A FECUND AWESOME PROPOSAL
This piece (on our future) is apolitical — whether you believe our planet will soon kiss goodbye due to climate change or you believe it’s all a ruse or worse is irrelevant to the following factual report put forward. Nearly three-fourths of the earth’s surface is under water — the vast majority of that under the oceans. And there are as many mineral riches underneath the seas as underneath our lands. So where are the richest deposits of those ores most concentrated?
1,500 miles southwest of San Diego is the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. Right there — there are billions of tons of seabed rocks packed with cobalt, copper, nickel, manganese, and lithium — all the minerals necessary for electric vehicle battery production — which of course begs the question: who controls this immeasurable treasure which can alter the history of mankind for centuries to come? To answer that a little background history is required.
In 1964, Malta became Europe’s newest, smallest, and poorest member of the U.N. Then in 1967, a delegate from tiny Malta with a population less than that of Fresno, California (1/4 million) laid out his vision in a speech at the U.N. He proclaimed that the seabed should be used “for the exclusive use of mankind as a whole” but with an affirmation action caveat: (A.A. being very popular at the time): Poorer nations should get “preferential consideration in the event of financial benefits.” Well, since there existed no such deep sea mining technology at the time coupled with the fact that most nations at the U.N. fit the description of being “poor” and with no mining rules in place for the oceans, subsequently and consequently the majority of nations at the U.N. voted to adopt a Convention on the Law of the Sea and established the Seabed Authority — granting it exclusive jurisdiction over mining in international waters (those not under territorial rule of individual countries) and charging it with the creation of a regulatory system.
Fast forward to today. The Seabed Authority is based in Kingston Jamaica and has an annual budget of $10 million and 50 employees who are in charge of — according to most nations of the U.N. — complete control over half the earth’s surface. Wait. What could possibly go wrong with that set up? Firstly of course, these “poor” nations don’t have anywhere near the resources or capital or technology required to build the ships and underwater dredging equipment required to remove these mineral rich seabed rocks from the ocean floor. So who does? The richest mining and shipping consortiums on the planet of course. Enter the Metals Company — a Canadian conglomerate which set out to game the system. Secondly, the firm teamed up with the offshore oil contractor Allseas; the mining giant Glencore; and the world’s largest shipping company, Maersk. Surprised? Of course not.
All the metals necessary for battery production are found in these potato-sized seabed rocks. So how were these seabed wonder rocks formed and how did they get where they are now? Polymetallic nodules or seabed rocks formed over millions of years as metal compounds in seawater hardened around a small object. The metals can solidify around a shell fragment or a fish bone or even a shark’s tooth. Layers of metal compounds build up at a rate of 1 to 100 millimeters per million years. The layers pack in cobalt, copper, iron, manganese and nickel along with lithium and rare-earth elements. They are basically batteries in a rock and the colossal equipment necessary would suck them up from the ocean floor with a mammoth underwater vacuum cleaner and transport them thousands of miles through the Panama Canal to Texas (get it?) where Tesla’s newest and largest plant for processing is located.
But what about all that hype benefitting those “poor” nations? Well in 1967, Malta was that small poor nation but fast forward to today and the Convention of the Law of the Seas didn’t stipulate how or who among those poor nations would benefit. So, the consortium did what monopolies do — it gamed the system — cutting out the messy complicated Maltas of the world. They went after the lowest hanging fruit — the two poorest, smallest, and lowest population countries on the planet (which happen to be the two newest members of the U.N.) Nauru and Kiribati. You’ve never heard of the them? That’s precisely the point. Together they have fewer then 16,000 inhabitants, one millionth of the earth’s population, and they do have one additional saving grace which made them very attractive to the Metals Company. They are listed as the most corrupt countries on our planet. (You can be corrupt and still be in the U.N. — no problem.)
