Arctic Council Signs Search and Rescue Agreement

Josh Edge, APRN – Anchorage

Representatives of the eight nations in the Arctic Council met in Nuuk, Greenland today to sign the Arctic Search and Rescue Agreement.

The council also created an Arctic task force on oil spill response, which for now focuses on shipping, but will likely look at offshore oil and gas drilling in the future.

But, Lieutenant Governor Meade Treadwell, Alaska’s representative at the meeting, believes that the most historic part of this meeting will be the search and rescue agreement.

Treadwell says there are certain pieces of infrastructure that will need to be in place for this agreement to work.

This is the first legally binding contract that the Council has signed since its formation 17 years ago.

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