Senator Lugar's Statements on the Law of the Sea

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held two public hearings on the Convention on the Law of the Sea in October 2003. Below is Senator Lugar's statement from the hearing on October 14, 2003 and his statement from the hearing on October 21, 2003.

Tuesday, October 14, 2003

U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Dick Lugar made the following opening statement at today’s committee hearing on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea:

The Committee meets today to begin consideration of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. This treaty represents the culmination of decades of work to produce a comprehensive international framework governing the use of the world’s oceans. The Law of the Sea Convention has great potential to advance U.S. interests related to the navigation of the seas, the productive use of their resources, and the protection of the marine environment.

The United States played a leading role in negotiating the Convention in the 1970s and early 1980s. Because of concerns about its deep sea mining provisions, however, the United States declined to sign the Convention when it was initially concluded in 1982. Subsequently, the United States led a successful effort to revise the deep sea mining provisions of the Convention. As a result, the United States signed the Convention in 1994.

Congress had expressed its support for these efforts, stating in the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act of 1980 that: “it is in the national interest of the United States and other nations to encourage a widely acceptable Law of the Sea Treaty, which will provide a new legal order for the oceans covering a broad range of ocean interests.”

Although the Convention was submitted to the Senate for its advice and consent in October 1994, the Foreign Relations Committee has not held a hearing on it since that time. I am pleased that the Committee will now have the opportunity to consider this treaty. Today’s hearing is the first step in that process. We will hold a second hearing to examine the treaty on October 21. Following these hearings, it is my intention to begin work on a resolution of advice and consent, with the hope that the Committee can mark up such a resolution early next year.

More than 140 nations are party to the Law of the Sea Convention, including all other permanent members of the UN Security Council and all but two other NATO members. The absence of American leadership from the Convention diminishes its effectiveness and our own influence over international ocean policy.

As a maritime state and the world’s only superpower, the United States has vital economic and security interests in preserving freedom of navigation on the oceans and in preventing piracy, smuggling, terrorism, and other criminal activity from occurring off our shores. Our ability to import goods from abroad and to sell our goods to other countries depends on transporting these goods by sea. As a coastal state, we also have important interests in protecting the marine environment while managing and making productive use of the resources off our coasts. These include petroleum and mineral resources, as well as fisheries resources.

We are fortunate to have two extremely knowledgeable panels of witnesses with us this morning to discuss the Convention. First, we will have the pleasure of hearing from our distinguished colleague Senator Stevens, who has long been interested in the Convention and its ratification. Although our schedule did not permit the attendance of Senator McCain, he similarly expressed his desire to speak on behalf of the Convention. Thus, we begin our inquiry with the knowledge that Senate consideration of the Convention is supported by the chairmen of the Appropriations and Commerce Committees. This underscores the active interest that members of the Senate have taken in the Law of the Sea Convention during the long course of its negotiation.

I also want to take this opportunity to recognize the commitment and leadership of a former Chairman of this committee, Senator Claiborne Pell. Senator Pell brought passion and expertise to his work on the Law of the Sea, and our current examination of the treaty benefits greatly from his contributions.

We also welcome five witnesses with exceptional expertise on the Convention and related maritime issues: Admiral James Watkins, Admiral Joseph Prueher, Professor John Norton Moore, Admiral William Schachte, Jr., and Professor Bernard Oxman.

First we will hear from Admiral James Watkins. Admiral Watkins served from 1982 to 1986 as Chief of Naval Operations. From 1989 to 1993 he was U.S. Secretary of Energy. Currently, Admiral Watkins is the Chairman of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy.

Our second witness on the panel is Admiral Joseph Prueher. Admiral Prueher served for 35 years in the U.S. Navy. From 1996 to 1999, he was Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Pacific Command. From 1999 to 2001, he served as U.S. Ambassador to China.

Next we will hear from Professor John Norton Moore. From 1973 to 1976, Professor Moore served as Ambassador and Deputy Special Representative of the President to the Third U.N. Conference on the Law of the Sea. He also was Chairman of the National Security Council’s Interagency Task Force on the Law of the Sea. Currently he is the Walter L. Brown Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law and Director of the University’s Center for Oceans Law and Policy.

