The Politics of Manganese Nodules: International Considerations and Domestic Legislation

The legal regime governing the recovery of deep seabed minerals may be the most difficult issue now confronting the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea. Congressman Murphy discusses unilateral legislation, concluding that it would be fully consonant with prevailing international law and that it would act as a spur to the negotiations of the Conference. He analyzes the Deep Seabed Mining bill in the contexts of the international legal system and the Law of the Sea Conference and urges the United States to enact the bill so that exploration and commercial recovery may proceed.