78-14-A5
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Ocean Mining[edit]
Transcript[edit]For more than a decade the U.S. has been patiently negotiating with member nations of the U.N. trying to work out a treaty covering the development of the vast mineral riches hidden at the bottom of the sea. But as the years have dragged on, the U.N. Comnittee on Sea Bed Mining moved closer and closer to an international sea bed authority to control and manage the world sea beds. In fact, Third World nations had moved for a U.N. controlled deep sea mining company called the Enterprise. A private company wanting to explore and mine the sea bottom would be required to get a contract from the Enterprise, by which the company would have to accept production controls, turn over its technology to the U.S. and find and evaluate mine sites for Enterprise. Finally, (and this should be an occasion for hoisting the flag) Uncle Sam's patience wore thin. A thirty-nine year old lawyer on our negotiating team, Leigh Ratiner declared no national interest of ours could justify handing sovereign control of two-thirds of the earth's surface over to the Third World. The House of Representatives voted 312 to 80 to set up a temporary licensing system whereby private companies can go prospecting in the world's ocean. The bill is before the Senate and will undoubtedly pass, if it hasn't already. Once the bill is signed into law, consortiums of some 17 American companies are willing to lay out nearly 1.5 billion dollars to go exploring in the Pacific between Hawaii and Mexico. What they are after are metal-oxide nodules that lie on the ocean floor as much as three miles deep. They have been photographed and they have been brought to the surface. We know they contain several metals and will run about $100 to the ton. In the Pacific area to be mined, the nodules are expected to yield about 30 percent manganese, 1.4 percent nickel, one-fourth of one percent cobalt, and 1.9 percent copper. We presently depend on imports for most of these metals. Indeed, we are totally dependent on import for manganese and cobalt and 90 percent dependent for nickel. Copper isn't quite as critical; still we import about 15 percent. It is estimated the Eastern Pacific alone can provide enough of these metals to last the world for hundreds of years. In other words, the U.S. can become self- sufficient through deep sea mining. No one has ruled out the idea of a treaty--one which makes sense--but after long years of fruitless negotiating, it became apparent that the underdeveloped nations who now control the General Assembly were looking for a free ride at our expense--again. This time, thank heaven, we said "No". In fact, Congress was told by our negotiators that we should go it alone whether the Third World likes it or not. Sea bed mining will go forward with or without a treaty, and it was even added--right out loud --QUOTE-- "We have the means at our disposal to protect our oceans' interests and we shall protect those interests if a comprehensive treaty eludes us." --UNQUOTE-- I wonder why we couldn't have used the same team in the Panama Canal negotiations. There is still time to run them in on the SALT talks. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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