One of The Big Problems
The Passage and surrounding Arctic, hold as much mystery as secrets, perhaps none more sought after than the projected 25% of the worlds oil and natural gas reserves. “They” project that under the ice lays our not-so-green means into the 21st century. Five nations claim the rights to this bounty, five hungry ruthless nations with nothing at concern yet their own coffers. To date there is no treaty in place with the U.N. as to who owns what up there. We do have a Russian flag on the bottom somewhere but that’s not going to stop the soon to be heard drilling and excavating.
Now that the climate is brining warmer ocean temperatures to the area, more ice is freeing up and the elusive Passage is becoming quite obvious. So much so that on a fact-finding trip last fall we had to search out ice rather than avoid it. If one were to send a ship from NY to L.A. via The Passage it would save literally thousands of miles (hundreds of thousands of dollar) than having to go through the Canal. How long before any of these five mentioned countries try to claim ownership of The Passage. Russia and China are already making a presence at either end of the Passage. Pretty ironic that now that the ice is freeing up, politically the area may shut down.
All a long winded way of sating that a transit up to and through The Northwest Passage would be my ideal adventure and hoped for next documentary. “Braving The Northwest Passage” was registered through my 501c(3) “Windrose Learning Ventures”.
I am following your trip with great interest. I am a geologist whose work has taken me to Ellesmere,Baffin Mellville peninsula and along the Arctic coast. You are in for a wonderful experience. I am planning a trip down the Mackenzie river and across the passage returning via Churchill in a much smaller boat.
You are correct about arctic oil and gas reserves,however the Northwest passage is entirely in Canadian waters(not disputed) the right to free passage is the issue. Sovereignty claims are around the margins of the Canadian arctic islands etc. Ironic ,one of your advertisements is for oil and gas stocks on google! I wish you the best of luck and will follow your progress daily.
Regards
John Robins
“Now that the climate is brining warmer ocean temperatures to the area, more ice is freeing up and the elusive Passage is becoming quite obvious. So much so that on a fact-finding trip last fall we had to search out ice rather than avoid it.”
Sounds like a pretty easy trip. When do you expect to finish?