How the US just became nearly 400,000 square miles bigger

By Dean Murray via SWNS

The United States of America quietly got 386,000 square miles bigger last month.

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) said the United States has shifted geographic coordinates defining the outer limits of the continental shelf in areas beyond 200 nautical miles from the coast.

This portion of the continental shelf, the offshore area submerged under relatively shallow water, is known as the “extended continental shelf,” or ECS.

The largest area of America's ECS is in the Arctic, while the total of all ECS regions spans about twice the size of California.

The six other regions are the Atlantic (east coast), the Bering Sea, the Pacific (west coast), the Mariana Islands, and two areas in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Wilson Center think tank, based in Washington, D.C., said the US announcement has important implications for securing US territorial rights in the Arctic.

The ECS in the Arctic extends north to a distance of 350 nautical miles (in the east) and more than 680 nautical miles (in the west) from the territorial sea baselines of the United States.

The Wilson Center said: "It has long been clear that the United States has major economic interests in undersea territory rich in oil, natural gas, minerals and sea life to which it has sovereign rights under the law of the sea as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention."

The DOS statement explained: "The continental shelf is the extension of a country’s land territory under the sea. Like other countries, the United States has rights under international law to conserve and manage the resources and vital habitats on and under its ECS."

The Wilson Center added: "The United States is a major maritime nation with the largest exclusive economic zone in the world, and this historic step helps protect its sovereign rights to vast additional subsea areas.

"It is also an important milestone reflecting US engagement with the law of the sea as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and as an aspect of advancing major US interests in the Arctic and other regions. "

Regarding possible territorial dispute with Russia, The Wilson Center said: "There is no need for a future negotiation with Russia because each country has delineated the outer limit of its continental shelf consistent with the boundary established in 1990 in the Agreement between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Maritime Boundary, which has been provisionally applied by agreement between the two countries."

The Department of State led the ECS effort through the U.S. ECS Task Force, an interagency body of the U.S. Government composed of 14 agencies.

Determining the ECS outer limits required data on the depth, shape, and geophysical characteristics of the seabed and subsoil.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) was responsible for collecting and analyzing the necessary data.

Data collection began in 2003 and constitutes the largest offshore mapping effort ever conducted by the United States.

The DOS said the ECS "maritime zone holds many resources (e.g., corals, crabs) and vital habitats for marine life."

The announcement was made on December 19.