But wait a minute. Wasn’t the mining supposed to be for the “benefit of mankind” as required under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, which established the Seaboard Authority. Well, the Authority owns no ships nor submarines nor any underseas exploration or mining equipment whatsoever. So how would they know where these riches deposits are located? And how did the Metals Company get that information from the Seabed Authority? Well, that’s why you have the 50 employees of the Seabed Authority riding around Jamacia in chauffeured limousines, yachting around the islands of the Caribbean, and jet-setting to conferences around the world. And how did the Seabed Authority get that information in the first place to pass onto the Metals Company? Well, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) of course which has for 150 years been mapping the oceans’ floors. And who paid for the USGS to do all that mapping? U.S. taxpayers of course. So not only did the Metals Company collaborating with the Seabed Authority turn the UN mandate “for the exclusive use of mankind as a whole” on its head but they co-opted US funded technology to do it.
Now the good news. Our cowboy President Ronald Reagan riding in for the rescue. The United States under President Ronald Reagan refused to ratify the Convention of the Law of the Sea. He reasoned that since most of those deep-sea data and finds were made by the USGS and since the USGS was paid for by US taxpayers, the US should have some say so in its future development.
As stated previously, the nearest landmass to the Clarion-Clipperton Zone is Clipperton Island named for an English privateer who fought the Spanish in the early 18th century. Clipperton used the island as a base for his raids on Spanish ships and shipping. And who claims Clipperton Island today? France. And what is that claim based on? The King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel III who granted it to France in a dispute between France and Mexico. The same King who appointed Benito Mussolini Prime Minister of Italy. Now this is where the story becomes far, far more interesting and fascinating.
Guano is the accumulated excrement of sea birds and bats. As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to its exceptionally high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. Guano was also sought for the production of gunpowder and other explosive materials. The Guano Islands Act (11 Stat. 119, enacted August 18,1856, codified at 48 U.S.C. ch. 8 §§ 1411–1419) it is a United States federal law passed by U.S. Congress that enables citizens of the United states to take possession in the name of the United States, of unclaimed islands containing guano deposits. The islands can be located anywhere, so long as they are not occupied and not within the jurisdiction of another government. It also empowers the President of the United States to use the military to protect such interests and establishes the criminal jurisdiction of the United states in these territories.
The American Guano Mining Company claimed Clipperton Island under the Guano Islands Act of 1856. On November 24th, 1897, French naval authorities found three Americans there on the formerly uninhabited island working for the American Guano Company. They had raised the American flag on the island claiming it for the US in accordance with the Guano Islands Act. The French Navy removed them by force. France and Mexico both also claimed the island. They agreed to allow Italian King Victor Emmanuel III to decide. He chose France. So the same king who chose Mussolini chose France and the United States is supposed to abide by that decision? The Americans were there first, and the Guano Islands Act passed by Congress is still in effect and the United States Supreme Court has in every decision regarding and involving the Act upheld it.
This is existential. Our nation cannot be dissolved by scammers and hoodwinkers gaming the U.N. system. We cannot allow this cabal of conglomerates greenwashing us in the name of “poor” countries to dup us and control America’s energy future which rightfully belongs and has belonged to the American public for nearly two centuries. This is not some screed pining for lost empire. This is not some abstruse Chimera. It’s perfectly legal. An Act of Congress and every Supreme Court decision upholding that Act of Congress. A pipsqueak fascist King’s decision does not settle the ownership question. Clipperton Island rightfully belongs to the US which means that the Clarion-Clipperton Zone is within the territorial waters of the US.
The Supreme Court has upheld this Guano Islands Act to this day. This is the geopolitical reason we won the Second World War against the Empire of Japan: the Battle of Midway. That battle was the turning point in WWII and Midway Island and our bases there allowed us to attack the Empire of Japan. And Midway Island was and is still ours as a result of the Guano Islands Act. The United States owns islands for our protection around the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to this day because of the Guano Islands Act. And to allow some dissolute cabal to come in and steal resources that belong to us and hold us hostage and blackmail us for energy (as Russia is doing to Europe now) is an Act of War.
Finally, whether you believe all cars will be electric or no cars will be is irrelevant. We will still need batteries for our civilization to survive. And whether you believe we need another island in the Pacific or not, remember it was not Pearl Harbor but Midway and the thousands of boys who died there that won us the war and saved our planet.
