tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1331178614985774552024-02-06T22:37:51.046-08:00Arctic Mapping and the Law of the SeaAn ongoing look at the law - science interface in shaping arctic policy, the mapping of the Arctic Ocean continental shelf, and the development of norms for effective governance of the arctic and its natural resources.BBBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12708929701714104676noreply@blogger.comBlogger90125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-133117861498577455.post-65664912479750237672014-04-19T08:14:00.002-07:002014-04-19T08:14:15.484-07:00Gazprom Neft ships the first "Arctic Oil" from Prirazlomnoye, site of the Arctic Sunrise protest last fall<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://gcaptain.com/gazprom-ships-first-arctic-oil-controversial-prirazlomnoye-platform/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Gcaptain+%28gCaptain.com%29">GCaptain</a> and others report that on Friday, April 18, Gazprom Neft shipped the first 70,000 metric tons of "Arctic Oil" from its Prirazlomnoye platform. <a href="http://www.platts.com/latest-news/shipping/moscow/gazprom-sends-russias-first-ever-arctic-crude-21507826">Platts</a> reports that the Prirazlomonoye field, some 60 km offshore the Pechora Sea, "is expected
to reach its peak output of some 6 million mt/yer, or 120,000 b/d, by 2020."<br />
<br />
According to <a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/04/18/russia-prirazlomnoye-oil-idINL6N0NA1C720140418">Reuters</a>, President Putin, speaking by video to workers on the platform, stated: "<span id="articleText">This, in essence, is the beginning of great and large-scale
extraction of minerals and oil by our country in the Arctic."</span> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://barentsobserver.com/en/articles/russia-not-ready-arctic-oil">Russian environmental groups</a>, among others, have expressed concern about Russia's ability to operate the remote platform safely. The Greenpeace protest there last fall led to the crew's detention, its vessel's impounding and the Netherlands request for provisional measures from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). On November 22, 2013, ITLOS <a href="http://www.itlos.org/index.php?id=264&L=0\n#c1567">ordered the release of the Arctic Sunrise</a> and the detained persons upon the posting of a bond. Russia did not appear at the hearing, having rejected the tribunal's jurisdiction. For more on the jurisdictional aspects of the case see this <a href="http://www.asil.org/insights/volume/18/issue/1/arctic-sunrise-and-ngos-international-judicial-proceedings">ASIL Insights</a> posting. The crew have all been released; Greenpeace filed a f<a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/press/releases/Arctic-Sunrise-release-new-petition/">ormal petition for the vessel's release</a> on March 3, 2014.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Three recent publications from Washington DC/New York think tanks in late
March all address Arctic security and resource development from a
U.S. perspective:<br />
</span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">
The Brookings Institution<br />
Policy Brief | March 24, 2014<br />
Offshore Oil and Gas Governance in the Arctic: A Leadership Role for the U.S.<br />
http://www.brookings.edu/research/reports/2014/03/offshore-oil-gas-governance-arctic<br />
<br />
The Center for a New American Security<br />
Policy Brief | March 25, 2014<br />
Emerging Arctic Security Challenges<br />
http://www.cnas.org/Emerging-Arctic-Security-Challenges#.Uzq2Wce-iTY<br />
<br />
The Council on Foreign Relations<br />
CFR "InfoGuide" | March 25, 2014<br />
The Emerging Arctic<br />
<a href="https://webmail.vermontlaw.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=75d5188781b445e08259ad635ae8583e&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.cfr.org%2fpolar-regions%2femerging-arctic%2fp32620%23%21%2f%3fcid%3dotr_marketing_use-arctic_Infoguide%23%21" target="_blank">http://www.cfr.org/polar-regions/emerging-arctic/p32620#!/?cid=otr_marketing_use-arctic_Infoguide#!</a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">
<br />
<br />
Also, on April 20th the Fourth Anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon is
upon us, and at least two U.S. institutions are marking it by drawing
lessons learned for Arctic drilling:<br />
<br />
April 17 Resources for the Future: <a href="https://webmail.vermontlaw.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=75d5188781b445e08259ad635ae8583e&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.rff.org%2fEvents%2fPages%2fFrom-the-Gulf-to-the-Arctic-What-Have-We-Learned-Since-the-Deepwater-Horizon-Spill.aspx" target="_blank">http://www.rff.org/Events/Pages/From-the-Gulf-to-the-Arctic-What-Have-We-Learned-Since-the-Deepwater-Horizon-Spill.aspx</a></span></span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="background-color: yellow;"><b><span style="color: red;">UPDATE 5/7/2014:</span></b> For a report on the Resources for the Future event see the story in Oil and Gas Journal: <a href="http://www.ogj.com/articles/print/volume-112/issue-4c/general-interest/four-years-after-macondo-offshore-arctic-beckons-speakers-warn.html">http://www.ogj.com/articles/print/volume-112/issue-4c/general-interest/four-years-after-macondo-offshore-arctic-beckons-speakers-warn.html</a><span style="background-color: white;">, with reporting as well on an </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="background-color: yellow;"><span style="background-color: white;"> April 21 conference sponsored by the Bipartisan Policy Council </span><b></b></span> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">
<br />
April 25 Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment/Duke Energy Initiative - <a href="https://webmail.vermontlaw.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=75d5188781b445e08259ad635ae8583e&URL=https%3a%2f%2fsites.nicholas.duke.edu%2floribennear%2farctic-access-workshop-2014%2f" target="_blank">https://sites.nicholas.duke.edu/loribennear/arctic-access-workshop-2014/</a><br />
<br />
Notably, the federal regulator responsible for offshore oil and gas
development on the U.S. outer continental shelf in the Beaufort and
Chukchi Seas is expected to issue ARCTIC SPECIFIC regulations soon. The
rule-making was announced last year: U.S. Dep’t of the Interior, Bureau
of Ocean and Energy Management (BOEM) and Bureau of Safety and
Environment and Enforcement (BSEE) Review of Alaska Outer Continental
Shelf Oil & Gas Drilling Standards, REGULATIONS.GOV (June 6, 2013), <a href="https://webmail.vermontlaw.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=75d5188781b445e08259ad635ae8583e&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.regulations.gov%2f%23%21docketDetail%3bD%3dBOEM-2013-0035" target="_blank">http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=BOEM-2013-0035</a> . I will write again when the regulations are promulgated.<br />
<br />
In this connection see the Pew Environment site <br />
1) for its excellent paper that has helped inform the expected Arctic-specific U.S. offshore regulations (an early version was submitted during the public comment period) <a href="https://webmail.vermontlaw.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=75d5188781b445e08259ad635ae8583e&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.pewenvironment.org%2fnews-room%2freports%2farctic-standards-recommendations-on-oil-spill-prevention-response-and-safety-85899506213" target="_blank">http://www.pewenvironment.org/news-room/reports/arctic-standards-recommendations-on-oil-spill-prevention-response-and-safety-85899506213</a><br />
and <br />
2) for a blog entry also marking the Fourth Anniversary of the DWH <a href="https://webmail.vermontlaw.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=75d5188781b445e08259ad635ae8583e&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.pewenvironment.org%2fnews-room%2fother-resources%2fthe-deepwater-horizon-oil-spill-four-years-later-85899543841" target="_blank">http://www.pewenvironment.org/news-room/other-resources/the-deepwater-horizon-oil-spill-four-years-later-85899543841</a><br />
<br />
This United States-specific blogpost concludes with a long overdue
reference to a December 2013 White Paper by Professor Wendy Jacobs and her
students at Harvard's Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic on "Suggested Indicators of Environmentally Responsible Performance of Offshore Oil and Gas Companies Proposing to Drill in the U.S. Arctic,"
available here: <a href="https://webmail.vermontlaw.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=75d5188781b445e08259ad635ae8583e&URL=http%3a%2f%2fblogs.law.harvard.edu%2fenvironmentallawprogram%2fclinic-report-identifies-environmental-performance-indicators-for-companies-proposing-to-drill-in-the-u-s-arctic%2f" target="_blank">http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/environmentallawprogram/clinic-report-identifies-environmental-performance-indicators-for-companies-proposing-to-drill-in-the-u-s-arctic/</a><br />
<br />
</span></span></div>
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Many readers of this blog will be familiar with The Rule of Law Committee for the Oceans, directed by Caitlyn Antrim. Earlier this week ROLCO re-launched its website, which is now available at <a href="http://oceanlaw.org/">oceanlaw.org</a>. The site covers a much broader range of topics than the Arctic Oceans, but it provides essential context for the importance of the Law of the Sea Convention to the Arctic.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Given last week's notable events surrounding the Canadian
Submission to the <a href="http://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/clcs_home.htm">Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf</a> (CLCS),
your blogger is resurfacing before her promised 2014 re-start date to
