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Under customary maritime law, the US has access to its exclusiveeconomic zone (EEZ) out to 200 nautical miles from shore. Thatmeans that the US can allow, regulate, tax, or prohibit anyeconomic activity in this area. The most obvious economicactivities are offshore drilling and fishing. The EEZ is differentfrom territorial waters in that the EEZ is considered internationalwaters, but territorial waters through which states must stillallow innocent passage of ships are considered fully part ofsovereign territory. Under UNCLOS, the EEZ for resources on or under the seabed can beextended a further 150 nautical miles (for a total of 350 nauticalmiles from shore) if it can be proved that the continental shelfextends that far. In the Arctic, all the other littoral states Canada , Denmark (for Greenland ), Norway , Iceland , and Russia have put their claim for extended seabed EEZs into the UNCLOSsecretariat for the purposes of claiming the seabed rights to theundiscovered resources, but because the U.S. is not a party toUNCLOS, the U.S. has not submitted any claim. The map, provided inthe IISS (my former employer) 2012 Military Balance, shows howsome of those claims overlap. Because the U.S. has not ratified theConvention, American diplomats are not at the table when thoseterritorial claims are arbitrated. This past Wednesday, I attended a forum hosted by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Atlantic Council which brought together some of the nation s most importantbusiness and national security leaders to call for a ratificationof the Law of the Sea. Secretary of Defense Panetta and Chairman ofthe Joint Chiefs Dempsey, former Senators Lott, Warner, and Hagel, and formerDirector of National Intelligence Negroponte all expressed theirstrong support for passage of the treaty. Pew has founded a group called the American Sovereignty Campaign() to call for a ratification of theUNCLOS in the Senate. Not surprisingly, two of the most supportiveSenators are Alaska s Senators Begich and Murkowski. Ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty is a tool to expand andconfirm American sovereignty without resorting to military force.The Arctic Ocean is the region in which American sovereignty is most in doubt. TheNavy and Coast Guard can unilaterally protect and extend American sovereignty in thatregion, but joining the UNCLOS would be a better way to confirmthat sovereignty in law. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as China Custom Keychain Lanyard , China Tubular Lanyard for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Heat Transfer Print Lanyard.
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