Exclusive:U.S. submarines show force amid race for Arctic riches

[unhappycamper]

Exclusive:U.S. submarines show force amid race for Arctic riches
By Andrea Shalal-Esa
APPLIED PHYSICS LABORATORY ICE STATION, Arctic Ocean, March 24 | Thu Mar 24, 2011 6:00pm EDT

APPLIED PHYSICS LABORATORY ICE STATION, Arctic Ocean, March 24 (Reuters) - The United States is staging high-profile submarine exercises in the Arctic Ocean this month as evidence mounts that global warming will lead to more mining, oil production, shipping and fishing in the world's last frontier.

Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and a Who's Who of other VIPs braved below-zero temperatures this month to visit a temporary camp on the ice about 150 miles north of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, where two nuclear-powered U.S. submarines are conducting military training exercises.

"It is important for us to continue to train and operate in the Arctic," said U.S. Navy Captain Rhett Jaehn, the No. 2 official overseeing U.S. submarine forces.

He said U.S. submarines are a powerful symbol of U.S. military power, and the training was meant to ensure that the United States maintained access to the Arctic, home to the world's largest undiscovered oil and gas reserves.

"It is a key potential transit line between the Atlantic and the Pacific. We want to be able to demonstrate that we have global reach. That we can operate in all oceans, and that we can operate proficiently in any environment," Jaehn said.



unhappycamper comment: Our corporate masters yell "Drill, Baby, Drill".