Impediments to US involvement in deep ocean mining can be overcome

Technical Report · Wed Feb 03 04:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:5191901

The abundant resources on the deep seabed could help relieve the Nation's almost total reliance on foreign sources for certain critical minerals. The 1980 Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act was passed to facilitate U.S. involvement in developing the seabed mineral resources. At present, however, continued U.S. involvement is quite uncertain. The uncertainty stems from strong opposition, from the mining industry and others, to many of the mining provisions in the United Nations' current draft Law of the Sea Treaty which would govern deep seabed mining in international waters. In this report, GAO reviews the implementation of the 1980 act; and analyzes the major impediments to U.S. involvement in deep seabed mining, particularly as they relate to the draft Law of the Sea Treaty, and offers recommendations to the Congress to overcome them.

• Research Organization: Vermont Univ., Burlington (USA). Dept. of Physics
• OSTI ID: 5191901
• Report Number(s): AD-A-110485/0; GAO/EMD-82-31
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290400* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Energy Resources
293000 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Policy
Legislation
& Regulation
ENGINEERING
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
INDUSTRY
INTERNATIONAL LAWS
INVESTMENT
LAWS
LEGISLATION
MINERALS
MINES
MINING
MINING ENGINEERING
MINING LAWS
NORTH AMERICA
OFFSHORE SITES
PRODUCTION
RESOURCE CONSERVATION
SEA BED
SEAS
SURFACE WATERS
TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
TREATIES
UNDERGROUND FACILITIES
USA