NYTimes: As polar ice melts, dreams of treasure abound

[Tiggeroshii]

Sorry if dupe, but hello? Polar Ice caps meltting isn't a GOOD thing !!!=\

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CHURCHILL, Manitoba - It seems harsh to say that bad news for polar bears is good for Pat Broe. Mr. Broe, a Denver entrepreneur, is no more to blame than anyone else for a meltdown at the top of the world that threatens Arctic mammals and ancient traditions and lends credibility to dark visions of global warming.

Still, the newest study of the Arctic ice cap - finding that it faded this summer to its smallest size ever recorded - is beginning to make Mr. Broe look like a visionary for buying this derelict Hudson Bay port from the Canadian government in 1997. Especially at the price he paid: about $7.

By Mr. Broe's calculations, Churchill could bring in as much as $100 million a year as a port on Arctic shipping lanes shorter by thousands of miles than routes to the south, and traffic would only increase as the retreat of ice in the region clears the way for a longer shipping season.

More..
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/10/science/10arctic.html?hp&ex=1129003200&en=64e93c8fc877d5f2&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Oreo]

1. Maybe NYers can move there

since manhattan will go under water if they melt too much

[superconnected]

2. It IS melting. It was the smallest ever this summer.

Something tells me it's going to melt a lot more.

[Junkdrawer]

3. Tipping point - once it melts so much it doesn't completely refreeze...

the Sun is able to remelt it easier and easier, farther and farther. The consistent down trend over the last several years suggests to many experts that this point has been reached.

[MADem]

9. If this crap keeps up I will have the beachfront home I always dreamed of,

and not even have to move!!!

In all seriousness, I am appalled at this administration's faith-based environmental policies. We are ruining our planet, shitting in our own living room, as it were....

[longship]

4. Oh Boy!!!!

We're all going to be rich!!!! Everybody drive your SUVs more. What? You don't have one? Well, you want to be rich, don't you? Then you'd better get one. While we're at it we need more coal-burning plants, more cow farts, more wood stoves, more fossil fuel use in general.

Man! We're all gonna be wealthy and live lives of leisure.
:sarcasm:

[jojog]

5. Wait, Wait

Won't the water be higher than the port?

[ClintonTyree]

7. The Army Corps of Engineers.....

will have to build levees. We all know how good they are at that!

[kestrel91316]

13. Uh, you might have a point there...........

[ClintonTyree]

6. Santa is going to have oil rigs at the North Pole.

I hope the Reindeer don't get in the way.
Really, exploiting the region that was created by exploitation. Makes perfect sense to me. Let's see if we can spur global warming even more by having cruise ships and freighter breaking up what ice-packs we do have left. Lets expend vast amounts of hydro-carbons in the area to discover more hydro-carbons so we can melt those polar icecaps faster to discover MORE hydro-carbons etc. etc. etc.
Capitalism is the disease that will destroy the Earth.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

8. I guess Mr Broe figures that when the world ends,

the wealthiest people will get the best accomodations...

[Nexus7]

10. What idiot...

What idiot government sells land for that kind of money? Methinks the story is a hoax.

[drfresh]

11. Think we can still buy a port for $7?

I think DU should pitch in to buy one of those dirt-cheap ports Canada is apparently selling. Would be nice once the rest of the planet is burning up. who's with me?

[kestrel91316]

14. Well, if the waters rise enough somebody might be able to

buy the Port of New York for, oh, maybe about $21 in wampum.

[kitty1]

15. actually that $7 was part of an 11 million dollar track purchase..

It was for 810 miles of de nationalized tracks in Northern Manitoba. His company Omnitrax made the purchase about 10 years ago.
Actually Churchill (located in my lovely province of Manitoba) is getting a lot of money poured into it lately by the province. A lot has been invested privately and publicly in improving the Port itself, enabling it to hold larger ships. Instead of shipping wheat, they hope to ship out oil in the not too distanct future. Here's hoping we become the Alberta of the North!

[kitty1]

16. I meant to say as well as shipping wheat...they hope to ship out oil

[brentspeak]

12. If Canada was dumb enough to sell that port for 7 bucks

the chances of it making sure it's oil land doesn't end up in the hands of Oil Can Cheney and Co. don't look very good.

[Guaranteed]

17. Nice, and with that $100 million he can buy a spaceship

and go find another planet to live on.

[reprobate]

18. Oh, I wouldn't do much gloating if I were him.

The current warming of the region may just be a temporary imbalance. By that I mean that there is an exquisite balance between the atlantic and pacific conveyor currents (which are actually part of a worldwide oceanic circulation)and the arctic and antarctic ice, and the climate.

Global warming will probably NOT result in a warming of the entire globe. A far more likely result will be that as the ice melts it will lower the salinity of the conveyor currents. Lower salinity means 'lighter' water which will not sink and cool in the depths. This will cause the conveyor to slow or stop. Both the atlantic and pacific will stop moving warmth north to keep the northern latitudes temperate.

The most likely result of this process will be a drastic cooling of the northern latitudes. IOW a new ice age.

All of this is just basic science. Why is it not generally discussed?