Thank you for the time.

I want to underscore again using my State as an example, Alaska Native peoples as an example of why it is so imperative that we improve tribal energy development.

Well, know that we're paying close attention to Coast Guard.

Alaska is really the first line of defense for our nation up there.

Speaking about refining the procedures, of course you are familiar with the, in Alaska, the tribal consortia, and how they really are able to harness economies of scale.

That is what these consortia are able to do. They are able to build capacity so that these many, many much smaller and much less advantaged tribes, they are the most disadvantaged, they are the ones that need it most, and yet they have the…

We have a responsibility to support the sovereignty of tribal nations in energy development.

We are lagging and a commercially available icebreaker is just going to be a gap-filler.

If we can resolve some of these things quickly to allow for these applications to be submitted, and again, to take advantage of this, that is where we are going to make a difference.

It's kind of embarrassing to think that a country like India is going to have an icebreaker in the water before we would.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Alaska is really the first line of defense for our nation up there.

But when it is our own systems that effectively hold them back, that is not fair to anybody.

There shouldn't be any ambiguity to it. To us, that is legislative intent, and it is specified, so it should be easy.

I have found in some agencies... an unwillingness to speak the language of the tribes.

We should be working together to try to figure out how we can solve some of these problems...

Speaking about refining the procedures, of course you are familiar with the, in Alaska, the tribal consortia, and how they really are able to harness economies of scale.

But many of them are starting to feel like, is this a false promise? Is this a false promise here?

One of the challenges that we have in Alaska, just as it is difficult to get things in, you have to fly barrels of fuel in at the end of winter, it is equally difficult to get things out.

But when it is our own systems that effectively hold them back, that is not fair to anybody.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

If you have greater resources, it would seem to me reasonable that this would certainly free that up. Would you not agree?

So as you are working to advance this program, please understand that the reason they are allowing consortia in NTIA and through IHS is because this is what works.

What do we do? You know what the answer is? We fly it in.

We are lagging and a commercially available icebreaker is just going to be a gap-filler.