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Arctic commission says if U.S. ratifies U.N. treaty it can lay claim to oil rich Chukchi Cap Murkowski, who sponsored the bill that created the U.S. Arctic Research Commission in 1984, calls for bottom mapping Petroleum News Alaska
The U.S. Arctic Research Commission told Commonwealth North members Feb. 11 that it recommends the United States ratify a United Nations treaty which would allow the United States to claim oil rich lands in the continental shelf of the Chukchi Sea and Arctic Ocean.
The United States can’t lay claim to the “Chukchi Cap,” which extends far beyond the 200-mile offshore territorial limit, and other marine acreage unless it signs the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea and maps the area, Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski said in a Feb.12 press release after meeting with commission members.
The commission said countries can submit claims for additional offshore territory within 10 years of ratifying the treaty. Although current technology doesn’t allow oil and gas recovery 200 to 500 miles offshore in the Arctic, the commission said technological advances in the future could change that.
Murkowski wants more assessment of public lands While serving as U.S. senator from Alaska, Murkowski sponsored the bill in 1984 that created the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, which advises the federal government on Arctic science issues.
In his press release, Murkowski endorsed the commission’s call for bottom mapping of the Arctic Ocean by U.S. nuclear submarines, so the United States would be prepared to claim additional territory north of Alaska if the treaty is ratified.
“We support the commission’s call for better mapping of Alaska onshore, as well,” he said.
“When Congress passed ANILCA in 1980, it required the federal government to assess public lands for mineral and oil and gas potential, including on state lands and in conservation units. That program was never implemented as broadly as Congress intended, and was virtually stopped altogether by the Clinton administration. It’s time to start again,” Murkowski said.
The Alaska Minerals Resource Assessment Program, conducted by the U.S. Department of the Interior, helped identify major prospects such as the Pogo mine under consideration for development near Delta Junction, according to the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, Murkowski said.
A program to assess public lands for mineral, oil and gas wealth is one of five recommendations made by the commission in its biannual report, delivered to Congress and the White House in early February.
The commission also called for new federal research on infrastructure and transportation in the Arctic.
“State agencies will work with the commission, the White House and the Congress to make these priorities happen,” Murkowski said. “We will also enlist the University of Alaska.”
Federal research spending in the Arctic totaled more than $265 million last year, commission Chair George Newton told Murkowski. In his meeting with the commission, the governor said the broad impact research has on Alaska’s economy was discussed, as well as the need for additional federal-state cooperation on research as requested by SJR 44, which passed the Alaska Legislature last year.
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