Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act White House Statement on H.R. 2759.

The Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act, signed by the President on June 28, 1980, reaffirms this Nation's commitment to both a law of the sea treaty and orderly development of a United States ocean mining capability. Our Nation needs assured access to the nickel, copper, cobalt, and manganese-metals important in steelmaking, high performance alloys, and many other industrial uses—found in seabed nodules. This legislation will further these domestic and international aims. The act establishes an interim regulatory procedure for ocean mining activities conducted by U.S. nationals that will be superseded when a law of the sea treaty enters into force for the United States.

Since 1974 many nations have been working through the U.N. Conference on the Law of the Sea to design rules governing the entire range of uses of the oceans. Arrangements for mining deep ocean minerals have constituted the greatest challenge to the Conference. Both developed and developing nations see the opportunities for exploring new avenues of international cooperation and decisionmaking. The International Seabed Authority being considered could become the first international organization with authority to manage a major natural resource.

The United States Government has been working with other nations at the Conference to fashion a treaty acceptable to the world community and serving the best interests of the United States. We hope that substantive negotiations on the treaty can be concluded this year.

The Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act will serve as a steppingstone to this broader, long-term international goal. It will fill the gap created by the pace of technological development and our need for minerals on the one hand and the slow, deliberate process of international lawmaking on the other. Without the national ocean mining legislation that we are enacting, the deep seabed provisions of the law of the sea treaty would be hollow, since private industry would not be able to deliver benefits to this Nation and the world for many years.

In enacting this legislation, the Congress displayed the bipartisan cooperation necessary to strike a judicious balance between American domestic and international interests. This legislation has been continuously revised and improved since its original introduction in 1971. During the past 18 months, it was considered and reported by four House and six Senate committees and numerous subcommittees and was unanimously passed by both Houses. The Chairmen and members of those various committees and subcomittees deserve praise for their patient leadership in shepherding this complex legislation to its final enactment. The cooperation and support of the mining industry and labor unions were instrumental in reaching this valuable result.

This act will serve three purposes. First, it will ensure that when a law of the sea treaty is implemented, there will, in fact, be a viable ocean mining industry. Second, it will subject ocean mining operations conducted in the interim to stringent domestic regulation to ensure protection of the marine environment, safety of life and property at sea, prevention of unreasonable interference with other uses of the high seas, and conservation of mineral resources. Third, it will encourage nations that embark on ocean mining ventures before the treaty is in force to manage the activities of their nationals in a similar fashion and to respect licenses and permits issued under this and other national legislation.

Moreover, the act is drafted to be compatible with the work of the Law of the Sea Conference. It recognizes that the resources of the seabed are common heritage of mankind. It requires that revenues from commercial production be set aside for developing countries. No sovereign jurisdiction is asserted over areas of the international seabed. No license will be issued for exploration to be conducted before July 1, 1981, and more importantly, no permit for commercial recovery will be effective sooner than January 1, 1988.

Under this timetable, the Law of the Sea Conference will have ample time to complete its work and to prepare for implementation of the treaty before commercial recovery under American law would actually take place. At the same time, potential ocean miners are assured that they may continue the orderly progress of their work without fear that delays in the international process will cause unanticipated and costly interruptions in their development programs.

The act authorizes reciprocal agreements with any foreign nation that regulates the conduct of its citizens in a manner compatible with this legislation, recognizes the licenses, permits, and priorities of right granted under it, and provides an interim framework for ocean mining that respects other nations' freedom of the high seas. Responsible cooperation among the early ocean mining nations can set the stage for successful implementation of a law of the sea treaty.

Ocean mining holds great promise for meeting the strategic mineral needs of this Nation. With the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act, we can look forward to an era in which ocean resources benefit all mankind and the institutions overseeing these resources set a new standard for international cooperation.