post a bare minimum of some of the most helpful links on the topic. Regular posts will resume in the New Year, with the end of your blogger's sabbatical and her return from Alaska.</span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
December 7, 2013, was the ten year anniversary of Canada joining the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Under Convention rules, December 6, 2013, was Canada's deadline for submitting information to the CLCS on the limits of the Canadian continental shelf.<br />
<br />
Canadian scientists and diplomats have been laying the groundwork for Canada's CLCS submission for approximately a decade. Canada's <a href="http://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/submissions_files/submission_can_70_2013.htm">partial</a> <a href="http://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/submissions_files/submission_can_70_2013.htm">submission</a> to the CLCS on December 6 covered Atlantic Canada [link to the Executive Summary in <a href="http://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/submissions_files/can70_13/es_can_en.pdf">English</a> or <a href="http://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/submissions_files/can70_13/es_can_fr.pdf">French</a>] but not the Arctic Ocean. Instead, Canada filed <a href="http://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/commission_preliminary.htm">Preliminary Information</a> for the Arctic region [link to the PI in <a href="http://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/submissions_files/preliminary/can_pi_en.pdf">English</a> or <a href="http://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/submissions_files/preliminary/can_pi_fr.pdf">French</a>]. Some had anticipated that Canada would include both regions in one submission but media reports surfaced last week that Prime Minister Harper had requested further information regarding the relationship between North Pole and the Canadian submission. According to <a href="http://www.theprovince.com/news/Canada+makes+territorial+claim+North+Pole+despite+mapping+area/9275797/story.html">media reports</a> the North Pole was not included in the continental shelf information to which the Prime Minister was reacting. The <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-s-claim-to-arctic-riches-includes-the-north-pole-1.2456773">Canadian Broadcasting Company</a>, reporting on a December 9, 2013, news conference, quoted Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird explaining Canada's approach:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
"We have asked our officials and scientists to do additional work and
necessary work to ensure that a submission for the full extent of the
continental shelf in the Arctic includes Canada's claim to the North
Pole," said Baird. </div>
<br />
Several Canada-based media sources include interpretations of last week's events from two Canadian scholars of international policy, <a href="http://www.theprovince.com/technology/Canada+plans+push+territorial+claims+North+Pole/9265234/story.html">Michael Byers</a> and <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/arctic-claim-process-melds-science-diplomacy-1.2456894">Rob Hubert</a>. The <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2013/1211/Arctic-resource-race-heats-up-as-Russia-Canada-stake-new-claims-video">Christian Science Monitor</a> interprets Russian Prime Minister Putin's order last week to increase military presence in the Arctic as a direct response to the Canadian Preliminary Information at the CLCS regarding the Arctic. By contrast, <a href="http://www.china.org.cn/world/Off_the_Wire/2013-12/12/content_30870049.htm">Xinhua</a> and the <a href="http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-russia-not-to-dispute-canada-s-claim-on-north-pole-1933672">India Daily News</a> reflect a more measured approach, both quoting Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Sergei Donskoy, as saying:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
'Actual delimitation of the continental shelf in the Northern Ocean is
not today's or even tomorrow's issue.' Donskoy said Russia, Canada and Denmark have the common interest of
persuading the CLCS of the geological composition of the Northern
Ocean's bed. </div>
<br />
Russia and the Kingdom of Denmark, by virtue of Greenland, are considered to have<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/27/denmark-greenland-northpole-idUSL6E8IRK6N20120727"> the potential to include the North Pole in their submissions</a> to the CLCS. A cursory listing of Arctic-relevant submissions to date, and anticipated future submissions, is provided by the <a href="http://www.thearcticinstitute.org/2013/02/taking-stock-of-races-for-arctic.html">Arctic Institute of North America</a>.<br />
<br />
The CLCS will consider Canada's Partial Submission for the Atlantic region in summer 2014, as the CLCS indicated in its <a href="http://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/submissions_files/submission_can_70_2013.htm">Statement</a> regarding the Partial Submission: <br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
"The consideration of the partial submission made by Canada will be
included in the provisional agenda of the thirty-fifth session of the
Commission to be held during July-August 2014."</div>
</div>
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<tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; width: 300px;" valign="top" width="300"><table border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" id="x_content_LETTER.BLOCK1" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td align="left" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: left;"><br /></td><td align="left" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: left;"><br /></td><td align="left" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #ffe599;"><span style="color: blue;">Also of note is today's release of NOAA's annual Arctic Report Card, which is an international undertaking: 147 authors from 14 countries contributed. The press release is reproduced here.</span></span></td><td align="left" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: left;"><br /></td><td align="left" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: left;"><br /></td><td align="left" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: left;"><br /></td><td align="left" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: left;"><br /></td><td align="left" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: left;"><br /></td><td align="left" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: left;"><br /></td><td align="left" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: left;"><br /></td>
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<b>For Immediate Release</b></div>
<div>
<b>December 12, 2013</b></div>
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<div style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b>2013 Arctic Report Card Released Today at AGU Fall Meeting</b></div>
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<div style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b>San Francisco, CA</b> - While fewer snow and ice
extremes occurred in 2013 relative to 2012, and environmental
observations in Alaska and throughout the Arctic showed annual and
regional variability, the impact of the region's persistent,
long-term warming trend remains demonstrable, according to the
just-released 2013 update to the
<a href="http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/reportcard/">http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/reportcard/</a>. The Report Card
is a peer-reviewed source for environmental information on the current
state of the Arctic relative to historical records.
</div>
<div style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
The release of the 2013 Report Card was announced today at the
American Geophysical Union's Fall Meeting at a 9:00 am press conference
at
Moscone Center West (room 3001A) in San Francisco.
Dr. Martin Jeffries, science advisor at the US Arctic
Research Commission and principal editor of the report, was on the panel
that described some of the highlights of 2013 in the Arctic.</div>
<div style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Key observations revealed in the Report Card update show:</div>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Snow extent in May 2013 reached a new record low in Eurasia, due
to above average air temperatures, while Northern Hemisphere-wide snow
extent was below average for spring (April, May, June).
</li>
<li style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Summer surface air temperatures were particularly low across the
central Arctic Ocean, northern Canada and Greenland relative to
2007-2012 (a period of pronounced summer sea ice retreat), and were
somewhat lower than the long-term average of 1981-2010.</li>
<li style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Minimum sea ice extent in September 2013 was not as low as the
record minimum of 2012, but was nevertheless the sixth lowest since
observations began in 1979 despite the relatively cool summer of 2013.
The seven lowest ice extent minima have occurred in the last seven years, 2007-2013.</li>
<li style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Arctic tundra vegetation greenness (a measure of biological
productivity) and growing season length have continued to increase since
observations began in 1982.</li>
<li style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Large land mammals convey a mixed message, with Muskox numbers
stable/increasing since the 1970s, while many caribou and reindeer herds
currently have unusually low populations for the period 1970-2013.</li>
<li style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Changes in fish and bottom dwelling organisms include continued
northward migration of species not previously seen in the Arctic.
