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Summary

Of the Coast Guard's three polar icebreakers, two--Polar Star and Polar Sea--have exceeded their intended 30-year service lives. The Polar Star is not operational and has been in caretaker status since July 1, 2006. A 2007 report from the National Research Council (NRC) on the U.S. polar icebreaking fleet states that "U.S. [polar] icebreaking capability is now at risk of being unable to support national interests in the north and the south." On July 16, 2008, Admiral Thad Allen, the Commandant of the Coast Guard, testified that: "Today, our nation is at a crossroads with Coast Guard domestic and international icebreaking capabilities. We have important decisions to make. And I believe we must address our icebreaking needs now.... " The Coast Guard is studying how many polar icebreakers, with what capabilities, should be procured as replacements for Polar Star and Polar Sea. Under the Coast Guard's current schedule, the first replacement polar icebreaker might enter service in 8 to 10 years, by which time Polar Star and Polar Sea could be about 40 years old. The Coast Guard estimated in February 2008 that new replacement ships might cost $800 million to $925 million each in 2008 dollars, and that the alternative of extending the service lives of Polar Sea and Polar Star for 25 years might cost about $400 million per ship. Potential policy issues for Congress regarding Coast Guard polar icebreaker modernization include the numbers and capabilities of polar icebreakers the Coast Guard will need in the future; whether to provide these icebreakers through construction of new ships or service life extensions of Polar Start and/or Polar Sea; whether to accelerate the Coast Guard's current schedule for acquiring replacement ships; whether new ships should be nuclear powered; whether new ships should be funded entirely in the Coast Guard budget, or partly or entirely in some other part of the federal budget, such as the Department of Defense (DOD) budget, the National Science Foundation (NSF) budget, or both; and whether, as an interim measure, the Polar Star should be repaired and placed back into service. The proposed FY2010 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) budget, which includes the proposed FY2010 Coast Guard budget, does not request any funding in the service's Acquisition, Construction, and Improvements (AC&I) account for polar icebreaker sustainment or acquisition of new polar icebreakers. The House Appropriations Committee, in its report (H.Rept. 111-157 of June 16, 2009) on the FY2010 DHS appropriations bill (H.R. 2892), does not recommend any funding in the AC&I account for polar icebreaker sustainment or acquisition of new polar icebreakers. The Senate Appropriations Committee, in its report (S.Rept. 111-31 of June 18, 2009) on the FY2010 DHS appropriations bill (S. 1298), recommends $32.5 million in the AC&I account for the reactivation and service life extension of Polar Star. Of this amount, $27.3 million is in an AC&I line item for polar icebreaker sustainment, and the remaining $5.2 million is included within a line item for AC&I direct personnel costs. Other legislation in the 111th Congress with provisions relating to polar icebreakers includes the Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment Implementation Act of 2009 (H.R. 2865) and the Coast Guard Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011 (S. 1194).

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