Finally we will hear from Admiral William L. Schachte, Jr. (SHOCK-tee). During his Navy career, Admiral Schachte served in many capacities related to ocean policy. He was a member of the U.S. Delegation to the Third U.N. Conference on the Law of the Sea. He is currently special counsel to Tetra Tech, Inc. Welcome to each of you.

We were to hear from a fifth witness, Professor Bernard Oxman. Unfortunately, Professor Oxman has fallen ill and is not able to be hear today. If there are no objections, his prepared written statement will be included in the record in full. Professor Oxman served as United States Representative and Vice-Chairman of the U.S. Delegation to the Third U.N. Conference on the Law of the Sea. He is also a former Assistant Legal Adviser for Oceans, Environment, and Scientific Affairs in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the Department of State. Professor Oxman is currently a Professor at the University of Miami Law School and serves as a Judge Ad Hoc on the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.

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Tuesday, October 21, 2003

U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Dick Lugar made the following opening statement at today’s committee hearing on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea:

Today the Committee meets to continue its consideration of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Last Tuesday, the Committee heard testimony on the Convention from a distinguished panel of experts, including the Chairman of the U.S. Commission on Oceans Policy, a former Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Forces in the Pacific, and two former negotiators of the Convention. They made several important observations about the Convention.

First, they noted that the Convention holds important benefits for U.S. national security. Freedom of navigation and overflight across the world’s oceans is of paramount importance to our military’s ability to protect U.S. security interests worldwide. The Convention provides extensive legal protections for navigation and overflight rights that the United States worked hard to achieve during negotiation of the Convention. The panel observed that these protections will strengthen the ability of the United States to respond to excessive territorial claims by other countries and to ensure that key sea and air lanes remain open to the United States as a matter of legal right.

Second, they noted that the treaty offers important economic benefits for the United States. The Convention enshrines our ability to explore and exploit the natural resources of the ocean out to 200 miles from our shore. These include large reserves of oil and gas, as well as fisheries resources. The Convention also protects our ability to develop the resources of the broad continental margin of the United States beyond 200 miles, an area comprising an estimated 370,000 square miles. We heard that the legal certainty provided by the Convention with respect to control of these resources is important to the willingness of industry to make the investments needed to develop them.

Third, our panel of experts underscored the Convention’s importance for the protection of the marine environment. The Convention has been described as “the strongest comprehensive environmental treaty now in existence.” It addresses pollution from a variety of sources, including land-based pollution, ocean dumping, vessel and atmospheric pollution, and pollution from offshore activities. Its provisions have provided the framework for a number of subsequent agreements, including the 1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement, to which the United States became party in 1996 with the help of Senator Stevens’ leadership.

Fourth, our panel emphasized that ratifying the Law of the Sea Convention is important to the ability of the United States to exercise influence over oceans issues. By staying outside the treaty, we forfeit our membership in institutions that will make decisions about the future of the oceans, and we increase the risk that such decisions will be contrary to our interests. Next year the treaty will be open for amendment, creating the possibility that other nations may seek to rollback the protections our negotiators worked so hard to win.

These are compelling arguments in favor of ratifying the Convention, and I believe that the Senate should move swiftly to do so. Today’s hearing is the next step in this process. We are pleased to be joined by two distinguished panels representing the U.S. government and the private sector.

On our first panel, we will hear from representatives of the Bush Administration. We have been in touch with the leadership of the National Security Council, and we have been advised that the President has expressed his support for this Convention. We welcome five officials to discuss it. With us this morning are Mr. John F. Turner, the State Department’s Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs; Mr. William H. Taft, IV, the Legal Adviser for the State Department; Mr. Mark T. Esper, the Defense Department’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Negotiations Policy; Admiral Michael G. Mullen, Vice Chief of Naval Operations for the U.S. Navy; and Admiral John E. Crowley, Chief Counsel and Judge Advocate General for the U.S. Coast Guard.

On our second panel, we will hear from Mr. Paul L. Kelly, Senior Vice President of Rowan Companies, Inc., who represents the American Petroleum Institute, the International Association of Drilling Contractors and the National Ocean Industries Association; Admiral Roger T. Rufe, Jr., President and CEO of the Ocean Conservancy; Ms. Randi Thomas, National Representative of the U.S. Tuna Foundation; and, finally, we will hear from Mr. Joseph J. Cox, President of the Chamber of Shipping America.

We welcome all of our witnesses and look forward to their insights on this treaty.

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