New Legislation Urged for Developing Seabed Minerals

Abstract

Support is growing for establishing a new legal framework to oversee exploration, development, and commercial recovery of ocean floor mineral resources in the U.S.'s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Stretching a minimum of 200 nautical miles off the coast of the U.S. and its island territories, the zone was proclaimed to be under U.S. jurisdiction by President Reagan in March 1983. Development of new technologies to recover seabed minerals, concern for finding new, reliable sources of strategic metals, and belief in the inadequacy of the current statute regulating offshore mineral resources have combined to win backing for new legislation. Support for a new bill—with modifications—was expressed recently by representatives from industry, environmental groups, and coastal states at a hearing before the Subcommittee on Oceanography of the House Committee on Merchant Marine & Fisheries. The bill is the National Seabed Hard Minerals Act, introduced by Rep. Mike Lowry (D.-Wash.), chairman of the subcommittee. How...