00                      HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 39                                                                     
01 Urging the United States Senate to ratify the Law of the Sea Treaty.                                                    
02 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
03       WHEREAS, in August 2007, Russia sent two small submarines into the Arctic Ocean                                 
04 to plant that nation's flag under the North Pole to support its territorial claim that its                              
05 continental shelf extends to the North Pole; and                                                                        
06       WHEREAS Denmark is exploring whether a mountain range under the Arctic Ocean                                    
07 is connected to Greenland, a territory of Denmark; and                                                                  
08       WHEREAS Canada is considering the establishment of military bases to protect its                                
09 claim to the Northwest Passage; and                                                                                     
10       WHEREAS the actions taken by Russia, Denmark, and Canada have been exercised                                    
11 under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea; and                                                          
12       WHEREAS the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea permits member                                      
13 nations to claim an exclusive economic zone out to 200 nautical miles from shore, with an                               
14 exclusive sovereign right to explore, manage, and develop all living and nonliving resources,                           
15 including deep sea mining, within that exclusive economic zone; and                                                     
16       WHEREAS the United States Arctic Research Commission estimates that the United                                  

01 Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea would permit the United States to lay claim                                    
02 beyond the present 200-mile exclusive economic zone to an area of the northern seabed off                               
03 Alaska that is equal in size to California; and                                                                         
04       WHEREAS 155 nations have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of                                   
05 the Sea, including all allies of the United States and the world's maritime powers; and                                 
06       WHEREAS ratification of the current form of the United Nations Convention on the                                
07 Law of the Sea has been pending before the United States Senate for ratification since 1994,                            
08 and hearings on the treaty were held by the United States Senate Committee on Foreign                                   
09 Relations in 1994, 2003, and 2004, and on September 27, 2007, and October 4, 2007; and                                  
10       WHEREAS, despite favorable reports by the United States Senate Committee on                                     
11 Foreign Relations regarding the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in 2004                                 
12 and 2007, the United States Senate has yet to vote on the ratification of the Convention; and                           
13       WHEREAS the United States, with 1,000 miles of Arctic coast off of the State of                                 
14 Alaska, remains the only Arctic nation that has not ratified the United Nations Convention on                           
15 the Law of the Sea; and                                                                                                 
16       WHEREAS, until the United States Senate votes to ratify the United Nations                                      
17 Convention on the Law of the Sea, the United States may not have the authority to promote its                           
18 claims to an extended area of the continental shelf, refute the claims of other nations to                              
19 exercise greater control over the Arctic, or take a permanent seat on the International Seabed                          
20 Authority Council; and                                                                                                  
21       WHEREAS, until the United States ratifies the United Nations Convention on the                                  
22 Law of the Sea, the United States cannot participate in deliberations to amend provisions of                            
23 the Convention that relate to the oil, gas, and mineral resources in the Arctic Ocean and other                         
24 northern waters, the conduct of essential scientific research in the world's oceans, the right of                       
25 the United States to the use of the seas, the rules of navigation, and the effect of the use of the                     
26 seas on the world's economic development and environmental concerns; and                                                
27       WHEREAS the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea will have an                                        
28 important and beneficial effect on virtually all states, both coastal and noncoastal, because the                       
29 United States is heavily dependent on the use, development, and conservation of the world's                             
30 oceans and their resources; and                                                                                         
31       WHEREAS the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea will not interfere                                  

01 with the intelligence-gathering efforts of the United States or the navigational freedom of the                         
02 United States Navy; and                                                                                                 
03       WHEREAS ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea has                                 
04 wide bipartisan support, including support for the ratification by Senator Joseph R. Biden,                             
05 Chair of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; Senator Richard G. Lugar,                             
06 ranking Republican on the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; and the                                  
07 President of the United States;                                                                                         
08       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States Senate                                 
09 to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.                                                          
10       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Richard B. Cheney, Vice-                               
11 President of the United States and President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Joseph R.                                
12 Biden, Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; the Honorable Richard G.                                
13 Lugar, ranking Republican on the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; the                                        
14 Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski, U.S. Senators, members of the                                   
15 Alaska delegation in Congress; and all other members of the United States Senate.