Some "Limited Additional Steps to Protect the Marine Environment" of the United States Exclusive Economic Zone--Vessel-Source Pollution Control vs. Freedom of Navigation

With the establishment of the Exclusive Economic Zone in March of 1983 not only did the United States assert sovereign rights over the natural resources of this tremendously large zone, but it can now, in the words of the President, "take limited additional steps to protect the marine environment." [1]. As with all of these newly asserted rights and jurisdictions, any additional steps the United States takes to protect the marine environment within its EEZ will be "in accordance with the rules of international law." [2]. What these rules of international law are, how they enable the United States to take additional steps to protect the marine environment, and what the nature of these steps could be are the focus of this report.