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July 2012www.marinelink.com 15Secretary Clinton acknowledged that rev- enues might be shared with less devel- oped countries from the extended outer continental shelf, but only after many years of production. The Heritage Foun- dation continues to oppose the treaty onthe grounds that it could expose U.S. in- dustry to ?baseless international law- suits,? although, on the day of the Kerry hearing, the U.S. Chamber of Commercetook out a full page advertisement in the Wall Street Journal urging U.S. ratifica- tion. Senator Kerry committed to giving the opponents more hearings to present theirpoints of view and agreed not to bring the treaty to the Senate Floor for a vote until after the Presidential election. In themeantime, he has scheduled hearings totake testimony from current and former Defense Department officials. Former Secretary Rumsfeld is one of the wit-nesses who will oppose ratification. U.S. Coast Guard Arctic Initiatives The U.S. Coast Guard, recognizing itsresponsibilities in the Arctic are increas- ing as more and more navigable water be- comes available, has begun an Arctic Maritime Campaign to evaluate its re- quired mission activities and to determine the resources it needs to successfully con-duct those activities, including icebreak- ing, search and rescue, andenvironmental response capabilities. As evidence, recently the Coast Guard Acad- emy hosted a conference entitled ?Lead-ership for the Arctic.? Unfortunately, there is currently little Coast Guard in-frastructure to support Arctic operations, ashore or at sea. The Coast Guard has stated that it requires at least four heavy and two medium icebreakers to fulfill its missions in the Arctic. It currently has only one operationalicebreaker, the Coast Guard Cutter HEALY, a medium sized icebreaker de- signed for conducting scientific research. Two additional heavy-duty icebreakers, the POLAR STAR and POLAR SEA, have been out of service since 2010. The POLAR STAR is undergoing ex- tensive repairs preparing for reactivation in 2013. Plans to decommission thePOLAR SEA in June were put on hold toallow Congress more time to establish a firm plan to strengthen the United States? icebreaker fleet. In the meantime, the Coast Guard is establishing a presence innorthern Alaska in view of the many emerging Arctic activities. ConclusionThe debate over the Arctic with its po- tential for extended transport, and under- lying wealth of resources beneath theocean has just begun. Because the U.S. cannot unilaterallyclaim the deep seabed or extended conti- nental shelf beyond national waters, the Administration has concluded that onlyan international agreement can provide the security that the U.S. needs to operatein the Arctic. Detractors of an international agree-ment disagree and have successfully blocked ratification efforts to date. As Arctic activities increase, so will the in- trigue on the final resolution of the legal and political issues. To date, there is no international agreement to which the U.S. is a party that clearly allocates the resources and sea lanes of the Arctic. In the past, some have proffered a separate Arctic Convention. But the relationship between the Arctic and the Law of the Sea treaty has come to the forefront. The U.S. is the last industrialized nation and the only member of the U.S. Security Council who has not ratified this treaty. MR#7 (10-17):MR Template 7/6/2012 10:02 AM Page 15