</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
"The Arctic Report Card illustrates the importance of long-term
observations of the Arctic environment," said Fran Ulmer, Chair, US
Arctic Research Commission. "We need an integrated, pan-Arctic observing
system that helps us better understand this sensitive
region's current changes and make improved projections for what the
future holds."</div>
<div style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
The 2013 Report Card comprises 18 essays prepared by an
international team of 147 authors from 14 different countries. It is
intended for a wide audience, including scientists, teachers, students,
decision-makers and the general public interested in the
Arctic environment and science.</div>
<div style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
USARC's mission is to develop and recommend US Arctic research
policy to the President and Congress and to build cooperative links in
Arctic research within the federal government, with Arctic residents,
the State of Alaska, researchers and international
partners. Visit the USARC at <a href="https://webmail.vermontlaw.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=27b6bb9c1ec24a1ea3e0541084ca5b1d&URL=http%3a%2f%2fr20.rs6.net%2ftn.jsp%3ff%3d001bCIl2y7f6ZKwt3Cc8CZTDRSUPdKPmyTpkVlZif4msLFR6BmCuhQYXogOtI-d4JSMw3oV0a4b8aBWLnQw-XYLe6-Ic8UWHSm634fFwUx7SCGAaV2oL0HBlk-E3zlpB5fs1oPnEcNRwL4eE-HNVO60b_QM9By6DrZUi_y11Npvvwc%3d%26c%3dDbTlVksSLCQt1DE-zh55EL5ZTBWcNhx5l0AAyC6yJZnJyRh9FSWHmQ%3d%3d%26ch%3doE47uK-T12BXav4Ol8gJt6VphDGuiqw-4BUm8VdERgqQzCmt7VdRIQ%3d%3d" shape="rect" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">www.arctic.gov</a>
and subscribe to our daily electronic newsletter, the "Arctic Daily
Update," which provides useful information about recent events,
conferences, research initiatives and international news.</div>
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<div style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times,Serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
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<b>Media Contact</b><b>:</b> Kathy Farrow, 703-525-0112 (o), 703-851-7332 (c),
<a href="https://webmail.vermontlaw.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=27b6bb9c1ec24a1ea3e0541084ca5b1d&URL=mailto%3akfarrow%40arctic.gov" shape="rect" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;">kfarrow@arctic.gov</a></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">TO SEE ALL POSTS TO THIS BLOG,
INCLUDING ALL POSTS FROM ON BOARD THE HEALY
(August 14-September 5, 2008)
please see "BLOG ARCHIVE" in the right-hand margin.</div>BBBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12708929701714104676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-133117861498577455.post-70947552631997976522013-10-11T18:55:00.003-07:002013-10-11T18:55:24.452-07:00Blog Break<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Your blogger is on leave for 2012-2013, splitting time between Alaska and Washington D.C. and planning to resume regular postings in 2014 speaking, as always, in her personal capacity.</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">TO SEE ALL POSTS TO THIS BLOG,
INCLUDING ALL POSTS FROM ON BOARD THE HEALY
(August 14-September 5, 2008)
please see "BLOG ARCHIVE" in the right-hand margin.</div>BBBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12708929701714104676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-133117861498577455.post-71774962778042561272012-11-29T18:12:00.002-08:002012-11-29T18:13:27.709-08:00Is the Tide Turning for the Law of the Sea Convention? Conservatives push for U.S. accession by year's end.. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Regular readers of this blog are familiar with the arguments for U.S. accession to the Law of the Sea Convention (simply look to the upper right corner of this page for a partial listing of support). They are likely also familiar with the misinformation that opponents have spread about the Convention. A conservative think tank, the <a href="http://www.instituteforliberty.org/">Institute for Liberty</a>, has done its own research and changed its mind, <b>arguing forcefully for U.S. accession before the end of 2012.</b> The institute<a href="http://www.instituteforliberty.org/"></a> launched an initiative in August 2012 <a href="http://www.instituteforliberty.org/index.php?src=gendocs&ref=LOSTOpportunities">to promote accession</a> and yesterday its President, <a href="http://www.instituteforliberty.org/index.php?src=gendocs&ref=andrew_langer&category=Main&submenu=About">Andrew Langer,</a><span class="x_Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-size: 12px;"><span style="display: block;"><span style="display: block;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><a href="https://webmail.vermontlaw.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=fa6d375f828e41c2b7c610b26fc7d6ec&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.realclearpolitics.com%2fauthors%2fandrew_langer%2f" target="_blank"><span style="color: #021eaa; letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></a></span></span></span></span>published a lengthy piece in <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/media_kit/our_audience/">Real Clear Politics</a> debunking the opposition myths.<br />
<br />
Regular readers also know this blogger's mantra that cooperation, not conflict, rules the day in the Arctic (for a <a href="http://www.ogel.org/article.asp?key=3251">recent piece</a> to that effect see <a href="http://www.ogel.org/journal-browse-issues-toc.asp?key=47">OGEL's special 2012 issue on the Arctic</a>). While Langer sees a "new Cold War" in the Arctic, he overlooks the fact that Russia is following the same rules and procedures to delineate the extent of its shelf that the Convention prescribes for all states. Notwithstanding this blogger's disagreement on that point, the <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/11/28/the_case_for_ratification_of_the_law_of_the_sea_treaty_116272-full.html">article</a> is worth a full read, especially for its point-by-point responses to the "disinformation" spread by the Convention's opponents. Thanks to Caitlyn Antrim for drawing attention to the piece, which is excerpted below from <span style="color: black; letter-spacing: 0px;"><b> </b><a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/11/28/the_case_for_ratification_of_the_law_of_the_sea_treaty_116272-full.html">http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/11/28/the_case_for_ratification_of_the_law_of_the_sea_treaty_116272-full.html </a></span><span class="x_Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-size: 12px;"><span style="display: block;"><span style="display: block;"></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="x_Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-size: 12px;"><span style="display: block;"><span style="display: block;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">"The Case for Ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty" [EXCERPTS]</span></b></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>By <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/authors/andrew_langer/">Andrew Langer</a></b> - November 28, 2012</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>"The Stakes Have Rarely Been Higher</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">"The
Institute for Liberty (IFL) has come to the conclusion that ratifying
the Law of the Sea Treaty is the most important property rights and
wealth building step that America
can take to maintain our leading superpower status and to exponentially
grow our economy.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; margin: 0px 0px 9px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">There
has been a tremendous amount of disinformation about this treaty. In
fact, just earlier this year, IFL thought we knew the truth about what
was termed “LOST” and we signed
a letter opposing ratification. We, like so many other conservatives,
were given bad information.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; margin: 0px 0px 9px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">In
light of the facts, IFL dropped our opposition to the treaty and we are
now leading the conservative charge for its ratification. I am meeting
everyday with conservative
grassroots leaders to ask them to join me in this imperative course
correction and we are making a great deal of progress." </span></div>
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Another short excerpt gives a taste of how the piece debunks false arguments against the Law of the Sea Convention:<br />
<br />
[Langer continues:]<br />
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<span class="x_Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-size: 12px;"><span style="display: block;"><span style="display: block;"></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="x_Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-size: 12px;"><span style="display: block;"><span style="display: block;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>"Myth:</b> Ronald Reagan wouldn’t ratify this treaty.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>Fact:</b> Ronald
Reagan’s Chief of Staff James Baker III supports the treaty’s
ratification and he says that this version of the Law of the Sea Treaty
is the version that
Reagan fought for himself. Baker says that Reagan fought for the
mineral rights contained in the treaty and that the mineral rights
section is where Reagan’s objects rested – Reagan did not see “backdoor
tax” or “sovereignty” boogiemen in LOTS or in the ISA.
Hear from Baker yourself. <a href="https://webmail.vermontlaw.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=fa6d375f828e41c2b7c610b26fc7d6ec&URL=http%3a%2f%2fvimeo.com%2f49431357" target="_blank"><span style="color: #021eaa; letter-spacing: 0px;">In this video you can watch him talk directly about Ronald Reagan
and Law of the Sea Treaty</span></a> during his remarks of August 26, 2012 (between the time marker 35:29 – 36:32)</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; margin: 0px 0px 9px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>Myth:</b> This treaty is an environmentalist ploy.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; margin: 0px 0px 9px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>Fact:</b> False.
