Userdocs Documents Policy Evidence Update 11-30-14

National Speech & Debate Association
Policy Debate 2014-2015 Starter File 11/30/14

Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its non-military
exploration and/or development of the Earths oceans.
Table of Contents
***AUTONOMOUS UNDERWATER VEHICLES AFFIRMATIVE***....................................... 4
1AC Environmental Monitoring Adv (1/10)....................................................................... 5
1AC Environmental Monitoring Adv (2/10)...................................................................... 6
1AC Environmental Monitoring Adv (6/10).................................................................... 10
1AC Environmental Monitoring Adv (7/10)..................................................................... 11
1AC Environmental Monitoring Adv (10/10)................................................................... 14
1AC Rare Earth Minerals Adv (1/9)................................................................................. 15
1AC Rare Earth Minerals Adv (6/9)................................................................................ 20
1AC Disease Research Adv (1/6)..................................................................................... 24
1AC Solvency (1/3)......................................................................................................... 30
1AC Solvency 2/3)........................................................................................................... 31
1AC Solvency (3/3)......................................................................................................... 32
2AC Environment Adv Biodiversity Impact................................................................. 33
2AC Environment Adv Environment Impact............................................................... 34
2AC Environment Adv Methane Internal Links (1/3)................................................... 35
2AC Environment Adv Methane Internal Links (2/3).................................................. 36
2AC Environment Adv Methane Internal Links (3/3)................................................... 37
2AC Environment Adv Coral Reef Internal Links (1/2)................................................ 38
2AC Environment Adv Coral Reef Internal Links (2/2)................................................ 39
2AC Environment Adv Plankton Internal Links (1/2).................................................. 40
2AC Environment Adv Plankton Internal Links (2/2).................................................. 41
2AC Environment Adv Renewable Energy Internal Links............................................ 42
2AC REM Adv AUVs Key.............................................................................................. 43
2AC REM Adv Vents Internal Links............................................................................. 44
2AC REM Adv Resource Wars (1/2)............................................................................. 45

2AC REM Adv Resource Wars (2/2)............................................................................. 46
2AC REM Adv REMs Solve Hegemony......................................................................... 47
2AC REM Adv AT: No Shortage................................................................................... 48
2AC Disease Adv Ocean Research Solves..................................................................... 49
2AC Disease Adv AT: No ABR Threat........................................................................... 50
2AC Add-On Economy (1/2)......................................................................................... 51
2AC Add-On Economy (2/2)........................................................................................ 52
2AC Add-On Natural Disasters (1/2)............................................................................ 53
2AC Add-On Natural Disasters (2/2)............................................................................ 54
***DEEP OCEAN AFFIRMATIVE***................................................................................... 55
1AC Plan......................................................................................................................... 56
1AC Pharmaceutical Advantage (1/8).............................................................................. 57
1AC Pharmaceutical Advantage (2/8)............................................................................. 58
1AC Pharmaceutical Advantage (5/8).............................................................................. 61
2AC Pharmaceutical Advantage Uniqueness................................................................ 65
2AC Pharmaceutical Advantage Oceans Key (1/5)........................................................ 66
2AC Pharmaceutical Advantage Oceans Key (2/5)....................................................... 67
1AC Biofuels Advantage (1/9).......................................................................................... 71
1AC Biofuels Advantage (2/9)......................................................................................... 72
1AC Biofuels Advantage (7/9).......................................................................................... 77
2AC Biofuels Advantage Warming Solvency (1/3)........................................................ 80
2AC Biofuels Advantage Warming Solvency (2/3)........................................................ 81
2AC Biofuels Advantage Warming Solvency (3/3)....................................................... 82
2AC Biofuels Advantage Oil Scenario (1/5).................................................................. 83
***DEEP OCEAN NEGATIVE***......................................................................................... 88
1NC Pharmaceutical Frontline (1/5)............................................................................... 89
1NC Pharmaceutical Frontline (2/5).............................................................................. 90
2NC Pharmaceutical Uniqueness (1/3)........................................................................... 94
1NC Biofuels Frontline (1/4)........................................................................................... 97
1NC Biofuels Frontline (2/4).......................................................................................... 98

