August 19, 2013 — The highest ranking leader in the United States Coast Guard stopped into Unalaska, Alaska today to talk about Arctic strategy.
Commandant Admiral Robert Papp hosted a town hall meeting with city officials and leaders from the local Native corporation. It was the first time a sitting commandant has visited Unalaska.
Papp said that’s a nod to the strategic importance of the community — particularly, its port.
Unalaska has a deepwater port that’s ice-free all year. Even though the Coast Guard’s discussed building similar resources closer to the Arctic, in Nome or Kotzebue, Papp said that could be a long way off.
"The only deepwater port that we can rely upon is Dutch Harbor," Papp said. "That’s a long logistics line when you’re working up off Barrow, but most of my ships, we can’t get in any other place other than Dutch Harbor."
He urged city leaders to start promoting that fact now, before development takes off. He also encouraged them to keep an open mind when it comes to the kind of development that’s taking place up north.