A Russian expert recently lamented, "If we do not start immediately reviving the arctic transportation system, voyages on the Northern Sea Route will be led by the Japanese or the Americans."

The Northwest Passage runs through Canada's arctic archipelago. If the polar ice cap continues to recede, the Northwest Passage will become a major shipping lane for international trade between Europe and Asia, cutting transit times substantially. Currently, navigation is possible along the Northwest Passage during a seven-week period with the use of icebreakers.

According to a report by the U.S. Office of Naval Research, by 2050 the "Northwest Passage through the Canadian archipelago and along the coast of Alaska will be ice-free and navigable every summer by non-ice-breaking ships."

However, use of the Northwest Passage is a contentious issue between the United States and Canada. The United States argues that "it is a strait for international navigation" because it regards the Northwest Passage as international waters.

Canada, on the other hand, claims that the straits of the Arctic Ocean sea route are "inland seas" falling under Canadian sovereignty. Resolving this dispute amicably is essential for both Canada and the United States to benefit from further economic and security cooperation.

The United States has a strong interest in cooperating with its Arctic Ocean neighbors, especially Canada, in developing offshore oil and gas fields and policing the region. Canada is a close ally of the United States and a fellow member of the U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It is also a reliable oil and natural gas supplier to the United States.

Canada also maintains a very friendly investment climate compared with other energy-producing nations. Opening the Arctic Ocean region with its great potential resources is a major opportunity for U.S. and Canadian companies to enhance the energy security of North America.

At a recent conference, Robert McLeod, former minister of energy of Canada's Northwest Territories, said that exploitation of the oil and gas resources in the Arctic Ocean would improve North American energy security and that the "combined northern gas reserves in Canada and the United States could supply southern markets in Canada and the United States with 8 billion cubic feet per day."

Clearly, the Arctic Ocean region deserves enhanced security, as such massive deposits of hydrocarbons require adequate protection from territorial claims and terrorism.

(Ariel Cohen, Ph.D., is a senior research fellow in Russian and Eurasian studies and international energy security, and Lajos F. Szaszdi, Ph.D., is a researcher in the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies, a division of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies, at The Heritage Foundation.)

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