1NC Biofuels Frontline (3/4).......................................................................................... 99
1NC Biofuels Frontline (4/4)........................................................................................ 100
2NC Biofuels Fail (1/2).................................................................................................. 101
2NC Biofuels Fail (2/2)................................................................................................. 102
***AUTONOMOUS UNDERWATER VEHICLES AFFIRMATIVE***
1AC Environmental Monitoring Adv (1/10)

Current ocean exploration is woefully inadequate in climate data collectionAUVs
are the key first step
McNutt, 13Marcia, Executive Chair of Oceans 2020, a group of more than 110 ocean explorers gathered at the Aquarium of
the Pacific in Long Beach, California, Accelerating Ocean Exploration SCIENCE 341:937 (30 August 2013). Reprinted with
permission from AAAS in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, The Report of Ocean Exploration Exploration
2020; A National Program, July, http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/oceanexploration2020/oe2020_report.pdf. Page 13-14
Last month, a distinguished group of ocean researchers and explorers convened in Long Beach, California, at
the Aquarium of the Pacific to assess progress and future prospects in ocean exploration. Thirteen years ago, U.S.
President Clinton challenged a similar group to provide a blueprint for ocean exploration and discovery. Since then, the fundamental
rationale has not changed: to collect high-quality data on the physics, chemistry biology, and geology of the oceans that can be used
to answer known questions as well as those we do not yet know enough to pose, to develop new instruments and systems to explore
the ocean in new dimensions, and to engage a new generation of youth in science and technology. Recently, however,
exploration has taken on a more urgent imperative: to record the substantial changes
occurring in largely undocumented regions of the ocean. With half of the ocean more than 10
kilometers from the nearest depth surrounding, ecosystem function in the deep sea still a
mystery and no first-order baseline for many globally important ocean processes, the current
pace of exploration is woefully inadequate to address this daunting task, especially as the
planet responds to changes in climate. To meet this challenge, future ocean exploration
must depart dramatically from the classical ship-based expeditions of the past devoted to
mapping and sampling. As a first step, future exploration should make better use of
autonomous platforms that are equipped with a broader array of in situ sensors, for lower-cost
data gathering. Fortunately, new, more nimble, and easily deployed platforms are available,
ranging from $200 kits for build-your-own remotely operated vehicles to long-range autonomous underwater vehicles
(AUVs), solar-powered autonomous platforms, autonomous boats, AUVs that operate cooperatively in swarming behavior through
the use of artificial intelligence, and gliders that can cross entire oceans. New in situ chemical and biological sensors
allow the probing of ocean processes in real time in ways not possible if samples are processed
later in laboratories. Exploration also would greatly benefit from improvements in telepresence. For expeditions that require
ships (very distant from shore and requiring the return of complex samples), experts on shore can now join through
satellite links, enlarging the pool of talent available to comment on the importance of discoveries
as they happen and to participate in real-time decisions that affect expedition planning . This type of
communication can enrich the critical human interactions that guide the discovery process on such expeditions. Words such as
crowd sourcing, crowd funded, and citizen scientist are nowhere to be found in the
Presidents Ocean Exploration Panel report of 2000, but at the Long Beach meeting, intense excitement revolved
around growing public engagement in many aspects of ocean exploration through mechanisms that did not exist 13 years ago.
However, there is not yet a body of experience on how to take advantage of this new paradigm on
the scale of a problem as large as ocean exploration . For example, what tasks are most suitable for citizen
scientists, and how can they be trained efficiently? Can the quality control of their work be automated? Can crowd-sources tasks be
scheduled to avoid duplication and gaps? Should any region of the ocean receive priority? Although the southern
oceans are still largely unexplored, and coral reef hot spots for biodiversity are gravely imperiled by ocean warming and
acidification, there was much support by Long Beach participants for prioritizing the Arctic, a region
likely to experience some of the most extreme climate change impacts. An ice-free ocean could
affect weather patterns, sea conditions, and ecosystem dynamics and invite increases in shipping, tourism, energy extraction, and
mining. Good decisions by Arctic nations on Arctic stewardship, emergency preparedness, economic development, and
climate change adaptation will
need to be informed by good science . Exploration of this frontier

needs to happen now to provide a useful informational baseline for future decisions .

