If enacted, the Grassley bill will encourage companies to place more engineers and other skilled foreign nationals abroad, where more investment dollars will flow, which will not be good for U.S.-born professionals in the technology field.

FORBES: Requiring Foreigners to Be Paid More Than Americans

Being so far north, much of region - some 146, 000 square km - is covered by glaciers and ice caps (a type of ice field where glaciers flow off in many directions).

BBC: Canadian glaciers face 'big losses'