153 



it is not in our national interest to create an Enterprise 

 with such qreat advantage that private investors are unable 

 to compete effectively. 



23. It it accurate to say that this Administration will 

 be a party to a Law of the Sea Treaty which does not contain 

 "grandfather rights" — the rights to continue operations 

 previously begun under the same basic ground rules as existed 

 before the Treaty? 



... If not, how would the Administation reconcile Title 

 II of the deep seabed legislation which states the intent of 

 Congress that any Law of the Sea Convention should provide 

 grandfather protection? 



♦ 



A. The Administration could not accept a treaty that 



did not satisfy Title II of the deep seabed mining law. 



24. What is your reaction to the contention from elements 

 in the industrial, scientific and academic communities that 

 "no treaty is better that the proposed one"? 



A. The value of a treaty to any particular interest 



group can be assessed only by comparing it to the situation 



without a treaty. For example, the scientific community must 



decide whether it would fare better on the basis of negotiated 



agreements on a bilateral or multilateral basis with individual 



coastal states each with varying claims of competence over 



MSR or to have the consent regime coupled with the limitations 



on coastal state control provided by the treaty. So far, 



many scientists who have participated in the negotiations 



have opted for the treaty. Many elements of the industrial 



community have come down the other way, while the opinions 



of academics have varied. 