Specifically, AUVs are key to cold vent monitoring
Furlong 13 Masters student, University of Victoria (Jonathan, Characteristic Morphology,
Backscatter, and Sub-seafloor Structures of Cold-Vents on the Northern Cascadia Margin from
High-Resolution Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Data UMI Dissertations Publishing.
ProQuest)
In this chapter I discuss visible surface features of cold vents and attempt to explain what
mechanisms exist in the subsurface to generate these features. Backscatter recordings are
examined qualitatively for the acoustic signature of cold vents , and how they differ throughout this study
area. Sub-bottom profiler seismic recordings illuminate the near-surface structure of the top 40 m of sediments. Multichannel
seismic data image well past the depth of the BSR which forms the lower limit of the hydrate stability field. Other seismic
methods (DTAGS) are better at resolving shallower depths, yet still are limited in the very near
surface. AUV sub-bottom profiler data help bridge that gap by imaging the very near surface (5 50 ms TWT), and at a higher resolution than surface seismic data. For mapping the occurrence of
cold vent systems, shallow imaging is crucial, since small surface features (venting sites, carbonate mounds,
CBCs, pockmarks, etc) are revealed only by near-seafloor sonars, high-resolution bathymetry, and ROV observations. Shallow
AUV sub-bottom imaging allows the examination of discrete cold vent communities to be
extended into the subsurface.
Methane seepage from cold vents trigger immediate climate tipping events that
cause extinction
ProQuest)
The co-deposition of organic carbon with inorganic seafloor sediments is considered to remove
carbon from the rapid-cycling biogeosphere. Studies show that 16- 40 MT (megatons) of
methane may be released annually from continental shelves (Judd et al., 2002). On margins, cold vent
sites are considered zones of macro-seepage and account for the largest geological release
of methane at 1,000 t of carbon annually (Etiope and Klusman, 2002). The leakage of methane from sediment to the atmosphere and ocean can
occur as slow microseepage from sedimentary basins (Etiope and Klusman, 2002), or in localized areas of increased flow (i.e. seafloor cold vents). The release of methane from the seabed can be considered a
variable process that may be heightened daily by tidal affects (Boles and Clark, 2001) or yearly to decadal by seismic activity (Tsunogai et al., 2012). Additionally, the nature of methane release varies from margin
to margin. On active margins such as the Cascadia margin, venting processes are more complex than on passive margins, since they also involve sediment compression due to tectonic forces. The relationship
between active tectonics and fluid venting across the Cascadia subduction zone was initially described by Hyndman and Davis (1992), later updated by Riedel et al. (2010) from IODP Expedition 311, and most
recently modelled by Archer and Buffett (2012). Understanding the behaviour of methane in marine sediments is foremost when attempting to interpret slope failures and assess geo-hazards on continental
margins. Earthquakes and the dissociation of gas hydrate have both been linked to the potential destabilization of continental slopes leading to slope failure. For example, the Storegga Slide offshore Norway (Bryn
et al., 2005) is probably the most prominent slope failure recorded during the Holocene. The slide is suspected to have been triggered by the dissociation of gas hydrate following changes in ocean temperatures.
The failure is dated at 8200 BP and mobilized 2500-3500 km3 of sediment as calculated from the slide scar dimensions (e.g. Haflidason et al., 2005). The slide triggered a tsunami that hit Norway (10-12 m),
Methane can also act as a potential modifier of the

world`s climate. The influence of methane as a greenhouse gas is 21-23 times that of carbon
dioxide (e.g. Lelieveld et al., 1998) but only over a relatively short period of time as methane is rapidly oxidized to CO2 in the
atmosphere. The end of the Palaeocene (~57 Ma) was denoted by a massive oxygen and carbon
isotope excursion coinciding with intense global warming and deep- sea benthic extinction
(Alegret and Ortiz, 2007). These prolific changes resonated in the environment and had effects on
biological evolution thereafter (Kennett and Scott, 1991). Momentous events like these gave rise to the
Clathrate Gun Hypothesis (Kennett et al., 2003); this hypothesis links large methane release to nearinstantaneous climate tipping events. A debate exists over whether the source of methane is derived from
Scotland (4-6 m), Shetland (20-30 m), and the Faroe Islands (>10 m) (Bondevik et al., 2005).
marine sediments (OHara, 2008) or sourced from the continent (Etiope et al., 2008).

