Radioactive Waste Disposal at Sea: Public Ideas ... - IMO

Power-Based Regime Analysis 83
be tackled. 43 Thus, the importance of institutional choice in a new era of
policy making was evident.
Because Japan was not a member of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization, the administration disapproved of using NATO as the primary
forum for negotiating an international agreement on ocean dumping.
44 Because its member countries were quite similar relative to the
countries participating in the Stockholm conference, the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development was favored by the United States
for dealing with international trade implications of environmental regulation.
45 The exclusion of the Soviet Union from the OECD was seen as the
major drawback of that organization. 46 In the case of a global ocean dumping
convention and other problems of the marine environment, therefore,
the United States preferred to work through the United Nations system, in
particular through the Stockholm conference, as it included nations with
substantial oceanographic capabilities (e.g. the Soviet Union, Japan) and
large maritime fleets (e.g. Liberia, Panama). 47
While the economic implications of ocean dumping regulation were
modest, but still gave rise to concern, the potential economic costs of international
environmental regulation that might be agreed on in Stockholm
caused serious concern in the United States. The economic consequences
of differing national standards jeopardized international trade.
Furthermore, an international trade war seemed a real threat as there was
considerable pressure within Congress and the Nixon administration to
impose countervailing duties where other countries did not maintain standards
comparable to U.S. standards. The U.S. Assistant Secretary of
Commerce warned of the possibility of a trade war in a speech on October
6, 1970: “In those cases where prices increase (to meet pollution control
costs), U.S. goods would be at a competitive disadvantage in world trade.
In order to avoid a major deterioration of our balance of payments position,
remedial action would be necessary. Perhaps the most desirable action
would be the setting of international pollution standards. An international
convention of the world’s countries could be convened for the purpose of
reaching agreement on pollution standards. If an international agreement
on pollution standards cannot be reached, the U.S. may find it necessary
to levy border taxes on imports and rebates on exports to reflect the added
production costs of pollution standards. This is obviously a less desirable