The Arctic and U.S. Energy Security
Last month, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev announced that Russia will develop a new Energy Security Doctrine by the end of 2011. According to the Russian Oil and Gas Institute Director, Anatoly Dmitriyevsky, the Arctic Ocean will play an important role in this Energy Security Doctrine:
“Russian energy security is significantly associated with the development of its Arctic regions. State borders, which have not yet been fixed there, are supposed to coincide with continental shelf borders, as laid down in the UN convention on the Law of the Sea. Given that oil and gas exploration will inevitably spread to Arctic waters one day, we need to start establishing relations with our neighbors.”
These “neighbors” include the United States, one of five countries with borders on the Arctic Circle (the others are Canada, Denmark, Norway, and Russia). These countries have all made territorial claims in the Arctic Circle, and therefore to the large gas and oil reserves underneath the continental shelf. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the Arctic Circle contains 13% of the unexploited oil and 30% of the unexploited natural gas in the world. Yet the U.S. has failed to capitalize on this opportunity for greater energy independence.
The reason? The U.S. has not yet ratified the 1982 UN Law of the Sea Treaty. Without ratification, the U.S. cannot legally make any claims to territory in the Arctic. The treaty was submitted to the Senate in 1994 and has still not been ratified.
Ratifying the Law of the Sea Treaty and allowing the U.S. to claim territory in the Arctic is one way to diversify U.S. energy supplies and increase our energy security. The treaty has the support of President Obama and his administration, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, our armed services, and a host of other scientific, environmental, and governmental organizations.
