While a minority of Senators block U.S. entry into the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, nations like Canada seek approval to map their underwater territory using robots.
Greenwire
Data gathered by the yellow torpedo-shaped probes will become part of Canada’s bid to prove its continental slope stretches far beyond the 200-nautical-mile territorial limit. The matter will be decided by a U.N. panel overseeing claims under the 28-year-old Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Canada, the United States, Russia, Denmark and Norway are involved in a scrum over Arctic bottomland and long-frozen shipping lanes that have started to thaw as global temperatures rise. With scientists predicting that Arctic summers may be ice-free by the 2030s, the five nations have mounted studies they hope will help expand their territories.
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The timeline for U.S. involvement with the treaty — and if it signs on at all — depends on the Senate.
While the issue has support on both sides of the aisle, as well as from the oil industry and environmentalists, finding time for it on the Senate calendar has been an obstacle. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), who opposes signing onto the treaty because he believes it would mean giving up some U.S. sovereignty, said last spring he would try to block the measure (E&E Daily, May 27, 2009).
Last week, the Pentagon reiterated its support for the treaty in its defense strategy road map, stating that signing on would “support cooperative engagement in the Arctic.” It noted that such involvement could “promote a balanced approach to improving human and environmental security in the region.”