of the needs of longstanding subsistence users of 
Arctic resources. 
(3) It is further in the interests of the United 
States to ensure that shipping in the Arctic Ocean 
and adjacent seas is secure, and that United States 
sovereign and security interests, including the rights 
of United States vessels to innocent passage through 
international straits, are respected and protected, 
that access is provided throughout the Arctic Ocean 
for legitimate research vessels of all nations, and 
that peaceful relations are maintained in the Arctic. 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
01:57 Jul 20, 2010
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5770.IH
H5770
mmaher on DSK69SOYB1PROD with BILLS
(4) It is further in the interests of the United 
States to see that a system of international coopera-
tion is established to support reliable shipping, with 
methods for joint investment in providing mariners 
aids to navigation, ports of refuge, vessel-to-shore 
communication, hydrographic mapping, and search 
and rescue capability. 
(5) For nearly 500 years, mariners and sea- 
faring nations have sought national and global bene-
fits from sea routes in the Arctic similar to those 
provided now by the Panama and Suez canals, but 
as those benefits may finally be realized, expanded 
shipping will present risks to residents of the Arctic, 
and coordinated shipping regulations are needed to 
protect United States interests even from shipping 
that may occur in the Arctic outside United States 
territorial waters. 
(6) Proven models for international cooperation 
in management of regional waterways exist, includ-
ing United States joint administration of the St. 
Lawrence Seaway with Canada, and existing co-
operation between the Coast Guard and its Russian 
Federation counterpart for fisheries enforcement in 
the Bering Sea and North Pacific regions. 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
01:57 Jul 20, 2010
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5770.IH
H5770
mmaher on DSK69SOYB1PROD with BILLS
(7) The United States has continuing research, 
security, environmental, and commercial interests in 
the Arctic that rely on the availability of icebreaker 
platforms of the Coast Guard. The Polar Class ice-
breakers commissioned in the 1970s are in need of 
replacement. 
(8) Sovereign interests of the United States in 
the Arctic Ocean and Bering Sea regions may grow 
with submission of a United States claim for an ex-
tended continental shelf. 
(9) Building new icebreakers, mustering inter-
national plans for aids to navigation and other facili-
ties, and establishing coordinated shipping regula-
tions and oil spill prevention and response capability 
through international cooperation, including the ap-
proval of the International Maritime Organization, 
requires long lead times. Beginning those efforts 
now, with the completion of an Arctic Marine Ship-
ping Assessment by the eight-nation Arctic Council, 
is essential to protect United States interests given 
the extensive current use of the Arctic Ocean and 
adjacent seas by vessels of many nations. 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
01:57 Jul 20, 2010
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5770.IH
H5770
mmaher on DSK69SOYB1PROD with BILLS