AUVs are a pre-requisite to effective environmental policy --- reframes our
understanding of key environmental dynamics
NRC 96 [National Research Council. Undersea Vehicles and National Needs. Washington,
DC: The National Academies Press, 1996, http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?
record_id=5069&page=55]
While scientists have been studying oceanic communities for more than a century, the perspective afforded by research vessels
at the surface has biased our knowledge substantially. For example, scientists have underestimated
the pelagic biomass by as much as one-quarter (Robison, 1995; UNOLS, 1994) because gelatinous animals are destroyed by the
collecting nets used to bring them to the surface and because they are invisible to acoustic scans. Recent estimates, based on
surveys by undersea vehicles, are beginning to revise our understanding and perceptions about
oceanic life processes, but this effort has only begun. Nets and acoustic assessment have also obscured
the behavior and ecology of oceanic animals because they cannot reveal their activities in useful
detail. Undersea vehicles have provided scientists and investigators with the tools to begin to
solve some of these problems by giving them an in situ perspective. While net tows measure patterns at
scales from ten to hundreds of meters in the vertical plane and at kilometer scales in the horizontal plane, direct observations from
ROVs and DSVs provide resolution on spatial scales from a centimeter to a kilometer. Recently, ROVs and DSVs equipped with highresolution video cameras provided effective platforms for this kind of marine exploration in water column depths up to 1,000meters
(Hammer and Robison, 1992; Matsumoto and Harbison, 1993). These techniques have also been applied to comparable studies of
bioluminescence (Widder et al., 1989) and marine snow (Pilskaln et al., 1991). With the extension of these studies into deeper water,
a large number of undescribed species and "new" ecological relationships are coming to light. Among the ecological features revealed
by these measurements are animal associations, habitat partitioning, the role of substrate in spatial distribution patterns, and
animal densities. Undersea vehicles allow observation of trophic relationships, physiological rates and processes, activity levels,
behavioral patterns, standing stocks, and reproductive patterns (Bailey et al., 1994; Robison, 1995; Adams et al., 1995a).
Undersea vehicles can play a major role in forthcoming studies of marine biodiversity (NRC,
1995). The
need to understand the dynamics of marine animal populations and their coupling and
the physical and biological processes in their environment is fundamental to the larger
issue of how global climate change affects marine systems . One of the U.S. components of the Global Ocean
Ecosystem Dynamics study, the Georges Bank program, has focused on studying the population dynamics of four target species of
plankton on the Bank (historically one of the world's great fisheries production areas). However, cod and haddock populations have
been driven so low by overfishing that these fisheries on Georges Bank are now closed. Integrated surveys of distribution and
abundance of the animals, process studies of the predators and prey, and the impact of major physical processes on the biological
rates are required. The use of ROVs and AUVs, while limited in the initial stages of this research, holds promise for
enhancing the understanding of how individual species exist in their environments on very
small scales and the time series changes that take place over periods of months or years .2