This treaty is backed by the US military; by the mining, oil and gas
industries; by manufacturers; by the defense industry; and, by every
living Republican
Secretary of State and by every Republican president – essentially,
this treaty is backed by everyone the environmentalist community
loathes, sues and pickets. The supporters of this treaty are amongst the
most vocal critics of so-called “global warming” and
have fought the Kyoto Protocol tooth and nail. This treaty is about
trillions of dollars of US wealth creation, hundreds of thousands of
American jobs, and about the national security benefits that arise from
the 100% veto power the U.S. gains over all other
nations via ratification.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; margin: 0px 0px 9px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>Myth:</b> U.S. companies can explore mineral claims without ratifying the treaty and joining the ISA.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia; margin: 0px 0px 9px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>Fact:</b> False.
This is the issue of property rights, which is of tantamount importance
in forging political stability and global prosperity. Right now, U.S.
business’ mineral
claims are imperiled because of our inability to participate in the
International Seabed Authority. If other nations can lay claim to these
regions, and have the lawful backing of the treaty and the ISA, then our
businesses can legally be forced off these
claims. U.S. businesses cannot subject themselves to a potential taking
scenario where once that have developed a resource, it is taken by
China or Russia."</span></div>
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</blockquote>
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For the full article, go to <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/11/28/the_case_for_ratification_of_the_law_of_the_sea_treaty_116272-full.html">Real Clear Politics</a>. <br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">TO SEE ALL POSTS TO THIS BLOG,
INCLUDING ALL POSTS FROM ON BOARD THE HEALY
(August 14-September 5, 2008)
please see "BLOG ARCHIVE" in the right-hand margin.</div>BBBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12708929701714104676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-133117861498577455.post-60535377635117233272012-09-08T01:48:00.000-07:002012-09-08T03:02:37.085-07:00Summer 2012 US Extended Continental Shelf Arctic Mapping<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The US Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) mapping project continues in the Arctic Ocean this summer. The USCGC Healy 1202 got underway from Barrow on August 26 with the ECS science crew on board.<br />
<br />
Larry Mayer, Director of the <a href="http://ccom.unh.edu/">Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping/Joint Hydrographic Center</a>, University of New Hampshire/NOAA, is leading the cruise with Capt. Andy Armstrong, who is <span style="color: blue;"><b>blogging about the cruise <a href="http://ccom.unh.edu/healy-12-02-research-cruise">here</a></b>.</span><br />
<br />
Browsing the hourly images from the ship's <a href="http://icefloe.net/Aloftcon_Photos/index.php?album=2012">Aloftcon</a> camera is one way to track the remarkable absence of sea ice at various latitudes. Armstrong's blog entry for September 6 says it is shocking to see "entirely open water" at 81 degrees north, but not surprising given the regular ice reports on which they are relying.<br />
<br />
The <a href="http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/">National Snow and Ice Data Center Arctic Sea Ice News</a> provides frequent updates on the record Arctic sea ice minimum reached this summer. The record minimum set in 2007 was, coincidentally, reached the day Healy 1202 got underway; it has continued to drop throughout September. As NSIDC reports today, the sea ice<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"is now below 4.00 million square kilometers (1.54 million square miles).
Compared to September conditions in the 1980s and 1990s, this represents
a <span style="color: blue;"><b>45% reduction</b></span> in the area of the Arctic covered by sea ice. At least
one more week likely remains in the melt season."</span></span></div>
<br />
Captain Armstrong's blog entries for August 31 and September 5 share remarkable images from <span style="color: blue;"><b>previously undiscovered seafloor features west of the Nautilus Basin</b></span>.<br />
<br />
The cruise is expected to wrap up the last week in September.</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">TO SEE ALL POSTS TO THIS BLOG,
INCLUDING ALL POSTS FROM ON BOARD THE HEALY
(August 14-September 5, 2008)
please see "BLOG ARCHIVE" in the right-hand margin.</div>BBBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12708929701714104676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-133117861498577455.post-5258458707906688802012-05-11T08:32:00.000-07:002012-05-11T09:32:17.291-07:00American Arctic highlighted as key reason for U.S. to join the Law of the Sea Convention<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A diverse, bipartisan coalition of <a href="http://www.ratifythetreatynow.org/ratification-support#academics">politicians, military leaders, corporate interests and environmental groups</a> has launched a new initiative, <a href="http://www.ratifythetreatynow.org/why-ratify-now">The American Sovereignty Campaign</a>, to urge US accession to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in the current Congress. The site provides multiple <a href="http://www.ratifythetreatynow.org/fact-sheets">fact sheets,</a> an interactive <a href="http://www.ratifythetreatynow.org/interactive-map">map</a> and background on why each of the coalition groups supports the Convention. For example, representatives of Lockheed Martin Corporation, Level 3
Communications, the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce and the American
Petroleum Institute – "made the business case for Law of the Sea Treaty
ratification" at a<a href="http://www.acus.org/event/forum-ratification-law-sea-convention"> recent Forum </a>sponsored by the Atlantic Council and the
Pew Charitable Trusts.<br />
<br />
<br />
The United States is the only Arctic State that is not a party to the
LOS Convention, having
first submitted the treaty to the U.S. Senate for approval in 1994, but has
not yet acceded to it. Denmark and Canada joined the treaty in 2004 and
2003 respectively. Until the US accedes to the treaty it cannot submit
its data regarding the extent of the US extended continental shelf (ECS)
to the <a href="http://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/clcs_home.htm">Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf</a>,
established under the treaty. Without a Commission recommendation
regarding such data, the legal foundation for US ECS limits is much less
certain than if the US were a party to the LOS Convention.<br />
<br />
The ASC website also addresses arguments, many of them unfounded, raised by treaty opponents. For example, the site sets straight the record showing that former President <a href="http://www.ratifythetreatynow.org/about-treaty-president-reagans-objections-resolved">Reagan's initial objections to the convention have been resolved</a>. <br />
<br />
<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">TO SEE ALL POSTS TO THIS BLOG,
INCLUDING ALL POSTS FROM ON BOARD THE HEALY
(August 14-September 5, 2008)
please see "BLOG ARCHIVE" in the right-hand margin.</div>BBBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12708929701714104676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-133117861498577455.post-44050242992884858322012-04-18T14:24:00.001-07:002012-04-19T07:51:47.960-07:00Two Year Anniversary of Deepwater Horizon: Oil Spill Commission Action (US) issues "Report Card"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
After concluding their work as the <a href="http://www.oilspillcommission.gov/">National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling,</a> its now former members launched the <a href="http://oscaction.org/osca-assessment-report-april-2012/">Oil Spill Commission Action</a> project (OSCA).<br />
<br />
In time for the two year anniversary of the <a href="http://arctic-healy-baker-2008.blogspot.com/2011/04/bp-macondodeepwater-horizon-one-year.html">Deepwater Horizon</a> disaster (April 20, 2010), OSCA has issued a report card assessing how the US Congress, the Administration and Industry have done in implementing the Commission's Recommendations, which were published in the Commission's <a href="http://www.oilspillcommission.gov/final-report">Final Report</a> of January 2011. The report explains the summary grades assigned to each actor for its work to date (Congress "D", Administration "B" and Industry a "B") as follows:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica'; font-size: 9pt; font-weight: 300;">"Overall, we conclude that, although much more needs to be done, the Administration and
industry are undertaking important enhancements to make offshore drilling safer and to
improve the nation’s ability to respond to oil spills that may occur. Unfortunately, so far,
Congress has provided neither leadership nor support for these efforts."
</span><br />
<br />
The report assesses five categories, The Arctic among them:
<br />
<div class="column">
<span style="color: #0e71b4; font-family: 'HelveticaCYPlain'; font-size: 12pt;">"Safety and Environmental Protection(B)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica'; font-size: 8pt; font-weight: 300;">Industry and most federal agencies have made or are making significant improvements in the way offshore
oil operations are developed, carried out, and overseen. These hold promise but continued improvements
are required, and Congress has done nothing to make permanent the improvements that have been made.
</span><br />
<span style="color: #0e71b4; font-family: 'HelveticaCYPlain'; font-size: 12pt;">Spill Response and Containment(B-)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica'; font-size: 8pt; font-weight: 300;">Industry and most federal agencies are also making significant improvements in their ability to contain and
respond to offshore oil spills. The nation is certainly in a much better situation than it was two years ago.
