Mead Treadwell, "Infrastructure Research in the Arctic – Implementing a National Goal"

Mead Treadwell, Chairman of the US Arctic Research Commission and CEO/ Chairman of Venture Ad Astra, in Anchorage, Alaska

Summary: Mr. Treadwell gave an overview of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission and the five primary research objectives they follow when establishing the agency’s research goals. The five research objectives are: Environmental Change of the Arctic and Bering Seas; Arctic Human Health; Civil Infrastructure; Natural Resource Assessment and Earth Science; and Indigenous Languages, Identities and Cultures. The outcomes from this Forum will be used as a resource for the USARC’s development of a national research agenda, particularly for infrastructure research in the arctic.

Mr. Treadwell’s presentation, “Infrastructure Research in the Arctic – Implementing a National Goal,” began by discussing the role of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission (USARC). USARC has seven commissioners appointed by the President of the United States with offices in Washington D.C. and Alaska. Their job is to define the U.S. Arctic research goals for the country and work to build sustainable and appropriate research infrastructure supported by public and international commitments that will “connect the Arctic” and continue the work of International Polar Year (IPY) projects.

Mr. Treadwell discussed the Report on Goals and Objectives 2007 that was presented last April to the President and Congress. They develop research goals for this country using “bottom up” and “top down” approaches such as attending conferences, speaking to arctic people, and meeting with top researchers on issues such as climate change.

The U.S. Arctic Research Program encompasses over 15 federal agencies and 12 nations, spending approximately $400 million per year to build America’s competitive position. About half of that is spent on Alaskan research. Using the following five research objectives, the USARC defines their research goals and reports them to the President and Congress at the end of January in odd numbered years:

Environmental Change of the Arctic and Bering Seas; specific tasks were to establish an Arctic Observing Network (AON), tie monitoring with the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), tie research to the Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) and the Climate Change Technology Program (CCTP) and promote interagency cooperation. Examples of outcomes from these objectives are the completion of the AON, a system of observational infrastructure—including satellites, terrestrial observatories, ocean buoys and moorings, weather stations, hydrologic monitoring stations, ecological sampling networks, arctic residents, and other data sources—that will collect, check, organize, and distribute arctic observations. They also convened 600 scientists from eight Arctic nations to determine what change is really occurring in the Arctic which resulted in a report, called the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment – a long list of impacts from climate change such as differential settlement causing damage to buildings, roads, railroads and utilities. In July, 2008 there will be an International Permafrost Conference that USARC will attend and look to for help building the infrastructure research program and monitoring networks. A total of 550 boreholes thus far have been identified as measurement sites to observe seasonal soil thaw as part of the Circumpolar Active Layer Network.
Arctic Human Health; examples of tasks in this category are research on “sick house syndrome” and how lack of exercise effects people’s health.
Civil Infrastructure; USARC needs the cooperation of many agencies in the civil and housing sectors such as the Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research Lab as well as agencies in the energy, shipping and oil spill sectors for the development of a national civil infrastructure research plan. Natural Resource Assessment and Earth Science; at the IPY Arctic Energy Summit, 15 countries explored extractive and alternative energy technologies to lower the cost and improve the reliability of energy available to Arctic residents. They are looking at pilot projects in energy. As Mr. Treadwell stated, “Say we could shut everything off in Alaska, it wouldn’t affect (the planet’s) carbon impact. But the bottom line in Alaska is the high cost of energy.”
Indigenous Languages, Identities and Cultures; the heads of the Smithsonian Institution, the National Science Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities identified the preservation of indigenous languages, traditional knowledge and culture as a priority item.

Mr. Treadwell discussed how the USARC develops research plans. There are many steps involved such as:

Convening experts (such as has been done at this Forum) to brainstorm the issues
Finding clients (people who want to pay for the research and/or put it into action)
Developing pilot projects and testing opportunities. A housing study conducted by AHFC revealed that 45% of houses in Alaska are possibly eligible for state weatherization services. 26% have trouble maintaining temperature and over 25,000 new housing units are needed. The total cost to replace, repair and alleviate overcrowding conditions is estimated to be $5.99 billion dollars. Thus this leaves lots of room for pilot projects to improve housing in Alaska
Developing extramural research such as competitive university research and public/private partnerships as well as intramural research such as between Federal agencies and labs
Developing international and state research partnerships

In conclusion, the USARC is looking at the use of traditional building technologies. Indigenous science, or the art of survival, gives us 10,000 years of experience to build upon in the North and we should never, ever forget that. Also, the Energy Summit in Anchorage two weeks had representatives from 15 countries talking about energy problems in the north. If there is room for pilot projects in housing, there is tremendous room for pilot projects in energy. The Department of Energy said that because there are so few of us living in the arctic that if we were to shut everything off and leave, it wouldn’t make an impact on the world’s carbon footprint, so why should they fund arctic energy research? His answer was with the increasing cost of energy, what better place in the world is there to test alternative energy and get them in place? He pledged that the USARC will continue to work on the area of energy.