AUVs are enable better response and mitigation of a litany of environmental
threats --- specifically oil spills, coral reefs, and biodiversity loss
Bluefin robotics, 12AUV Technology Company, September 2012 [Bluefin robotics is a
Battelle company who develops, builds, and operates Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs)
and related technologies for defense, commercial, and scientific customers worldwide,
http://www.bluefinrobotics.com/assets/Papers/Glider-Observations-Support-PlanktonPopulation-Characterization-Sea-Technology-Sept-2012.pdf, accessed 26 June 2014] JB
Sampling and persistent monitoring of undersea habitats provide baseline information and important
data characterizing change related to events (e.g., oil spills) and phenomena (e.g., climate change),
which informs scientific discovery and aids efforts to better understand and perhaps
mitigate change. Autonomous glider technology has improved researchers ability to conduct both types
of assessment: Rapid site characterization enables cost-effective identification of areas that warrant
more detailed assessment, and deployments lasting several months provide previously unavailable
temporal and spatial breadth that can reveal trends and illustrate change . Over the past two years, work
conducted by the NOAA Cooperative Institute for Ocean Exploration, Research and Technology, headquartered at
Florida Atlantic Universitys Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, has been shaped by the Deepwater Horizon
oil spill. The Florida Shelf Edge Exploration (FLOSEE) expedition was launched in July 2010, three months
after the spill, to explore and assess mesophotic and shelf-edge reefs, which were deemed at risk via the Gulf of Mexico
Loop Current and the Florida Current. Expedition goals included characterizing spill impacts on the
ecosystems or, in the absence of such evidence, establishing baselines in advance of potential impacts, as the flow of oil from the
well had not been contained when the expedition commenced. In September 2011, a follow-up expedition, FLOSEE II, was launched
to locate and characterize deep reefs, with a focus on coral and commercial fish. It assessed the effective-ness of
marine managed areas for restoring coral and fish, monitored the effects of oil contamination and characterized plankton populations above or near
reefs. Mapping and biodiversity assessments were conducted from the NOAA vessel Nancy Foster using multi beam sonar and the University of Connecticuts Kraken II ROV for high definition video surveys and
MOCNESS (Multiple Opening and Closing Net Environmental Sensing System) trawls. To perform water-column measurements, the Harbor Branch Ocean Visibility and Optics Lab at Florida Atlantic University
deployed Bluefin Robotics Corps (Quincy, Massachusetts) Spray Glider. Spray Glider and Pulley Ridge Missions The Spray Glider, which is rated to 1,500 meters and travels at 25 centimeters per second, is
capable of deployments lasting up to six months. For these recent missions the glider, diving to less than 100 meters at a 19-degree angle of attack, covered approximately 20 kilometers per day. A pumped CTD
sensor is standard to combat the biofueling that is typical in shallow-water environments, especially during long deployments. Optional sensors include turbidity, dissolved oxygen, fluorimeter, photo synthetically
active radiation, acoustic Doppler current profiler and altimeter. For the purpose of phytoplankton distribution and water quality measurements at these mesophotic reefs, the Spray Glider was outfitted with
Turner Designs (Sunnyvale, California) C7 sensors to measure chlorophyll-a fluorescence and optical scattering, and a pumped Sea-Bird Electronics Inc. (Bellevue, Washington) CTD. The FLOSEE II glider
missions took place at Pulley Ridge, a shelf-edge mesophotic coral reef on the southern edge of the west Florida shelf, which is more than 60 meters below the surface. Mesophotic reefs, the deepest coral
communities that depend on sunlight for survival, are not particularly well studied, as they tend to be beyond the maximum scuba depths of 30 to 40 meters. Pulley Ridge is characterized as hard, fat, gently
sloping bottom with rock rubble and cobble. Live coral cover had previously been reported at up to 60 percent in some areas. Microalgae, sponges and sediment also occupy the benthos, which is shared by
shallow- and deepwater fish species and is considered an important breeding habitat. The Loop Current brings clear, warm water to Pulley Ridge, which is also within a thermocline that provides nutrients during
upwelling. Considered in the context of sudden or persistent environmental change, Pulley Ridge reef communities that survive on 1 to 2 percent of available surface light are therefore very vulnerable to persistent
elevations in turbidity, which result in reduced available light and benthic productivity. Furthermore, persistent temperature maxima have been associated with bleaching events affecting hard and soft corals and
sponges. Corals are also susceptible to persistent salinity depressions, which can result from proximity to the Loop Current and possibly heavy rains or hurricanes. Surprisingly little data exists on the seasonal
dynamics of phytoplankton populations and environmental correlates at shelf-edge reef environments. The capabilities of the Spray Glider enable data collection that can help answer some of these scientific
questions. Understanding the temporal and spatial patterns of temperature, salinity, chlorophyll-a and turbidity provides insight into ecologically significant fluctuations associated with coral-reef function and
health. Similarly, characterizing the large-scale distribution of phytoplankton concentrations above the reefs and in surrounding waters provides a marker of system health. Two missions have been conducted at
Pulley Ridge with the Spray Glider. The first deployment was launched during FLOSEE II in September 2011, with recovery in November after more than 3,200 dives between 50 and 80 meters water depth. The
Spray Glider was also deployed off Naples, Florida, bound for Pulley Ridge, approximately 130 nautical miles away, in February 2012, performing almost 2,000 dives down to 90 meters off the western edge of the
. These studies also presented the opportunity to explore some of the technical questions
related to glider work. Shelf edge reef topography complicates deployment at Pulley Ridge, as do highly variable currents and water density. Strong currents at the western edge of the
ridge
ridge presented difficult conditions for the slow-moving glider. However, the strategy of minimizing the time the glider spent on the surface proved effective in making headway despite the currents. To obtain
profiles within several meters of the seabed, the survey team used previously acquired multibeam bathymetry to assist with setting maximum dive depths. Because the entire mission took place in the euphotic
zone, the effects of biofueling on the glider and sensors were also a concern. Indeed, it was evident that the sensitivity of the optical sensors was significantly reduced by biofueling after more than six weeks. These
separate sorties enabled assessment of seasonal changes in chlorophyll distribution, turbidity, salinity and temperature structure above the reef and in surrounding waters. During the attended phase of the first
mission, benthic video survey, CTD rosette profiling and plankton net trawls were also performed in the vicinity of the glider. The chlorophyll maxima over Pulley Ridge was quite consistent between the fall and
winter sorties, ranging from 1 to 1.3 micrograms per liter at 50 to 55 meters water depth. In contrast, the temperature and salinity structure was highly variable between the two missions and was most evident in a
These missions demonstrated that the Spray Glider is a capable,