However, the efficacy of these modifications under the harsh conditions of deep water drilling still needs to
be demonstrated and, again, Congress has provided little support for these efforts.
</span><br />
<span style="color: #0e71b4; font-family: 'HelveticaCYPlain'; font-size: 12pt;">Impacts and Restoration(C)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica'; font-size: 8pt; font-weight: 300;">Implementing the Commission’s recommendations on impacts and restoration is, at best, a work in
progress. Though we are hopeful that the current efforts to initiate a comprehensive restoration program in
the Gulf will succeed, we are discouraged by the modest steps that have been taken.
</span><br />
<span style="color: #0e71b4; font-family: 'HelveticaCYPlain'; font-size: 12pt;">Ensuring Adequate Resources(D)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica'; font-size: 8pt; font-weight: 300;">Although the Administration and Congress have provided increases in funding for the Department of the
Interior to operate its regulatory programs, Congress has taken no action to make the program self-funding.
Nor has Congress taken action to adjust the existing unrealistic limits on liability and response funding.
</span><br />
<b><span style="color: #0e71b4; font-family: 'HelveticaCYPlain'; font-size: 12pt;">Frontier Areas—The Arctic (C)</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica'; font-size: 8pt; font-weight: 300;">Although there has been some progress in implementing the Commission’s recommendations concerning
frontier areas, we feel strongly that additional work must be done to understand the ecosystems of the
Arctic and to establish the infrastructure necessary to protect this vulnerable and valuable region."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica'; font-size: 8pt; font-weight: 300;"><br /></span></div>
The OSCA report is available on the group's Website: <a href="http://oscaction.org/osca-assessment-report-april-2012/">Oil Spill Commission Action</a>.<br />
<a href="http://oscaction.org/osca-assessment-report-april-2012/" title="OSCA Assessment Report April 2012">Download the report...</a><br />
<br />
Among the many other US resources related to the Deepwater Horizon are reports and data available from <a href="http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/deepwaterhorizon">NOAA</a>, from the <a href="http://www.doi.gov/deepwaterhorizon/index.cfm">Department of the Interior</a> (and its <a href="http://www.bsee.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Permits/Status-of-Gulf-of-Mexico-Well-Permits.aspx">Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement</a> and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's <a href="http://www.boem.gov/BOEM-Newsroom/Library/Deepwater-Reading-Room.aspx">Deepwater Reading Room</a>); and the <a href="http://www.epa.gov/bpspill/">Environmental Protection Agency</a>.<br />
<br />
Industry, NGOs and media are also marking the second anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon.<br />
<br />
Notable among the coverage is American Petroleum Institute Upstream Director, Erik Milito, discussing <a href="http://www.platts.com/weblog/oilblog/2012/04/12/the_seven_lesso.html">seven lessons to be learned</a> from the tragedy. The API is a key player in the <a href="http://www.centerforoffshoresafety.org/">Center for Offshore Safety</a>. The Center was established in partial keeping with a Deepwater Commission's recommendation but, as a fully industry supported center, varies from the recommended independent status of such an organization.<br />
Separately, Alex Chadwick is featured in a broadcast documentary <a href="http://world-wire.com/2012/04/18/on-second-anniversary-of-the-deepwater-horizon-disaster-and-for-earth-day-public-radios-burn-an-energy-journal-explores-the-hunt-for-oil/">Burn</a>, about the search for oil.<br />
Other media coverage includes: <br />
<a href="https://webmail.vermontlaw.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=0e91cb790bbe4ce6ba1792368a2fa7a4&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.emagazine.com%2fdaily-news%2fbp-spill-two-years-after%2f" target="_blank">http://www.emagazine.com/daily-news/bp-spill-two-years-after/;</a><br />
<div class="x_MsoNormal">
<a href="https://webmail.vermontlaw.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=0e91cb790bbe4ce6ba1792368a2fa7a4&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.takepart.com%2farticle%2f2012%2f04%2f13%2ftwo-years-later-gulf-marine-life-still-suffering" target="_blank">http://www.takepart.com/article/2012/04/13/two-years-later-gulf-marine-life-still-suffering;</a>
</div>
<div class="x_MsoNormal">
and </div>
<div class="x_MsoNormal">
<a href="https://webmail.vermontlaw.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=0e91cb790bbe4ce6ba1792368a2fa7a4&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.aljazeera.com%2findepth%2ffeatures%2f2012%2f04%2f201241682318260912.html" target="_blank">http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/04/201241682318260912.html</a>
</div>
<br />
<br />
The National Energy Board of Canada completed its post-Deepwater Arctic Ocean Drilling Review, <a href="http://www.neb-one.gc.ca/clf-nsi/rthnb/pplctnsbfrthnb/rctcffshrdrllngrvw/rctcffshrdrllngrvw-eng.html">issuing its report in December 2011</a>. <br />
<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">TO SEE ALL POSTS TO THIS BLOG,
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A new viewer allows anyone with access to the internet to view high-resolution bathymetric and other data depicting information about the world's oceans, seafloor and continental shelves. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) makes the information available through its Marine Geology and Geophysics Division in Boulder, Colorado, part of NOAA’s National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC).<br />
<br />
An <a href="http://www.global-adventures.us/2012/04/17/ocean-maps-online/">independent report</a> on the new viewer observes that "NGDC’s sea floor data have long been free and open to the public in
original science formatting, but that often required the use of
specialized software to convert the data into maps and other products.
"For serious scientists, the new viewer allows an important preview
capability that will help speed data access and analysis. But its real
power is exposing a new audience to NOAA data," said Dan Price,
bathymetric program manager at NGDC." <br />
<br />
The maps can be viewed in Mercator and Arctic Projection and are available <a href="http://maps.ngdc.noaa.gov/viewers/bathymetry/">here</a>.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
The <a href="http://www.grida.no/marine/news.aspx?id=5093">January 2012 Newsletter</a> of <a href="http://www.grida.no/">UNEP GRID/Arendal</a>'s <a href="http://www.grida.no/marine/">Marine Division</a> features two excellent resources, OCEANIDS and OSDS Data Inventory Map (the featured Map of the Month).<br />
<br />
<br />
The first, <a href="http://marine.tokelau.grida.no/">OCEANIDS</a>, is “a new tool to find and examine public marine-related scientific datasets. A main aim in the development of OCEANIDS is to provide end users with an interdisciplinary and multi-thematic geospatial and metadata portal of public data and information – but with the non-GIS expert end user in mind.” For more on how this is accomplished with <a href="http://geocommons.com/">Geocommons</a> solutions, see the <a href="http://www.grida.no/marine/news.aspx?id=5093">newsletter</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
The second resource, the <a href="http://continentalshelf.org/onestopdatashop.aspx">One Stop Data Shop (OSDS)</a> Data Inventory Map “shows all the cruise track lines and point databases that have been collected during the lifespan of the Continental Shelf Programme, and constitutes the world’s largest collection of geophysical metadata relevant for working on delineation of extended continental shelves (ECS) beyond 200 nautical miles.” The map includes “URLs leading to the actual data holder's web pages for that object. Furthermore, the map shows the status of all <a href="http://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/commission_submissions.htm">ECS Submissions received by the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf</a>. In January 2012 Tanzania was the 59th submission.<br />
<br />
As the newsletter announces, the ECS inventory map “is also available for <a href="http://continentalshelf.org/kmz.aspx">Google Earth as separate layers</a>.”</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">TO SEE ALL POSTS TO THIS BLOG,
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The U.S. Department of State recently launched a new <a href="http://www.state.gov/g/oes/lawofthesea/index.htm">website</a>
designed to educate readers about the UN Convention on the Law of the
Sea and promote benefits of accession to the treaty. Partly in
anticipation of the treaty's consideration in the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee (as of yet unscheduled), the State Department's <span class="multiple_speakers"><span class="official_s_bureau">Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs issued several <a href="http://www.state.gov/g/oes/lawofthesea/factsheets/index.htm">fact sheets</a> in July 2011 that are now available on the website. The overview fact sheet characterizes t</span></span>he Convention as "a key piece of <b>unfinished treaty business</b> for the United States;" the others address business and national security reasons to support accession to the Convention. <br />
<br />
The entries at the bottom of this Arctic Mapping blog provide general
