CSHJR 22(WTR): Relating to the maritime boundary between Alaska and the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
00CS FOR HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 22(WTR) 01 Relating to the maritime boundary between Alaska and the former Union of 02 Soviet Socialist Republics. 03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 WHEREAS on June 1, 1990, the United States negotiated and signed the United States 05 - U.S.S.R. Maritime Boundary Agreement without the participation or consent of Alaska in 06 the negotiations or terms of the agreement; and 07 WHEREAS the maritime boundary described in the Agreement places on the U.S.S.R. 08 side the following eight islands and their entire territorial seas and seabeds: Wrangell, 09 Herald, Bennett, Henrietta, and Jeannette Islands in the Arctic, and Copper Island, Sea Lion 10 Rock, and Sea Otter Rock on the west end of the Aleutian Chain; and 11 WHEREAS the maritime boundary described in the Agreement delimits the territorial 12 sea and seabeds of Little Diomede Island at less than the normal 3-mile or 12-mile extent; and 13 WHEREAS Alaska has sovereignty and potential or actual property interests in these 14 islands and their territorial seas and seabeds; and
01 WHEREAS the Fifteenth Alaska State Legislature unanimously passed Senate Joint 02 Resolution 12, which requested that a representative of Alaska be included in the U.S. 03 Department of State's negotiations on setting a maritime boundary between Alaska and the 04 Soviet Union; however, a reply was never received from the Department of State and a 05 representative of Alaska was never included in the negotiations; and 06 WHEREAS the views of 28 bipartisan members of the Alaska House of 07 Representatives and eight bipartisan members of the Alaska Senate were expressed on the 08 Agreement in a letter dated May 17, 1991, to Senator Joseph Biden, Jr., of the United States 09 Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, stating in part: 10 "We firmly believe United States interests and Alaskan interests are at stake 11 and in jeopardy in the proposed treaty... No Alaskan official has ever been 12 invited to participate in the treaty negotiations, in spite of abiding Alaskan 13 interests in fisheries, petroleum and other potential continental shelf resources 14 and the considerations of navigation in the area. In the entire history of the 15 treaty negotiations, Alaska has had no official voice. Alaska has not been fully 16 consulted in the entire matter...It is our purpose to urgently recommend that the 17 presently-proposed treaty not be ratified by the U.S. Senate, and that 18 negotiations be continued to include appropriate Alaskan officials and current 19 United States and Alaskan historic, territorial, and resource interests"; and 20 WHEREAS the California Legislature unanimously passed in 1991 Senate Joint 21 Resolution 20 supporting Alaska, and the resolution requested the President to withdraw the 22 proposed Agreement from consideration by the U.S. Senate and the California United States 23 Senators to decline to consider the proposed Agreement, until Alaska has been able to 24 participate fully in negotiations and has been guaranteed that its consent will be required for 25 any agreement affecting its boundaries; and 26 WHEREAS the U.S.S.R. dissolved itself without taking action to approve the 27 Agreement and the Agreement has not been put into force; and 28 WHEREAS at the same time he signed the Agreement on June 1, 1990, Secretary of 29 State James A. Baker III signed a side agreement with the U.S.S.R. Foreign Minister that 30 stated that, pending the entry into force of the Agreement, the two governments agreed to 31 abide by the terms of the Agreement as of June 15, 1990; and
01 WHEREAS that the side agreement was not publicly revealed at the time or 02 mentioned in the transmittal of the Agreement to the United States Congress, in the 03 Department of State testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, in the 04 committee report, or in the Senate floor debate; and 05 WHEREAS the authority of the Secretary of State to establish on his own a maritime 06 boundary that has implications for land territory, seabed jurisdiction, sovereignty, and Alaska 07 property raises questions of constitutionality and personal culpability; 08 BE IT RESOLVED by the Alaska State Legislature that because the proposed United 09 States-U.S.S.R. Maritime Boundary Agreement was not put into force before the dissolution 10 of the U.S.S.R., the agreement does not have legal force, and any agreement on a maritime 11 boundary between Alaska and eastern Russia must be negotiated anew with whatever new 12 foreign government has sovereignty in the area at the time; and be it 13 FURTHER RESOLVED by the Alaska State Legislature that for an agreement on a 14 maritime boundary between Alaska and eastern Russia to be negotiated by the United States 15 government, Alaska must be formally represented in the negotiations and its consent obtained; 16 and be it 17 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature considers null and void the 18 side agreement requiring the two governments to abide by the Agreement pending its entry 19 into force, requests the U.S. Department of State to reveal any and all acts, directives, and 20 reports regarding implementation of the side agreement, and respectfully requests the Governor 21 and the state Attorney General to investigate whether any actions in this matter may have 22 violated state law and to report on their findings to the Legislature within 120 days after 23 passage of this resolution; and be it 24 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the Alaska delegation 25 in Congress to promote and aggressively pursue the views expressed in this resolution, 26 especially the need for state representation in any negotiations over setting a maritime 27 boundary between the state and eastern Russia. 28 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill J. Clinton, President of 29 the United States; the Honorable Warren M. Christopher, U.S. Secretary of State; the 30 Honorable Janet Reno, Attorney General of the United States; the Honorable Jesse Helms, 31 Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; the Honorable Benjamin A.
01 Gilman, Chair of the U.S. House Committee on International Relations; the Honorable 02 Claiborne Pell, Ranking Minority Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; 03 the Honorable Lee H. Hamilton, Ranking Minority Member of the U.S. House Committee on 04 International Relations; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank 05 Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of 06 the Alaska delegation in Congress.