The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Healy and the Russian tanker Renda entered ice-free waters in the southern Bering Sea on Sunday afternoon, according to news report. That’s a relief, and those who pulled off the successful delivery of fuel to ice-bound Nome deserve congratulations.
As a one-time technical feat, the delivery was impressive. However, we need more information before declaring that such trips should become regular Coast Guard duty.
Once the operation is done and the Healy is back in Seattle, the Coast Guard should tally what it cost taxpayers. Such information probably will provoke complaints about the waste of federal taxpayer money. But it’s essential for any realistic weighing of the costs and benefits.
The trip proved that a medium-weight icebreaker such as the Healy, given enough time and fuel, can cut a path adequate to allow a hardened fuel tanker to push through mid-season ice in the Bering Sea. This is good to know. But it also would be good to know how much money it takes to accomplish such a thing.
The icebreaker and tanker were employed as an alternative to flying the fuel to Nome, which would have sent the retail price of fuel there through the roof. Presumably, the delivery by tanker was cheaper than delivery by air. But if the cost of the icebreaker is added to that expense, how would the total compare?
That cost might be substantial, but it also might be justifiable in some cases.
The transportation network in this nation is almost entirely funded with public tax money. Roads, airports and ferries are all funded, at least in part, in this fashion. Are they worth the expense? It depends upon the criteria one uses to judge that expense.
Some roads and airports in Alaska are lightly used, and the value of the commerce they support is meager. Yet we pay for them anyway.
Is the use of government icebreaking ships to keep the Bering Sea’s “marine highway” open here and there a worthwhile extension of that government transportation mission? The Coast Guard breaks ice to keep commerce flowing elsewhere in the nation — why not Alaska if the work shows substantial economic benefits?
The answer to such questions will start with some basic facts about the Healy’s impressive and successful mission to Nome.
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