Caitlin Keating-Bitonti wrote this important CRS Report (7 February 2024): 'Outer Limits of the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf - 'Background and Issues for Congress'.
This report is much longer than I usually post and discuss. It has some great graphics, though.
Summary
Areas of the ocean within U.S. jurisdiction encompass diverse marine ecosystems and contain natural resources of economic value and national security interest. The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to which the United States is not a party, describes internationally recognized maritime zones. UNCLOS provides a coastal country with sovereign rights for the purpose of managing, conserving, exploring, and exploiting natural resources of the seabed and waters within 200 nautical miles (nmi) of its coastline. The United
States generally aligns with the UNCLOS framework for establishing maritime boundaries. Some coastal countries may pursue research efforts to document and claim areas of the seabed beyond this 200-nmi limit, known as the extended continental shelf (ECS). An ECS would allow coastal countries to capitalize on potential resources of this part of the seabed (e.g., critical minerals, oil and gas) as entitled under UNCLOS.
Under Article 76 of UNCLOS, coastal countries can file a submission concerning the extent of their ECS to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS), an independent entity created under UNCLOS. The CLCS considers a coastal country’s submission of geological and geophysical data collected and analyzed to delineate the outer limits of the ECS. The CLCS does not approve or grant an ECS to a coastal country but makes recommendations on the outer limits of an ECS based on these data. The CLCS has no mandate to establish boundaries or resolve boundary conflicts between two coastal countries. Disputes over maritime boundaries must be resolved between the countries involved in the disagreement.
The U.S. Extended Continental Shelf Project is a federal initiative with an aim to establish the full extent of the U.S. ECS. The Department of State, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) work together through the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf Project to collect geological and geophysical data in accordance with UNCLOS Article 76. The U.S. Extended Continental Shelf Project has analyzed data in each ocean region with potential U.S. ECS.
On December 19, 2023, the Department of State announced the outer limits of the U.S. ECS in seven ocean regions: the Arctic, Atlantic, Bering Sea, Eastern and Western Gulf of Mexico, Northern Mariana Islands, and Pacific. The declared U.S. ECS would be approximately 288,000 square nmi (987,700 square kilometers). According to the Department of State, the United States is ready to file its submission package with the CLCS upon U.S. accession to UNCLOS. The Department of State also said the United States is open to filing its submission to the CLCS as a non-party to UNCLOS.
The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held hearings on UNCLOS during the 112th Congress. Given the Department of State’s recent announcement about the establishment of the outer limits of the U.S. ECS, Congress may consider the advantages and disadvantages of U.S. accession to UNCLOS. Congress may choose to deliberate the extent to which U.S. accession might strengthen the U.S. ability to exercise sovereign rights over the natural resources in these areas and compare that advantage against potential disadvantages of U.S. accession to UNCLOS, such as limited economic benefits to U.S. companies and the United States from exploitation of seabed minerals under the authority of the International Seabed Authority. For example, USGS scientists report that high concentrations of critical minerals in certain seafloor deposits may serve national security interests. Several countries party to UNCLOS have shown interest in exploring areas of the Pacific and the Arctic for potential mineral resources through exploration mining contracts or by filing ECS submissions with U.N. entities established under UNCLOS. It remains unclear how the international community would respond to a U.S. submission to the CLCS as a non-party to UNCLOS.
There is a lot of information in the report. I have just the summary and the graphics.
Enjoy!
"Most of the southern hemisphere is unexplored. We had more exploration ships down there during Captain Cook's time than now. It's amazing." - Robert Ballard
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