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BASIC OCEANS TOPIC BACKGROUND

BASIC OCEANS TOPIC BACKGROUND. Rich Edwards Baylor University 2014-15 National Policy Topic Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its non -military exploration and/or development of the Earth’s oceans. . UN CONVENTION ON THE LAW OF THE SEA.

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BASIC OCEANS TOPIC BACKGROUND

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  1. BASIC OCEANS TOPIC BACKGROUND Rich Edwards Baylor University 2014-15 National Policy Topic Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its non-military exploration and/or development of the Earth’s oceans.

  2. UN CONVENTION ON THE LAW OF THE SEA Known by various acronyms, but usually UNCLOS, LOSC, or LOS. Work began in 1973 (major U.S. involvement in the preparation of the document); completed in 1982. Reagan administration had many objections & rejected the Treaty; mainly over the use of “common heritage of mankind” wording for seabed resources. Created the International Seabed Authority (Jamaica headquarters) Entered into force on Nov. 16, 1994; now has 161 member nations Question now for the U.S. is (technically) no longer “ratification” but “accession” Text (202 pages) available at: http://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/unclos_e.pdf

  3. FISHERIES REGULATION Fisheries Conservation and Management Act (FCMA), (1976) creating eight regional fishery management councils; main original purpose was to exclude foreign fishing fleets from U.S. waters 1996 Amendments to the FCMA gave the legislation a new title: Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act; these amendments focused more on preventing overfishing and reducing bycatch 2007 Renewal of the FCMA required the regional fishery councils to establish annual catch limits (ACLs) for all 528 fish species tracked by federal regulations (provides justification for the label “single-species” approach to fisheries management)

  4. NATIONAL OCEAN POLICY President Obama appointed an Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force and assigned it the task of recommending a new national policy for the stewardship of the oceans. The Task Force released an interim report in September 2009. After receiving public comment, the President issued an executive order on July 19, 2010, adopting the recommendations of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force. This order created the National Ocean Council and declared that to the extent permissible under existing legislation, the federal government would utilize a progressive approach to ocean zoning and ecosystem-based management. Most recently, the President has used an executive order to expand the portion of the Pacific Ocean to be designated a Marine Protected Area

  5. OCEAN POLLUTION Clean Water Act (1970): Regulates all discharges into navigable waters, including ocean waters, except as later pre-empted by the Ocean Dumping Act. Ocean Dumping Act (1988): Makes it unlawful for any person to dump, or transport for the purpose of dumping, sewage sludge or industrial waste into ocean waters. Oil Pollution Act (1990): Makes companies responsible for oil spills liable for the “cost of restoring, rehabilitating, replacing, or acquiring the equivalent of, the damaged natural resources; the diminution in value of those natural resources pending restoration; and the reasonable cost of assessing those damages.” Recent amendments now require that by 2015, all oil tankers carrying oil in U.S. waters have double hulls. Mercury emissions from power plants: March 28, 2013 - The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) updated emission limits for new power plants under the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS).

  6. SEAPORTS  Harbor Maintenance Tax: A federal tax on port use associated with imports and exports, creating income for the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund. Congress created this tax with the Water Resource Act of 1986. In 1998, the Supreme Court struck down the portion of this tax on exports, but the imports portion remains. Currently the income to the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund is appx. $1.5 billion per year with spending for harbor maintenance amounting to less than half that amount. The surplus in the HMTF is now about $6 billion. Seaports, especially along the U.S. East coast are trying to prepare their harbors for the expansion of the Panama Canal and are seeking more federal help in dredging harbors, at least to their authorized depth.

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