H.R. 3350, the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act

H.R. 3350, the Deep Seabed Hard Minerals Act, is designed to: (1) establish an interim program to encourage and regulate the recovery and processing of hard-mineral resources of the deep seabed (pending the adoption of a superseding international agreement relating to such activities which is ratified by and becomes binding upon the United States); (2) insure that the development of hard-mineral resources on the deep seabed is carried out in a manner that will protect the quality of the marine environment in any area affected by such development; (3) encourage the successful negotiation of the comprehensive Law of the Sea Treaty; and (4) encourage development of ocean-mining technology. There should be a primary authority responsible for determining the Federal role in deep-sea mining activities. There is a need to coordinate deep-sea mining with overall foreign policy objectives. A principal foreign policy objective concerns relations with developing countries which are major land-based producers of the minerals which could be mined from the ocean, holders of vast land reserves of these minerals, and which have more to lose than more advanced economies in the face of commodity (export) instability. The share of the revenues from deep-sea mining that should accrue to the public remains unresolved.