70 U.S. Islands In Peril

State Department Failure over 70 American Islands In Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean
Imperils Millions of Square Miles of Oil, Fishery, and Other Resources;
State Department Tries to Give Away Some to other Governments without a Treaty

The United States acquired approximately 70 islands in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea under the Guano Islands Act of 1856. The U. S. Supreme Court ruled more than a century ago that these islands were part of the United States. See the list below compiled by the Secretary of the Treasury.

Along with these islands’ land territory, the United States is entitled to the 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone around each one of them. An EEZ allows the United States to utilize all the oil, fishery, and other resources in it. A 200-mile circle is approximately 125,000 square miles of EEZ. The combined EEZ's of these 70 islands is in the millions of square miles.

Unfortunately the federal government has neglected virtually all of these. The Department of State has not yet asserted the Exclusive Economic Zone around them, nor negotiated maritime boundary agreements with neighboring countries. For example, Navassa Island, which is situated among Haiti, Jamaica, and Cuba, has no maritime boundary with these three countries, and thus those countries can encroach at will.

Alarmingly, the State Department is trying to turn over four of these Guano Act islands to the country of Kiribati without a review by Congress (Washington Island, Fanning Island, Makin Island, and Little Makin Island). Somehow Nassau Island has apparently been given over to the country of the Cook Islands by the State Department without a review by Congress.

Good references on these issues are the book “The Great Guano Rush” by Jimmy M. Skaggs and the U. S. General Accounting Office report on “U. S. Insular Areas—Application of the U. S. Constitution” which deals in part with Guano Act islands, including Navassa Island. (GAO/OGC-98-5).

We urge the following in the public interest:

1. The State Department assert the EEZ for all 70 of the islands immediately.

2. Congress investigate the neglect and underutilization of the 70 Guano Act islands, including their EEZs.

3. Congress especially investigate the status of the four Guano Act islands which the country of Kiribati appears to be treating as part of its sovereign territory (Washington, Fanning, Makin, and Little Makin) and the one Guano Act island that the country of the Cook Islands appears to be treating as part of its sovereign territory (Nassau).

4. The Department of Interior immediately be ordered to assess the valuable oil, fishery, and other resources for these EEZs, and that they be made available for the utilization by the American public immediately.