Alaska's Changing Arctic: coastal security and infrastructure
Alaska's Coastal Connectivity
In early June 2023, the Quintillion fiber-optic undersea cable providing internet and mobile phone service to North Slope and Northwest Alaska communities was severed by ice.
The communities that rely on this cable for phone and broadband services are in Alaska’s roadless region, and serve as hubs for less accessible villages. Lost connectivity meant that people could not withdraw cash from ATMs, use food assistance cards in the market or receive their paychecks by direct deposit. Emergency and essential services like police, fire, search and rescue, and utilities were severely hampered. In some places, calling 911 was not possible. Doctors could not use online billing or scheduling software. While satellite connections were used to restore some of the connectivity, the level of service available was considerably degraded from the fiber optic service, and required significant expenditures on the part of communities and residents. The timeline of full cable repair was projected to be months.
installation of the Quintillion cable on the North Slope was completed in 2017 and communities have since relied heavily on it for critical services across the region. While it opened up new communication opportunities to communities, it lacked redundancy, leading to fragility in the event of a system failure such as the one caused by the severed cable.
What is connectivity?
Connectivity refers not only to remote communication via the internet and cell towers, but to all the infrastructure and services that allow people, goods and ideas to circulate across the diverse regions of the state, nation and planet.
Infrastructure connections can be contiguous (roads, seaways and trails), discontiguous (airports and ports), or virtual (broadband), but all facilitate flows between places. Connectivity infrastructure along Alaska’s Arctic coasts is critical for commerce, education and governance, as well as human and geopolitical security and well-being. Part of what makes Alaska a modern economy and place where communities can thrive are the connections that overcome isolation and promote exchange.
Simultaneously, higher levels of connectivity also open places to more diverse influences and risks, and certain forms of connectivity require stakeholder oversight, regulation and care. Infrastructure that supports connectivity can create unanticipated economic, social and cultural impacts.
The quality of and expectations for connectivity are rapidly changing. In the past 50 years, Alaska has gone from reliance on sporadic mail service (sometimes by dog sled) to high-speed internet, from little to no phone service to extensive cell coverage, and from seasonally limited river and tundra transport to year-round availability of flights. Connectivity continues to change as new satellite systems such as Starlink increase connectivity, and as new transportation hubs and routes are established across northern parts of the state.
For Indigenous community members and leaders in rural villages, all these modes of connectivity have become indispensable to their ability to participate regularly and equitably in decision-making that affects their homes and livelihoods. In the past, rural and Indigenous voices were sometimes absent from political and regulatory debates because of the difficulty of communicating with policy makers. Modern communications technology allows even the most remote communities to exercise their hard-earned right to be heard and included, but these rights can be threatened when technologies fail. Connectivity and connective infrastructures are thus the foundations not only for material well-being, but for the health of our political society and the preservation of free speech. As the previous section notes, Alaska is connected via the United States to other Arctic countries. In less than a decade the state will take the spotlight again when the U.S. chairs the Arctic Council 2031-2033.
Why does Arctic coastal connectivity matter for the rest of Alaska?
Changes affecting Alaska’s Arctic coasts have a direct impact on southern regions of the state. Alaska can promote resilience and prosperity by recognizing its interconnection with other regions of the Arctic, both north to south and east to west with our international neighbors. Coasts, rather than representing a barrier, represent a space of heightened connectivity and, therefore, increased responsibility.
The changes impacting coastal infrastructure of the Nome Census Area, Northwest Arctic Borough, and North Slope Borough include loss of landfast sea ice, accelerating erosion and intensifying floods. The impacts these have on connectivity and community well-being in the region are numerous and severe. Erosion and storms have washed away roads and boats, most notably during ex-typhoon Merbok. Changing coastal topography has created new risks for watercraft and barge landings. These events reverberate across the state. Any changes that affect the ability of North Slope oil operators to maintain, repair and protect key infrastructure could have dire consequences for the state’s economy, and the city of Valdez in particular. Increases in vessel traffic along the Arctic coast, driven by sea ice loss, may impact migratory marine animal species and marine mammals that have cultural, subsistence and tourism value in other parts of Alaska.
For Alaska’s northern coastal regions, some of the regionally distinct flows that people depend on include fuel and food delivery from large cities, trails through and to important hunting and fishing sites, and communication with industry, marine vessels and Search and Rescue services. Maintaining the ice roads that allow truck deliveries between the Railbelt and the Arctic has become more costly with irregular temperatures and shorter winters. On the North Slope, the Community Winter Access Trails program, run jointly by the Borough and the Department of Transportation, provides funding and oversight for critical trail maintenance between North Slope communities. Barges run by Crowley and Alaska Marine Lines carry tons of essential goods to communities across the Arctic coast. And the Department of Natural Resources’ Alaska Strategic Transportation and Resources program seeks to make regionally sourced gravel available for diverse infrastructure and repair projects across the north. The infrastructure required for all these connections creates benefits not only to northern coastal communities, but also to inland and southern coasts. The entire state will benefit from an expanded Port of Nome as America’s only Arctic deep-draft port. The profit from oil production on the North Slope flows into Indigenous communities via ANCSA Treaty rights, as well as into the pockets of all citizens via the Permanent Fund Dividend. Zinc and lead mines in the Northwest Arctic Borough provide income to local community members — which helps support subsistence activities — as well as multiple benefits across the state. Lastly, each region’s beauty draws tourists via marine-, air-, and land-based tourism.
Policy implications of coastal connectivity
Connectivity infrastructure along Alaska’s Arctic coasts is critical for the well-being and security of Alaskan individuals and communities, as well as the entire nation. At the same time, with higher levels of connectivity come diverse influences and new risks. These may be mitigated with stakeholder oversight, regulation and care, so that infrastructure that supports connectivity does not create unanticipated economic, social and cultural impacts.