cost-effective means of monitoring distributions of chlorophyll, turbidity, temperature and
salinity structure at shelf-edge mesophotic reef ecosystems. The longer term outcome of these
missions could be the use of gliders as tools to indicate the presence and health of deep coral
ecosystems by measurement of larval and plankton populations in the adjacent benthopelagic region. Another mission to Pulley
salinity inversion observed in the February 2012 data. Future Work
Ridge was scheduled for September to November 2012, with plans to pilot the glider toward deeper water to the southeast where
other deep coral reef ecosystems are known to exist.

Specifically, AUVs are key to solve sea turtles --- theyre the critical internal link
Sola 14 (Katie Sola, Underwater Robot Tracks Endangered Sea Turtles, Mashable
http://mashable.com/2014/06/24/underwater-robot-sea-turtle/)
For the first time ever, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency ( NOAA) scientists have tracked endangered sea
turtles remotely using an underwater robot. The Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) uses side-scan sonar
technology to detect the creatures swimming and resting on the sea floor at a known turtle hotspot near
North Carolina. This is the very first time that we used our AUVs to look for living creatures, says Rob Downs, AUV project
manager at NOAA's Office of Coastal Survey. His team used the devices to inspect damage in Texas after Hurricane Ike, as well as
checking for navigational obstructions at a naval air station in Jackson Hole, Fla. and searching for debris in a Florida Keys National
Marine Sanctuary. Unlike man-made debris, turtles are difficult to spot because they have rounded shells
and spend most of their time on the sea floor . "They're living natural objects, they move about," says Downs. The
turtle carapace does not strongly reflect sonar waves the way steel or concrete does. "We're looking for aspects of the acoustic
signature that are turtle-shaped," explains Larisa Avens, a research fishery biologist at NOAA fisheries. The team found juvenile and
adult Loggerhead turtles, as well as Kemp's Ridley turtles in Cape Lookout Bight in North Carolina's Outer Banks. The AUV has a
communication range of just 1500 meters, or less than a mile, so is best suited to shallow water exploration. It propels itself through
the water along a pre-programmed course, powered by a lithium ion battery and surfacing periodically to get its bearings. The
expedition helped the AUV experts train their staff and gather meaningful data for the turtle
researchers at the same time, says Downs. Monitoring sea turtle populations is essential if you're trying to develop conservation
strategies and measure their success. Seeing the population rebound after the introduction of Turtle Excluder Devices into fishing
nets was one of her most rewarding moments, says Avens. According to this post on the NOAA website, scientists usually count sea
turtles from the air as they surface. The robot method allows for quicker and more accurate counting. The AUVs expand the
range of surveillance because they can access difficult areas without disturbing the sea turtles,
who tend to avoid vessels for fear of being struck. "It's a quieter, smaller object just passing through," as Avens puts it
unnoticed by the endangered animals rooting through the mud.

