The USFG Should Substantially Increase Its Exploration of Earths Oceans

Good morning ladies, gentleman, and honorable judge. My name is Forever 23 and I will be presenting the First Affirmative case for today"s debate. As the resolve states, the United States Federal government should substantially increase its development and/or exploration, in a non-militaristic manner, of the world"s oceans. Before I begin it is imperative for me to define a few key terms as stated by the Merriam Webster"s Online Dictionary: `79; United States Federal Government- a federal republic mainly in North America consisting of 50 states and the District of Columbia `79; Substantially- large in amount, size or number `79; Increase- to become larger or greater in size, amount, number etc. `79; Development- the act or process of growing or causing something to grow or become larger or more advanced `79; Oceans- a very large expanse of sea, in particular, each of the main areas into which the sea is divided geographically. And finally: `79; Non-militaristic- of or not related the military Fellow audience. What if I were to tell you that the United our most advanced security and technological frameworks, that their potential absence from the marketplace could pose a detrimental threat to US national security so severe, that it could have catastrophic consequences due to their insufficiency. And what if those rare resources were, in fact, almost solely in the hands of the country's fiercest global economic competitor who held a monopoly over them? Well ladies and gentlemen this is no longer a "what if" game. It"s reality. An article by Jeff Nesbit, a senior communications official in the White House, claims in an article published by US News that "Despite years of concern in the U.S. and around the world, China still controls a monopoly on Rare Earth Elements (REEs) that are critical to a number of advanced defense systems, mobile devices and emerging green technologies. And the situation isn't likely to change any time soon." What are rare earth elements? These are the 17 rare elements ranging from Neodymium (used in strong magnets) and Europium (used in red lasers). Doc Hastings, a US representative from Washington, said in 2013: "In fact, life as we know it in the 21st century could not be possible without minerals. There would be no computers, no blackberries or iPhones. There would be no MRI, CAT scan, or X-ray machines. There would be no wind turbines or solar panels" Rare Earth Elements, a special subset of strategic and critical minerals, are core components for these products of the 21st century." They are a small industry, with a total net global worth of $3 billion dollars. However, these elements are vital to most modern technologies, and the net global worth of the technologies in which these are used in is over a trillion dollars. Prior to a decade ago, the United States had no problems with Rare Earth Elements. However, The United States gradually transitioned to the cheaper imports of China, and now it imports 100% of the American demand for rare earth elements. Normally, this would not be a major problem. According to Gal Luft, the Director for the Analysis of Global Security, China produced 97 percent of the world"s rare earths.The rest of the world relied on China for it"s abundant supply; why wouldn"t the US do the same? However, China decided to stem the flow of REEs out of China in 2010 and to keep them mostly to themselves. The world was stupefied by this blockade; China was the largest supplier at 97%, and there was no legitimate substitute. China placed heavy export limits and heavy tariffs (ranging from 30% to 70%, depending on resource) on REEs coming out of China, but placed no tariffs on finished goods. Neodymium for example, had an export limit (and serious export taxes) slapped on it, but FeNdB magnets, made from neodymium could be exported without limits or taxes. (Tim Worstall, forbes.com, 2013) According to the Congressional Research Service, these restrictions have cost the United States a huge sum of money. The United States spent $1,530,000,000 on rare earth elements in 2012, and it spent $2,310,000,000 on them in 2014. The amount of Rare Earth Elements imported did not increase. In other words, China"s restrictions are becoming too costly for the United States to burden. Gal Luft goes on to state that "its fast economic growth requires that more of its metals production remain at home for domestic use". China is well aware of the strength it possesses: Deng Xiaoping, leader of the Chinese after the fall of Mao Zedong, publicly stated that "The Middle East has oil, China has rare earths". More impressively, this was in 1992 when the demand and usage was only a fraction of what it is now. They saw this coming. America struggled to overcome this issue. An example is the Mountain Pass mine in California that was reopened in an attempt to reclaim REEs for domestic use. The Royal Gazette (April 1,2014) states otherwise: "Experts assumed that this North American mine alone could supply up to 43,000 metric tons at its' productivity peak. However, numerous health concerns contributed to the decline of efficiency of the mine. A total of 27 shafts were closed out of 32 due to cave ins, health related concerns (such as asbestos), and lack of return of investment." The article goes on to mention Professor Schnidman, an engineering professor from UCLA, stating the issues with land-based mines: "Land based mines are in danger of mineral depletion. 62% of the land mines in the United States are currently depleted. In addition, there is an insufficient amount of land available for future mining endeavors. Furthermore, there are many different risks that are associated with mining underground, such as cave-ins, poisonous gas, and asbestos. Meanwhile, ocean based drilling is far more profitable and feasible since there is less possibility of risk and a larger amount of untouched underwater resources." Clearly, land-based mines have too many problems with them to fulfill our needs. China continues to maintain its strong monopoly with no solution in sight. The affirmative team refuses to stand by idly as the technological dreams of the United States are slowly crumbling. The United States today is the preponderant economic superpower with the highest GDP in the world, and, with the independence generated by the domestic acquisition of REE,we as the Affirmative Team intend to keep it that way. For this purpose, we propose to create an Arctic Offshore Mining Committee that will in turn subsidize a company called Freedom Minerals that will excavate the vital Rare Earth Elements off the coast of Alaska. The logistics of the plan will be further elucidated in the 2nd affirmative. Thank you.