AUGUSTA, Maine - Maine U.S. Sen. Angus King is calling for more money to build powerful ships designed to cut channels through heavy ice.
King tells the Portland Press Herald that the state's economy would benefit if the country had more icebreakers to maintain Arctic shipping lanes. He says warmer temperatures have made shipping easier, and that Maine's ports are the closest to the eastern side of the passage.
The Coast Guard controls two fully functional icebreakers, one of which works primarily in the Antarctic Ocean. There are three other privately owned icebreakers in the country.
King says each icebreaker costs about $1 billion to build. Funding is difficult to secure since the Coast Guard has a relatively small capital budget and spends a lot of that on replacing cutters.