U.S. territory may grow

Tales of territorial disputes by western nations aren't confined to dated textbooks. Even for a nation as relatively young as is the U.S., international disputes over the California and Texas borders seem like ancient history. Well, the South may be settled, but the North may yet spread.

News writers are calling it the Arctic sea grab. Two months ago Russia formally announced its intention to stake a legal, territorial claim to a section the size of France and Germany combined, and bordering the North Pole. While the average citizen may not be paying attention, this isn't surprising news. Arctic attention heightened in 2007 when a Russian minisub simply planted a small Russian flag two and half miles beneath the North Pole. Guess some things are still done the old-fashioned way.

Canada, the United States (think Alaska), Denmark and Norway also own Arctic coasts which they could theoretically seek to expand. Canada and Denmark dispute Russia's claim, saying the undersea ridge in question belongs to them instead. The U.S. is watching closely and signed but did not ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. It is that international treaty under which the other countries would seek to resolve a territorial dispute.

The Law of the Sea Convention states that any coastal nation can claim its landmass 200 nautical miles from its shoreline. Put simply, well-accepted international law generally states that nations' legal claims extend 12 nautical miles from the low water mark of the coastline (the territorial sea baseline - TSB). Beyond that, nations have resource exploitation rights 200 n.m. beyond the TSB, called the Exclusive Economic Zone. What's outside that has been considered common area. The area Russia has staked out is more than 380,000 square miles.

Why bother? Resources. The massive ridge in the Arctic Sea is believed to contain billions of barrels of oil and around 30 percent of the world's natural gas reserves, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. As global temperatures have gone up and the ice cap has melted, fishing and shipping opportunities are also opening. The potential shipping lane alone could cut travel time between Europe and Asia by a third.

The dollar value on these untapped polar treasures is also eliciting military attention. Russian plans include a year-round port and additional naval presence to protect its interests, which has NATO - already present in the Arctic - considering its next move. The U.S., Denmark and Canada are founding members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The Arctic Sea grab isn't likely to end quickly. Russia and Norway recently ended a dispute over the Barrents Sea that lasted 44 years. The Arctic has yet to be fully mapped by all concerned.

However, environmental concerns may step up the pace. The U.S. Navy released an assessment ilast month which calls the Arctic "a new ocean;" its sea ice has receded by about 40 percent since 1979. Twenty other countries have expressed an interest in the matter. Arctic border nation or not, strategic and economic interests merit a keen watch by all on the outcome.

Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network with degrees in international studies and law, and a former editor of Currents: International Trade Law Journal.