information about the history of non-accession to the Convention in the
United States; those in the upper right hand margin track more recent developments and expressions of support for accession. </div><div class="blogger-post-footer">TO SEE ALL POSTS TO THIS BLOG,
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The Arctic Regional Hydrographic Commission (<a href="http://www.iho.int/srv1/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=435:arctic-hc-arhc&catid=64:4ircc&Itemid=690">ARHC</a>) was <a href="http://arctic-healy-baker-2008.blogspot.com/2010/11/arctic-regional-hydrographic-commission.html">established a year ago in October 2010</a>, and is currently holding its second meeting in Copenhagen (27-29 September 2011). Documents submitted for this meeting, including national reports from all five coastal states and a status report (<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.iho.int/mtg_docs/rhc/ArHC/ArHC2/ArHC2-11A_Arctic_Spatial_Data_Infrastructure.pdf" target="_blank">ArHC2-11A</a></span>) on plans for an Arctic Spatial Data Infrastructure (<a href="http://asdi.arcticportal.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1:about&catid=1:about&Itemid=2">Arctic SDI)</a> are available on the ARHC <a href="http://www.iho.int/mtg_docs/rhc/ArHC/ArHC2/ArHC2Docs.htm">meeting website</a>. The ARCH held its <a href="http://www.iho.int/mtg_docs/rhc/ArHC/ArHC1/ArHC1Docs.htm">first meeting in Ottawa</a> (4-6 October 2010). At the first meeting, the report of the US Coastal Hydrographic Commission <a class="l vst noline" href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBoQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iho.int%2Fmtg_docs%2Frhc%2FArHC%2FArHC1%2FArHC1-04B_USCHC_Report.pdf&ei=cXOCTszpFdK80AGw_ryKAQ&usg=AFQjCNFXrbHnuT2h9Stak4KyvtooL9VEOg&sig2=ZrKNOoTsTkKCIwCr-PM68w">(USCHC Update)</a>ARHC1-04B indicated that technical experts met in Ottawa on July 22, 2010 in anticipation of a maritime boundary agreement in the Beaufort Sea (see media <a href="http://blog.geogarage.com/2010/07/work-underway-to-resolve-beaufort-sea.html">reports</a> and earlier posts from <a href="http://arctic-healy-baker-2008.blogspot.com/2010/02/canada-favors-resolution-of-canada-us.html">February 2010</a> and <a href="http://arctic-healy-baker-2008.blogspot.com/2010/03/further-beaufort-sea-boundary.html">March 2010</a> on the progress toward resolution of this maritime boundary dispute). Technical discussions continue in anticipation of resolving this well-managed maritime boundary disagreement between Canada and the United States.<br />
<h3 class="r">
<a class="l vst noline" href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBoQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iho.int%2Fmtg_docs%2Frhc%2FArHC%2FArHC1%2FArHC1-04B_USCHC_Report.pdf&ei=cXOCTszpFdK80AGw_ryKAQ&usg=AFQjCNFXrbHnuT2h9Stak4KyvtooL9VEOg&sig2=ZrKNOoTsTkKCIwCr-PM68w"><br /></a></h3>
</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">TO SEE ALL POSTS TO THIS BLOG,
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As is clear from following the links to the right of this blog post, the USCGC Healy has been in the Arctic Ocean for several weeks on its <a href="http://continentalshelf.gov/%20">“Law of the Sea Extended Continental Shelf” mapping cruise</a>. This is the fifth year that Healy is working jointly with the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Louis S. St. Laurent, collecting data to inform the eventual submission of reports to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.<br />
<br />
The <a href="http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/research/marine-geology-geophysics/rv-langseth%20">Research Vessel (R/V) Marcus G. Langseth</a> embarked September 8, 2011, from Dutch Harbor, Alaska, on a different kind of arctic mapping cruise. <br />
<br />
As explained on the Langseth Chukchi Edges Project <a href="http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/research/office-of-marine-operations/cruise-summaries/chukchi-edges-project">website</a>, “The primary purpose of this cruise is to collect Multi-Channel Seismic Reflection (MCS) data across the transition from the Chukchi Shelf to the Chukchi Borderland.” One purpose the data will serve is to provide imaging of the transition between these two continental blocks, thus helping to narrow down when and over how long a period the two blocks were in relative motion with each other. That information is key to understanding the geological history of the area.<br />
<br />
As the project's chief scientist, Dr. <a href="http://www.uaf.edu/geology/department-directory/faculty/dr.-bernard-coakley/%20">Bernard Coakley</a> from University of Alaska-Fairbanks, explains:<br />
<br />
“The geological history of the Amerasian Basin is poorly understood, in part due to the lack of identified plate boundaries. These boundaries must exist to explain the basin history. Identification of these structures will make it possible to reconstruct the development of the basin, which will substantially improve our understanding of the surrounding continents.”<br />
<br />
R/V Langseth is operated by Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory (<a href="http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/%20">LDEO</a>) at Columbia University. The Langseth is not an ice-strengthened vessel and this is the first time it has been used in the Arctic open water season (for more on the expected ice environment for the cruise, see the <a href="http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/research/office-of-marine-operations/cruise-summaries/chukchi-edges-project">cruise website</a>. LDEO has an office devoted to <a href="http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/research/office-of-marine-operations%20">Marine Mammal Protection</a> and Dr. Coakley has worked closely with NOAA to obtain the necessary permits for MCS activity. Community Observer Reynold (RJ) Aveoganna is part of the international team working with Coakley, which includes scientists from Korea, Germany, Turkey, the United States and the United Kingdom, representing seven different universities and research organizations.<br />
<br />
The Langseth is scheduled to return to Dutch Harbor on October 10, 2011. Coakley will be blogging for the <a href="http://scientistatwork.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/bernard-coakley/">New York Times Scientist at Work</a> feature throughout the cruise, beginning with today's post under <a href="http://scientistatwork.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/13/to-the-arctic-in-search-of-the-unknown/">Notes from the Field</a>; subsequent posts will be available <a href="http://scientistatwork.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/bernard-coakley/">here</a>.<br />
<br />
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<br /></div>
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On 6 September 2011 Guyana filed the 57th submission to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (all 57 submissions are identified on the <a href="http://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/commission_submissions.htm">CLCS website</a>).<br />
<br />
The Executive Summary of the submission, <a href="http://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/submissions_files/submission_guy_57_2011.htm">available here</a>, indicates that Guyana submits "data and information concerning the outer limits of the continental shelf along the northern part of its continental margin for the consideration of the CLCS <i>without prejudice to any potential boundary delimitations with any other States which may be conducted at a later date</i>."*<br />
<br />
Thus, any potential boundary delimitation with Guyana's neighbor to the north, Venezuela, will not be prejudiced by the submission or any eventual Commission recommendation (Venezuela is not a party to the Law of the Sea Convention). Whether or not the neighboring state is a party to the Convention, such provisions are standard in submissions to the CLCS when the submitting state has unresolved boundaries or potential boundary issues with neighboring states. The Law of the Sea Convention (art. 76, para. 10, and Annex II, art. 9) makes clear that the Commission's role is not to address any such boundary issues, but rather only to consider the data regarding the extent of the continental shelf without prejudice to such issues. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihuQuB1pmC0JxkPyvjHjhOEsgWFFRgNQGIQUovtc2v6T86FLdbAXx8-VBpGcBoxyxvsiFETJVkIIZKs6t_4_TdNwlrbxn8fXBpEBkHfXiDpADYsZXKWHItcyDWlI8h1J33P1Qyn2XbhKI/s1600/Guyana+CLCS+submission+map+20110906.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihuQuB1pmC0JxkPyvjHjhOEsgWFFRgNQGIQUovtc2v6T86FLdbAXx8-VBpGcBoxyxvsiFETJVkIIZKs6t_4_TdNwlrbxn8fXBpEBkHfXiDpADYsZXKWHItcyDWlI8h1J33P1Qyn2XbhKI/s320/Guyana+CLCS+submission+map+20110906.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From Guyana's <a href="http://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/submissions_files/submission_guy_57_2011.htm">Executive Summary</a>, p. 16: <span style="color: #0b5394;">"Figure 1. The outer limits of the continental shelf of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana (red line) beyond 200 nautical miles (black line) measured from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured according to paragraph 7 determined by straight lines not exceeding 60 nautical miles in length, connecting fixed points, defined by coordinates of latitude and longitude."</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Consideration of Guyana's submission will be part of the Commission's provisional agenda for the 29th session of the CLCS, scheduled to meet in New York in March/April 2012. The last submission to the Commission was by Madagascar in April 2011.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">*emphasis not in original</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: orange; font-size: large;">UPDATE October 1, 2011: <a href="http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/111001/venezuela-guyana-reach-agreement-to-negotiate-maritime-border">Guyana and Venezuela sign agreement</a> pledging to "negotiate the delimitation of maritime boundaries between the two States." </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div>
