U.S. failure to ratify UNCLOS has significant economic costs in lost jobs and resources

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the Arctic could hold up to 12 percent of the world’s undiscovered oil and 30 percent of its natural gas resources, [Heather Conley, senior fellow and director of the Europe program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies] said. This summer, she said, Shell Oil plans to drill in the Beauford and Chukchi Seas, whereby, according to one study 55,000 jobs could be created.

"Drilling on Alaska's outer continental shelf could make Alaska the eighth largest oil producer in the world before Nigeria, Libya, potentially Norway,” said Conley, who noted that Russia is submitting its second round of scientific claims to the Lomonsov Ridge, an undersea mountain chain that goes under the North Pole.

“How much economic activity do we want to forego? How many jobs do we not want to create?” she said.

John Nagl, nonresident senior fellow and former presi- dent at the Center for New American Security, reflected on sovereignty as it relates to national security, and said he encouraged the private sector to develop these resources once the United States accedes to the Convention.

“Our failure to ratify the Law of the Sea Treaty has had a chilling effect on commercial resources exploration and exploitation,” Nagl said. “The national debt is our biggest security problem; we’ve got to find ways to get a hold of that. There are dollars for the taking, [but] com- panies simply can’t make the risk profile work given our failure to ratify the Law of the Sea.”