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Texas is about to start playing a critical role in countering Russia’s and China’s increasing expansion in the Arctic Circle.
Added into President Donald Trump’s big spending and tax cut bill in July was a provision to ramp up U.S. production of heavy icebreaker ships – including in Texas – that can navigate the polar regions. Currently, the U.S. has just two operational icebreaking vessels and one of those is a heavy-duty icebreaker, called the Polar Star, which was commissioned in 1976. China has four and Russia more than 40.
But under a provision U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz worked into the legislation, the U.S. is now moving to build seven more ships, including three that will be constructed in Galveston. The Trump administration announced the awarding of those contracts last week.
Cruz said Texas getting a share of that shipbuilding work could mean billions in economic impact and would support 7,000 skilled jobs on the Gulf Coast.
“This deal will deliver world-class cutters and create thousands of good-paying jobs for our great state,” Cruz said.
More broadly, it speaks to a growing concern over China’s incursions into the Arctic. Last year, the Chinese and Russian ships conducted joint naval exercises in the Pacific that included operations in the Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean. Earlier in 2024, Chinese and Russian bombers got close enough to Alaskan airspace that the U.S. had to scramble intercepting aircraft.
It’s all triggered a renewed call for the U.S. to more seriously build up its presence in the Arctic.
The U.S. established itself as a dominant polar power 50 years ago, according to Rebecca Pincus, director of the nonprofit Polar Institute.
“The investments made in the 1970s are rusting away and the U.S. faces a new and more complex global competition,” she told the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee during one of its first hearings this year with Cruz at the helm. “Without a fresh wave of investment and attention, the U.S. will face severe limitations on its presence in the poles and could soon lose its dominant position.”
After the hearing, Cruz said one of his goals was to expand the number of contractors working on icebreakers. Most of that work has previously been centered in Mississippi. But with the new legislation, Louisiana and Texas will have contractors working on expanding the U.S. fleet of icebreakers.
Davie Shipbuilding in Galveston stands to benefit financially from the new contracts. The company just recently expanded its operations between Port Arthur and Galveston and now finds itself a key part of building a new generation of heavy duty icebreakers for the U.S. Coast Guard.
“Texas is ready to lead a new Golden Age of American shipbuilding—backed by our commitment to delivering ships on time, on budget, and in service of national security priorities,” James Davies, President and CEO of Davie, said earlier this year as they expanded their operations.
 | Jeremy Wallace, Texas politics reporter |
Who's Up, Who's Down
A daily stock market-style report on key players in Texas politics.
Up: Dustin Burrows.
The Republican Party of Texas backed off a plan to censure the Texas House Speaker and four other GOP members of the Texas House. And while five others were censured, the party backed off a proposal that could have barred those incumbents from being on future GOP primary ballots. Burrows had initially become a target for censure because he picked up enough Democratic votes to become the House speaker earlier this year over another GOP candidate who had only Republican votes. The Republican Party of Texas had lobbied for the speaker to be chosen by just Republicans without Democrats having a say.
Down: Corpus Christi.
The 8th largest city in Texas is fast running out of water. If nothing changes by late next year, the city will begin curtailing usage by 25%, leaving both residents and the region’s massive petrochemical industry to figure out how to make do with a lot less. The situation became even more dire in September, when city council members abruptly voted to stop work on a controversial seawater desalination plant called Inner Harbor, alarmed by the plant’s ballooning cost — estimated at $1.2 billion. What’s happening there is a “microcosm of a bigger problem,” said Drew Molly, who until recently was the chief operating officer of Corpus Christi Water. As the state’s water crisis deepens, cities and communities will be faced with difficult questions: How much water do we need? How much are we willing to pay? And who will foot the bill?
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