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Vermont Law School, in South Royalton, Vermont, reopened on August 31, but transportation around the state, and to and from campus, changes daily as roads are reopened, or repaired ... or erode further. The school suffered only minor flooding but our neighbors in <a href="http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/91866/">Royalton</a>, <a href="http://www.npr.org/2011/09/04/140182156/battered-by-irene-vt-warned-of-more-flooding">South Royalton</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jED5m-H1_n8">Bethel</a>, and numerous small communities have lost homes, livestock, possessions. For more on the aftermath in Vermont go to <a href="http://vpr.net/">vpr.net</a> or <a href="http://www.onearth.org/blog/vermont-irene-flooding-photos-video">onearth.org</a>; and at VLS to <a href="http://irene.vermontlaw.edu/">irene.vermontlaw.edu</a> or our <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vermont-Law-School/205164243980">Facebook</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/VTLawSchool">Twitter</a> pages.<br />
We continue our research at the Vermont Institute for Energy and Environment on the PAME Arctic Offshore Oil and Gas Guidelines in <a href="http://www.vermontlaw.edu/Documents/IEE/20110215_IEEBakerWP5.pdf">Greenland and Russia</a>, and in<a href="http://www.vermontlaw.edu/Academics/Environmental_Law_Center/Institutes_and_Initiatives/Institute_for_Energy_and_the_Environment/Publications.htm"> Canada and the United States</a> (your comments welcome as we update these papers, reply <a href="mailto:bbaker@vermontlaw.edu">here</a>), on the legal status of sea ice, and on our contribution to the <a href="http://www.aor.is/">Arctic Ocean Review</a>, among other Arctic-related projects.<br />
<br />
Thanks for your concern. <br />
<br />
</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">TO SEE ALL POSTS TO THIS BLOG,
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<br />
In mid-August, U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (Washington) and Mark Begich (Alaska) pointed to the practice of contracting with foreign governments for Antarctic ice breaking services when speaking against plans to decommission the <i>Polar Sea</i>, one of the United States' three aging icebreakers. As Senator Cantwell's <a href="http://cantwell.senate.gov/news/record.cfm?id=333846">press release</a> states "Decommissioning <i>Polar Sea </i>would leave the U.S. with only one operational icebreaker, the <i>Healy</i>, which was designed primarily as a scientific research vessel and only has medium icebreaking capability. The second heavy duty icebreaker, <i>Polar Star, </i>is currently in Seattle being refitted after years in ‘caretaker’ status, when the vessel is out of active service but still receives routine upkeep and maintenance. The United States Navy has no icebreaking capability."<br />
<br />
On August 25, 2011, the NSF issued a <a href="http://www.nsf.gov/od/opp/ant/usap_pi_alert_icebreaker_082511.pdf.">letter</a> announcing that the "NSF has entered into a letter contract for the services of the <a href="http://en.fleet.msco.ru/ice_breaker/ignatyuk/">Vladimir Ignatyuk</a>, a diesel-powered Russian icebreaker owned by the Murmansk Shipping Company. This ship is the sister to Canada's <a href="http://www.ccg-gcc.gc.ca/e0003711">Terry Fox</a>."<br />
<br />
The good news is that Antarctic science stations will continue to be resupplied through international cooperation. The bad news, which should make its way to the highest level of policy making in the United States, is that our ice breaking capacity is woefully inadequate: inadequate for scientific research North and South, and inadequate for emergency response to oil spills and other potential problems arising from increased exploitation of petroleum resources in the Arctic and from increased marine traffic in the North generally.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">TO SEE ALL POSTS TO THIS BLOG,
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<br />
<div style="color: blue;"><b><span class="imo-stylesStyle-Bold">From the July 2011 <a href="http://www.imo.org/KnowledgeCentre/CurrentAwarenessBulletin/Pages/Default.aspx">Current Awareness Bulletin of the IMO</a>:</span></b></div><div style="color: blue;"><br />
</div></div><div></div><div><span class="imo-stylesStyle-Bold">At the 62nd session </span><span class="imo-stylesStyle-Bold">of the Marine Environment Protection Committtee, London 11-15 July 2011, the MEPC:</span></div><div></div><div><span class="imo-stylesStyle-Bold"> </span>"agreed a work plan on addressing the impact in the Arctic of black carbon emissions from ships and instructed the Sub-Committee on Bulk Liquids and Gases (BLG) to: develop a definition for black carbon emissions from international shipping; consider measurement methods for black carbon and identify the most appropriate method for measuring black carbon emissions from international shipping; investigate appropriate control measures to reduce the impacts of black carbon emissions from international shipping in the Arctic; and submit a final report to MEPC 65 (in 2014).</div><div> Black carbon is a strongly light-absorbing carbonaceous aerosol produced by incomplete combustion of fuel oil and is considered a constituent of primary particulate matter, as distinguished from secondary particulate matter pollutants formed in the atmosphere from sulphur dioxide emissions. In addition to harmful human health effects associated with exposure to particulate matter, Black carbon has effects on climate change. When deposited on snow and ice in the Arctic and lower latitudes, it darkens light surfaces and absorbs energy, causing snow and ice to melt." </div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">TO SEE ALL POSTS TO THIS BLOG,
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</div><div class="text">Lavrov took the opportunity presented by a question on <a href="http://www.barentsobserver.com/index.php?id=4940700&showtipform=1&cat=58932">Russia's plans for a new submission to the Commission on the Continental Shelf in 2012</a> to make his point: </div><div class="text"><br />
</div><div class="text"><span style="font-style: italic;">"Interviewer: You know, it`s been mentioned that Moscow will submit a claim next year to the UN to expand its Arctic shelf borders. Other nations including the US have also increased their activities in the region, and it is described by some analysts as a new re-division of the Arctic. How do you see the role of Russia in this process and does it need to increase its military presence there as the US and Canada do? May the future of the Arctic be resolved peacefully?</span></div><div class="text"><br />
</div><div class="text">Lavrov: Well, first of there is no such thing as redesigning of the Arctic landscape and redesigning the legal regime of the Arctic. The five coastal states, the Arctic Five so to say, back in 2008 agreed during their meeting that there is no single problem in the region that cannot be resolved on the basis of existing law, this law being the international Convention of 1982.</div><div class="text">Then this position was endorsed by the entire Arctic Council which is composed by eight Arctic states and you now the fact that this is really the case was demonstrated by the signature and entry into force of the Russian-Norwegian agreement on de-limitation in the Barents Sea area.</div><div class="text">There is no single issue in the area that would require any military presence of the non-regional actors, be it countries or organizations. The Arctic Five, Russia, the US, Canada, Norway and Denmark are perfectly capable of maintaining the necessary level of security, the freedom of shipping and safety of the shipping and we are open to other countries who want to cooperate but on the basis of the rules of the game established by the Arctic countries.</div><div class="text">We met last May in Greenland, in the city of Nuuk, as the Arctic Council ministerial meeting and we adopted the first pan-Arctic legally binding agreement on search and rescue and instructed our experts to draft a Treaty on how you fight oil spills. We also endorsed the rules for observers who want to participate in the work of the Arctic Council which provide for them to be parties to projects like exploration of oil and gas, transportation of oil, gas and other commodities through the Northern Sea route, participation in scientific research and many other activities.</div><div class="text"><b><span style="color: blue;">But I would like to emphasize once again that there’s no problem requiring any military involvement in the Arctic. Everything must be and should be on the basis of the international convention of the law of the sea and it’s a common position of the members of the Arctic Council, including Russia and the US.</span>" </b>(Emphasis added.)</div><div class="text"><b><br />
