Iced Out

So the US is currently without a heavy icebreaker, i.e. one that can operate in the Arctic or Antarctic ice safely. According to Dot Earth this predicament has been a long time coming and yet here we are. It's not like we have ice bound waters to patrol off Alaska, or a scientific research station on Antarctica that needs supplies...

Perhaps the government (Congress, here's looking at you) thought they could get away with not funding new boats since soon the Arctic will be ice free and really the Antarctic can't be that far behind can it?

Especially if we abandon any hope of getting a 2 degree global temperature rise limit in place.