[GA - Passed] Borderzone Mining and Drilling

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Magecastle

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Borderzone Mining and Drilling
Category: Environmental | Industry Affected: All Businesses - Mild
Proposed by: Simone Republic | Onsite Topic​

The World Assembly,

Acknowledging the Assembly’s efforts to protect member states’ environment, ensure a safe water supply (GAR#223, GAR#441, GAR#453), regulate oil drilling activities (GAR#95, GAR#409 and GAR#510), and mining (GAR#148, GAR#263, GAR#346)

Noting that no regulation covers cases where land based mining, drilling and other forms of extraction of natural resources occur near national borders;



  1. Hereby requires:
    1. A member state that proposes approving mining, drilling and dredging activities ("mining state") (and, hereafter, for convenience, collectively referred to as "mining") wholly within its national land borders must seek the approval of any member state(s) ("bordering member state(s)") that share a land border with the mining state if either the mining state or any of the bordering member state(s) reasonably believes that the mining activities conducted by the mining state will affect the environment (including natural and/or cultural environment) of the bordering member state(s) or the health and well-being of their citizens;

    2. Any mining activities that transcend the borders of more than one member state (either above ground or underground) require the approval of all of the member states affected by such activities;

    3. A bordering member state may require a mining state to conduct such environmental impact studies and other assessments as the bordering member state (and the mining state) together deem appropriate, with all costs to be borne by the mining state (and if mining activities involve multiple member states, such costs and benefits to be allocated based on mutual negotiations)

    4. A bordering member state may require a mining state to assess the costs of any remedial measures as the bordering member state deems appropriate on any mining and drilling activities that affect the bordering member state, and for the mining state to determine whether such activities are ultimately beneficial (in all aspects to the well-being of both the mining state and the bordering member state and not merely financial well-being) prior to the commencement of any mining activities, and for the mining state to fully indemnify the bordering member state(s) for any remedial costs incurred;

    5. Hereby requires that any disputes between member states concerning this resolution shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the Environmental Survey of the World Assembly;

  2. Hereby encourages member states to negotiate similar arrangements if they share a land border with a non member state;

  3. Hereby clarifies that for the purpose of this resolution:
    1. the terms "land based", "land borders" or similar terms also include partially submerged tidal flats, marshlands, and very shallow waters and other similar geological features applicable to individual member states;

    2. the term "mining" includes drilling (as a matter of convenience in wording as defined in the preamble), plus dredging and other technologies used in the extraction of natural resources, and includes all of exploratory, scientific/research-related and commercial mining.
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Note: Only votes from TNP WA nations and NPA personnel will be counted. If you do not meet these requirements, please add (non-WA) or something of that effect to your vote.
Voting Instructions:
  • Vote For if you want the Delegate to vote For the resolution.
  • Vote Against if you want the Delegate to vote Against the resolution.
  • Vote Abstain if you want the Delegate to abstain from voting on this resolution.
  • Vote Present if you are personally abstaining from this vote.
Detailed opinions with your vote are appreciated and encouraged!

ForAgainstAbstainPresent
14001
 
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Overview
The proposal is a partial replacement for the recently repealed GA#417, "restrictions on hydraulic fracking", but instead of focusing on a particular drilling technology, it chooses to focus on an area not covered by previous resolutions on mining and drilling: namely settling potential disputes on land-based drilling near the borders of member states, leaving the other parts of regulating drilling activities to existing resolutions.

Recommendation
We believe this is a sensible proposal to cover one of the few aspects of mining and oil and gas exploration not covered by previous World Assembly resolutions, given that the World Assembly already regulates such activities fairly extensively. It also specifically extends rules to start to cover dredging (usually of sand, but also sometimes metals such as iron ore) in shallow waters.

For the above reasons, the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs recommends a vote For the General Assembly Resolution at vote, "Borderzone Mining and Drilling".
 
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For. I'm not convinced by some of the language here (what is a member nation "affected by such activities"?) but these concerns are hardly sufficient to merit opposing an otherwise thorough and well-written proposal.
 
Magecastle:
For. I'm not convinced by some of the language here (what is a member nation "affected by such activities"?) but these concerns are hardly sufficient to merit opposing an otherwise thorough and well-written proposal.
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I left it in fairly vague terms because there are so many possibilities for disputes that it's better just to set principles and let the individual nations fight them out in ESWA.
 
For, definitely. A commendable goal and a great expression in words.
 
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This is next up and I vote Present as it is my own resolution, also here to answer any questions.
 
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