Arctic policy of the United States

In December 1971, Nixon issued National Security Decision Memorandum 144 to address the United States' stance toward the Arctic.

The Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister, Lawrence Cannon, said the meeting was not intended to, "replace or undermine the Arctic Council".

As an Arctic country with territory at stake, the United States is continuously pushing for a larger influence in the region to pursue industry and energy development considerations.

The population influx in the Arctic region is also predicted to coincide with more commercial shipping, marine tourism, and the transportation of large passenger vessels.

[8] Then-President Donald Trump also made headlines for expressing interest in purchasing Greenland, even though it is an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.

The Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force was initiated by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and NOAA in 2009 and includes representatives from more than 20 federal agencies.

President Obama has called on the Task Force to develop federal recommendations for adapting to climate change impacts both domestically and internationally.

[19] The USARC, in conjunction with the Navy and under the aegis of the National Ocean Council, is developing an Arctic Strategic Action Plan.

The mission of the policy is to ensure that Federal investments in science and technology are making the most out of the contribution to economic prosperity, public health, environmental quality, and national security.

[22] In 2011, the OES's Deputy Assistant Secretary David Balton was the lead US negotiator for the Arctic Council's search and rescue initiative.

[23] On July 16, 2014, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced the appointment of Retired Admiral Robert Papp to Serve as U.S. Special Representative for the Arctic.

Admiral Gary Roughead believes overfishing and melting sea ice are increasing the importance of the Navy in the Arctic.

"[30] Additionally, with the exception of the US Space Force, the service branches[note 1] have all issued their own Arctic strategy documents in recent years.

President Obama's Executive Order 13580[34] created the Interagency Working Group on Coordination of Domestic Energy Development and Permitting in Alaska[35] chaired by the Deputy Secretary of the Interior and including many federal agencies.

Part of the Working Group's mandate was to develop "a framework for making integrated Arctic management decisions" and present a report to the President by 12.31.12.

The report was released to the public in March 2013, and called for sustained high-level leadership from the White House on integrated Arctic management; a strengthening of key partnerships in the region with the State of Alaska and Alaska Native tribal governments and organizations; improved stakeholder engagement in important decision processes in the region; and more coordinated, streamlined federal actions in regard to science and management, environmental evaluations, and important cultural and ecological areas.

The report was well received by the full spectrum of stakeholders in the region, many of whom made statements of support for this "call to action on a pressing issue of national importance."

Governor Parnell delivered a speech at a US Senate field hearing on Alaska's role in U.S. Arctic Policy on August 20, 2009.

This department assists in controlling the amount of fishing to be done and when a season is to be opened or closed to protect the population of marine life.

This team also assists in the conservation of arctic flora and fauna, protection of marine life, and sustainable development through the monitoring of oil.

Per the Task Force's recommendation, the Alaska Arctic Policy Commission was legislatively created April 2012, and held its first meeting March 23, 2012 in Juneau.

[60][61][62] IARPC (U.S. Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee) consists of fifteen-plus agencies, departments, and offices across the US federal government and is chaired by the National Science Foundation.

They also work with National Science and Technology Council as a responsible agency that support cooperation and collaboration through Federal Government.

Research plans to determine the extent of the US Outer Continental Shelf and the amounts of resources it contains is a primary directive of the US Arctic policy delineated in NSPD-66.

The need for sound scientific and socioeconomic information, Arctic environmental research, monitoring, and vulnerability assessments are top priorities.

These priorities include sea ice and glaciers, thawing permafrost and coastal erosion, as well as the pollutants from the Arctic contaminating the region.

NSPD-66 policy states that for "environmental protection and conservation of natural resources, the Secretaries of State, the Interior, Commerce, and Homeland Security and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, in coordination with heads of other relevant executive departments and agencies, shall respond effectively to increased pollutants and other environmental challenges; continue to identify ways to conserve, protect, and sustainably manage Arctic species and ensure adequate enforcement presence to safeguard living marine resources; seek to develop ways to address changing and expanding commercial fisheries in the Arctic; and intensify efforts to develop scientific information on the adverse effects of pollutants on human health and the environment and work with other nations to reduce the introduction of key pollutants into the Arctic.

"[67] The United States Geological Survey estimates that 22 percent of the world's oil and natural gas could be located beneath the Arctic.

The resolution stresses the need for the United States to work with other nations to conserve and manage future Arctic fisheries.

[69] The NSPD-66 states,"The United States supports the application in the Arctic region of the general principles of international fisheries management outlined in the 1995 Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of December 10, 1982, relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks and similar instruments.