HJR 27: Relating to the maritime boundary between Alaska and the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
00HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 27 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, United States Secretary of State James A. Baker III 05 signed the United States - U.S.S.R. Maritime Boundary Agreement without the participation 06 or consent of Alaska in the negotiations or terms of the proposed treaty agreement; and 07 WHEREAS the maritime boundary described in the proposed treaty agreement places 08 on the U.S.S.R. side the following eight islands and their entire territorial seas and seabeds: 09 Wrangel, Herald, Bennett, Henrietta, and Jeannette Islands in the Arctic, and Copper Island, 10 Sea Lion Rock, and Sea Otter Rock on the west end of the Aleutian Chain; and 11 WHEREAS the maritime boundary described in the proposed treaty agreement 12 delimits the territorial sea and seabeds of Little Diomede Island at less than the normal 3-mile 13 or 12-mile extent; and 14 WHEREAS Alaska has sovereignty and potential or actual property interests in these
01 islands and their territorial seas and seabeds; and 02 WHEREAS the Fifteenth Alaska State Legislature unanimously passed Senate Joint 03 Resolution 12, which requested that a representative of Alaska be included in the United States 04 Department of State's negotiations on setting a maritime boundary between Alaska and the 05 Soviet Union; however, a reply was never received from the United States Department of 06 State, and a representative of Alaska was never included in the negotiations; and 07 WHEREAS the views of 28 bipartisan members of the Alaska House of 08 Representatives and eight bipartisan members of the Alaska Senate were expressed on the 09 proposed treaty agreement in a letter dated May 17, 1991, to Senator Joseph Biden, Jr., of the 10 United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, stating in part: 11 "We firmly believe United States interests and Alaskan interests are at stake 12 and in jeopardy in the proposed treaty. . . No Alaskan official has ever been 13 invited to participate in the treaty negotiations, in spite of abiding Alaskan 14 interests in fisheries, petroleum and other potential continental shelf resources 15 and the considerations of navigation in the area. In the entire history of the 16 treaty negotiations, Alaska has had no official voice. Alaska has not been fully 17 consulted in the entire matter. . . It is our purpose to urgently recommend that 18 the presently-proposed treaty not be ratified by the U.S. Senate, and that 19 negotiations be continued to include appropriate Alaskan officials and current 20 United States and Alaskan historic, territorial, and resource interests"; 21 and 22 WHEREAS the California Legislature unanimously passed in 1991 Senate Joint 23 Resolution 20 supporting Alaska, and the resolution requested the President to withdraw the 24 proposed treaty agreement from consideration by the United States Senate and requested the 25 United States Senators from California to decline to consider the proposed treaty agreement 26 until Alaska has been able to participate fully in negotiations and has been guaranteed that its 27 consent will be required for any agreement affecting its boundaries; and 28 WHEREAS the U.S.S.R. and its successor, Russia, have failed to approve the 29 proposed treaty agreement, and the agreement has not been put into force as a treaty; and 30 WHEREAS, at the same time he signed the proposed treaty agreement on June 1, 31 1990, Secretary of State Baker signed an executive agreement with the U.S.S.R. Foreign
01 Minister that stated that, pending the entry into force of the proposed treaty agreement, the 02 two governments agreed to abide by the terms of the proposed treaty agreement as of June 15, 03 1990; and 04 WHEREAS the executive agreement was not publicly revealed at the time or 05 mentioned in the transmittal of the proposed treaty agreement to the United States Congress, 06 in the United States Department of State testimony to the United States Senate Committee on 07 Foreign Relations, in the committee report, or in the Senate floor debate; and 08 WHEREAS the authority of the Secretary of State to establish on his own a maritime 09 boundary that has implications for land territory, seabed jurisdiction, sovereignty, and Alaska 10 property raises questions of constitutionality and personal culpability; and 11 WHEREAS the United States Department of State is currently negotiating with the 12 Russian government over its demand to redraw the maritime boundary under the executive 13 agreement so as to take from the American side and give to the Russians an additional 40,000 14 square miles of ocean and seabed that would yield 300,000,000 pounds of fish a year without 15 any quid pro quo for the United States; 16 BE IT RESOLVED by the Alaska State Legislature that, because the proposed United 17 States - U.S.S.R. Maritime Boundary Agreement has not been put into force, the proposed 18 treaty should be rescinded, new negotiations must include the participation by the State of 19 Alaska, and terms in a new proposed treaty regarding Alaska's territory, sovereignty, or 20 property should require the consent of the State of Alaska; and be it 21 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature considers null, void, and 22 nonbinding on the State of Alaska the executive agreement requiring the two governments to 23 abide by the proposed treaty agreement pending its entry into force, requests the United States 24 Department of State to reveal any and all acts, directives, and reports regarding 25 implementation of the executive agreement, and respectfully requests the Governor and the 26 Attorney General of Alaska to investigate whether any actions in this matter may have 27 violated state law and to report on their findings to the Legislature within 120 days after 28 passage of this resolution; and be it 29 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the Alaska delegation 30 in the United States Congress to promote and aggressively pursue the views expressed in this 31 resolution, especially the need for state representation in any negotiations over setting a
01 maritime boundary between the state and eastern Russia; and be it 02 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature finds that setting a 03 maritime boundary between the state and eastern Russia is a states' rights issue and 04 respectfully requests the Governor and the Attorney General of Alaska to actively pursue the 05 matters described in the previous resolves; and be it 06 FURTHER RESOLVED that the current negotiations by the United States Department 07 of State with the Russian government over conceding more seabed and fishing rights to the 08 Russians under the executive agreement on the maritime boundary should be opened to 09 include representatives of the State of Alaska and to provide hearings for public input before 10 signing. 11 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the 12 United States; the Honorable Madeleine K. Albright, U.S. Secretary of State; the Honorable 13 Janet Reno, Attorney General of the United States; the Honorable Jesse Helms, Chair of the 14 U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; the Honorable Benjamin A. Gilman, Chair of 15 the U.S. House Committee on International Relations; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 16 Ranking Minority Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; the Honorable 17 Sam Gejdenson, Ranking Minority Member of the U.S. House Committee on International 18 Relations; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. 19 Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska 20 delegation in Congress.