</b></div>The Russian research vessel the <a href="http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/07/04/52730507.html">Akademik Fedorov </a>embarked earlier this month for another summer of mapping related to the the Russian continental shelf submission.<br />
<div class="text"><br />
</div><div class="text">For a digital recording of Voice of Russia's entire interview with Foreign Minister Lavrov, and its full text, see the <a href="http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/07/13/53141058.html">Voice of Russia report for July 13, 2011</a>.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">TO SEE ALL POSTS TO THIS BLOG,
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<br />
This week NOAA's <a href="http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/">Office of Coast Survey</a> embarked on a charting cruise that is part of a broad-scale NOAA effort to <a href="http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2011/20110707_fairweather.html">update its charts of the Arctic Ocean,</a> some of which date to before the United States' 1867 acquisition of Alaska. For more on the work of the NOAA Ship <i>Fairweather</i> visit the NOAA home page under <a href="http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2011/20110707_fairweather.html">news</a>. The story contains a link to the "Arctic Nautical Charting Plan - A Plan to Support Sustainable Marine Transportation in Alaska and the Arctic" issued by the NOAA Office of Coast Survey Marine Chart Division on June 1, 2011<a href="http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2011/20110707_fairweather.html"></a>.<div class="blogger-post-footer">TO SEE ALL POSTS TO THIS BLOG,
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">Legal and jurisdictional certainty is the expected outcome of every submission to the CLCS, whether the Arctic or any other part of the world. Legal and jurisdictional certainty, not conflict, is another message with which to respond to the misinformed or misleading publicists, scholars and practitioners who continue to raise (incorrectly) the alarum that states in the Arctic are locked in some sort of competition or race for resources as they map their extended continental shelves. They are not. Arctic Ocean coastal states are all, as I've stated <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1600210">before</a>, following the same dry rules and procedures precisely so they can confirm with certainty the extent and limits of the continental shelf and, thus, the areas in which they have sovereign rights to explore and exploit the shelf's natural resources.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The CLCS has received <b>56 <a href="http://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/commission_submissions.htm">submissions</a></b> as of April 29, 2011, the last three being from <a href="http://a76.dk/cgi-bin/nyheder-m-m.cgi?id=1301585575&cgifunction=form">Denmark/Faroes</a>, Bangladesh and Madascar, yet has adopted only <b>15 <a href="http://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/commission_recommendations.htm">recommendations</a></b> as of March 30, 2011. The Commission has also received <b><a href="http://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/commission_preliminary.htm">preliminary information</a> for 45</b> different shelf areas, adding to its backlog. The SPLOS meeting in New York allowed representatives to <a href="http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2011/sea1954.doc.htm">discuss varying scenarios</a> for improving the Commission's ability to handle the large case load. The Acting Chairperson of the CLCS is Harald Brekke of Norway.</div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">TO SEE ALL POSTS TO THIS BLOG,
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<br />
The <a href="http://www.oilspillcommission.gov/final-report">final report</a> of the U.S. <a href="http://www.oilspillcommission.gov/">National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling</a> includes specific reference to implications of the DWH disaster for the Arctic. The Recommendations as well as portions of Chapter Ten in the final report discuss “The Arctic ecosystem, the need for scientific information and informed decision-making, and Alaska native peoples,” “Arctic Spill Response and Containment,” and “International Standards for Arctic Oil and Gas”. On the last point, “the Commission recommends that strong international standards related to Arctic oil and gas activities be established among all the countries of the Arctic.” Recommendations, p. 56. The Commission staff also prepared a background paper on <a href="http://www.oilspillcommission.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Updated%20Arctic%20Working%20Paper.pdf">The Challenges of Oil Spill Response in the Arctic</a>.<br />
<br />
Moving in the direction of stronger international standards, the US Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, held a <a href="http://www.doi.gov/whatwedo/energy/mfodc2011/index.cfm">Ministerial Forum on Offshore Drilling Containment </a> last week (April 14, 2011) to discuss international standards for well containment. Canada, Norway, The Russian Federation, and the United States -- that is to say: <b>all arctic coastal states save Denmark/Greenland, were there.</b> Angola, Australia, Brazil, Netherlands, New Zealand Mexico, the EU, and the United Kingdom, also attended.<br />
<br />
Secretary Salazar will also attend the May ministerial meeting of the Arctic Council with Secretary of State Clinton, where offshore oil and gas development is on the agenda. In 2009 the Arctic Council ministers endorsed “<a href="http://arctic-council.org/article/2009/6/updated_oil_and_gas_guidelines">Arctic Offshore Oil and Gas Guidelines</a>” prepared by its PAME (Protection of the Marine Environment) working group. The Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vermont Law School has prepared studies of how offshore regulations in <a href="http://www.vermontlaw.edu/Academics/Environmental_Law_Center/Institutes_and_Initiatives/Institute_for_Energy_and_the_Environment/Publications.htm">Canada, Greenland, Russia and the United States</a> measure up to these Guidelines. <br />
</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">TO SEE ALL POSTS TO THIS BLOG,
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<br />
Daria Vasilevskaya, deputy head of the Geology Department of the Natural Resources Ministry "told RIA Novosti the new research was necessary as details of previous expeditions were labeled secret due to the use of military equipment."<br />
<br />
Speaking of earlier cruises on which ECS data was gathered, Vasilevskaya said: <br />
<br />
" 'It was not possible to give a full description of the military technical equipment on account of secrecy.' The new research was done on board the ship Akademik Fyodorov from July through October. Only civilian equipment was used, Vasilevskaya said."<br />
<br />
The use of civilian equipment does not automatically translate into any information being more readily available to non-participants in the Russian Federation CLCS process. It does, however, potentially signal somewhat greater transparency for the parts of the process that are eventually made public.<div class="blogger-post-footer">TO SEE ALL POSTS TO THIS BLOG,
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<span style="font-size: large;">One month ago, the five arctic coastal states of Canada, Denmark (Greenland), Norway, the Russian Federation and the United States, established the <b>Arctic Regional Hydrographic Commission</b> (ArHC). The </span><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.iho.int/english/home/"> International Hydrographic Organization</a> has posted the <a href="http://www.iho-ohi.net/mtg_docs/rhc/ArHC/ArHC_Misc/ArHC_Statement_05Oct10.pdf">Statement of the Arctic Regional Hydrographic Commission</a> on the IHO website. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The Arctic Regional Hydrographic Commission, or ArHC, is the 15th such regional commission established since the founding of the IHO in 1921, joining 14 other RhCs and the IHO Hydrographic Committee on Antarctica.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The Statement of the ArHC provides in part:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: blue;">"Due to climate change the Arctic is undergoing extraordinary transformations facilitating increased natural resource development and marine traffic at a time when little reliable data exists. At present, less than 10% of Arctic waters are charted to modern standards. To meet current and emerging challenges, the Arctic Coastal States represented by their Hydrographic Offices, have recognized the need for enhanced collaboration and coordination of their activities.</span><br style="color: blue;" /><span style="color: blue;">By exchanging knowledge and information and by providing quality assured data, the Members of the ARHC aim to facilitate an environmentally responsible exploration of Arctic waters."</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The IHO is an intergovernmental and technical organization established in 1921 "<a href="http://www.iho-ohi.net/english/home/about-the-iho/about-the-iho.html">to support safety of navigation and the protection of the marine environment</a>."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">September 2011 UPDATE: Information on the Second Meeting of ARHC is available <a href="http://arctic-healy-baker-2008.blogspot.com/2011/09/arctic-regional-hydrographic-commission.html">here</a>.</span></span></div>
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