(SitNews) - Alaska’s Arctic investment opportunities are ripe, and the state is competing for investment from around the world, Lieutenant Governor Mead Treadwell told the Arctic Imperative Summit this weekend in a keynote address and panel.

“Between new oil fields, gas pipelines, ports, icebreakers, airfields, roads and mines, we may be looking for over $100 billion in investments in the next 20 years,” Treadwell said.

Treadwell was joined on the panel by State of Alaska commissioners Dan Sullivan (Department of Natural Resources), Susan Bell (Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development), Bryan Butcher (Department of Revenue), and Hugh Short, Chair of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority.

“Sometimes Alaska is competing with other Arctic nations for money,” Treadwell added. “That’s why we need a competitive tax structure, infrastructure investment, regulatory certainty, and access to resource prospects on land and sea. Governor Parnell’s administration is working across the board to win this competitive race.”

Other times, we need to foster investment in two or more Arctic countries at once, Treadwell said. “Alaskan transshipping ports like Dutch Harbor or Adak need twins on the other side, such as Iceland or Norway. Global aviation needs air traffic control, search and rescue, and weather forecasting across the Arctic. Oil exploration here this summer depends on ice-class vessels from Norway, Finland, Russia, and Canada, as well as the United States.”

“Ultimately, safe, secure, and reliable Arctic shipping requires coordinated investment in ports, aids to navigation, telecommunications, science, and know-how,” Treadwell said.

Besides the agreements we have underway with the Arctic Council on environmental monitoring, search and rescue, and oil spill mutual aid, we need better investment mechanisms, Treadwell said. The Arctic Maritime and Aviation Transportation Infrastructure Initiative (AMATII), a project sponsored by the U.S. and other nations to understand air and sea infrastructure, may spur more coordinated Arctic efforts in shipping and aviation.

The Arctic Imperative Summit continues through Monday evening at the Alyeska Hotel and Resort in Girdwood.

Source of News: 

Office of Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell
www.state.ak.us

SitNews ©2012
Stories In The News
Ketchikan, Alaska

Articles & photographs that appear in SitNews may be protected by copyright and may not be reprinted without written permission from and payment of any required fees to the proper sources.