Submerged Lands Act
The Submerged Lands Act of 2015 (Kiravic: Marka Būfaralōmáya) is an article of Kiravian federal legislation that asserts the Federacy's continental shelf rights over the entirety of the submerged continent of Odoneruvia, beneath the eponymous Sea of Odoneru.
| Submerged Lands Act | |
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| Federal Stanora | |
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| Territorial extent | Sea of Odoneru |
| Enacted | 2015 AD |
| Introduced by | S. Kartvelan (CNC-Uruvun) |
| Summary | |
| Asserts Kiravian continental shelf rights over the entire submerged continent of Odoneruvia and assigns this seabed to the Colony of Uruvun. | |
Contents
Geologically, the island of Uruvun or Èusa is the highest point and sole unsubmerged portion of the much larger continent of Odoneruvia, the rest of which sank below the sea level at an as-of-yet undetermined point in the distant past. International customary law recognises that coastal nations enjoy exclusive rights over natural resources on regions of continental crust extending outward from their shores. Thus, as the language of the Act asserts, because Odoneruvia is a submerged area of continental rather than oceanic crust, which is geologically connected to and extends from Uruvun, rights to a vast area of the Odoneru seabed therefore properly belong to the Federacy and to the Province of Uruvun (now Eusa).
The Act assigns responsibility for regulating seabed resource use to the Continental Shelf Bureau of the Federal Maritime Executive and subsidiarily to the Province of Eusa. It also establishes an Odoneru Oceanographic & Archæological Administration headquartered in Èusamur to undertake and promote exploration of the Odoneru Shelf and to regulate the recovery, handling, and transfer of artifacts recovered therefrom.
Background
The original bill was coäuthored by RCs Solomon Kartvelan and Iŵn Léiśan of Uruvun, and was submitted to the Subcommittee on Insular and Marine Affairs on 30 October, 2015. Both Kartvelan and Glenarden were members of the Coscivian National Congress-affiliated Island Nation Party, which includes an assertive stance on territorial and maritime claims as a key component of its platform and seeks to represent the interests of the Federacy's island colonies in Ixnay. The bill was passed on to the Committee on Colonisation, Territorial Claims and the Overseas on 14 November, where it was slightly revised before being submitted to the plenary session.
A strong impetus for the passage of the Act was the interest in possible oil and gas deposits under the Odoneru shelf, with many energy and mineral companies such as the UIF state oil company AbsOil seeking an undisputed (and favourable) authority to grant prospecting permits, guarantee rights to tracts of seabed, and defend rigs from piracy. Similarly, interest in the rich archæological bounty left by the lost Odoneran civilisation attracted great attention to the bill from such varied entities as the University of Trinatria and the Latin Foreign Ministry.