Director Watson and OESC Members Visit Alaska’s North Slope Borough

Group Views Coast Guard Operations and Meets with Mayor  

September 12, 2012 

Late last month, Director Watson met with Alaska's North Slope Borough Mayor Charlotte Brower along with local Coast Guard representatives and members of the Ocean Energy Safety Advisory Committee (OESC). The meeting took place at the Coast Guard's aviation center at the Wiley Post-Will Rogers Memorial Airport in Barrow, Alaska and gave members of the OESC, a federal advisory panel that advises BSEE on offshore energy safety issues, an opportunity to meet Mayor Brower and learn about Coast Guard operations in the Arctic.

Director Watson took the opportunity to discuss the recent decision to allow Shell to move forward with certain limited preparatory activities in the Chukchi Sea offshore Alaska. The Director affirmed BSEE’s commitment to maintaining open communication and a positive relationship with the state of Alaska and the North Slope Borough. He and Mayor Brower discussed the status of current infrastructure in the area and the effect increased offshore operations will have on the North Slope Borough.
 

Ice viewed from above the Chukchi Sea in late August.