That magnifies our internal link and accesses an independent extinction impact
also collapses coral reefs and leads to jellyfish blooms crushing fish stocks
STCB 10 (Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire, Sources: Caribbean Conservation Corporation and
Todd Steiner, Sea Turtle Restoration Project, Are Sea Turtles Worth Saving? 2010,
http://www.bonaireturtles.org/explore/are-sea-turtles-worth-saving/)
Sea turtles demonstrate the ultimate lesson of ecology that everything is connected. Sea turtles are part of two vital
ecosystems, beaches and marine systems. If sea turtles become extinct, both the marine and beach
ecosystems will weaken. And since humans use the ocean as an important source for food and use beaches for many kinds
of activities, weakness in these ecosystems would have harmful effects on humans. Though sea turtles have been living and
thriving in the worlds oceans for 150 million years, they are now in danger of extinction largely because of changes
brought about by humans. If we alter the oceans and beaches enough to wipe out sea turtles, will those changes
make it difficult for us to survive? And if we choose to do whats necessary to save sea turtles, might we save our own future? Beaches and
dune systems do not get very many nutrients during the year, so very little vegetation grows on the dunes and no vegetation grows on the beach itself. This is because sand does
not hold nutrients very well. Sea turtles use beaches and the lower dunes to nest and lay their eggs. Sea turtles lay around 100 eggs in a nest and lay between 3 and 7 nests during
the summer nesting season. Not every nest will hatch, not every egg in a nest will hatch, and not all of the hatchlings in a nest will make it out of the nest. All the unhatched
nests, eggs and trapped hatchlings are very good sources of nutrients for the dune vegetation. Even the left-over egg shells from hatched eggs provide nutrients. Dune plants use
the nutrients from turtle eggs to grow and become stronger. As the dune vegetation grows stronger and healthier, the health of the entire beach/dune ecosystem becomes better.
Healthy vegetation and strong root systems hold the sand in the dunes and protect the beach from erosion. As the number of turtles declines, fewer eggs are laid in the beaches,
providing less nutrients. If sea turtles went extinct, dune vegetation would lose a major source of nutrients and would not be healthy or strong enough to maintain the dunes,
Sea turtles eat jellyfish, preventing the large blooms of jellyfish including
are increasingly wreaking havoc on fisheries, recreation and other maritime
activities throughout the oceans. Research has shown that sea turtles often act as
keystone species. Sea grass beds grazed by green sea turtles are more productive than those that arent. Hawksbill
turtles eat sponges, preventing them from out-competing slow-growing corals. Both of these grazing
activities maintain species diversity and the natural balance of fragile marine ecosystems. If sea turtles go
extinct, it will cause declines in all the species whose survival depends on healthy seagrass beds and coral reefs. That
allowing beaches to wash away .
stinging jellyfish that
means that many marine species that humans harvest would be lost. Sea turtles, and many species that are affected by their presence or absence, are an important attraction for
marine tourism, a major source of income for many countries. These are some of the roles that we know sea turtles play in the essential health of ecosystems. Who knows what
other roles we will discover as science reveals more about sea turtles? While humans have the ability to tinker with the clockwork of life, we dont have the ability to know when
its okay to lose a few of the working parts. If you disagree, try to take apart a clock and just throw away one of the pieces that doesnt look that important. Put the clock back
together and see if it still works.
Jellyfish are key quadruples environmental losses and externally leads to power
plant cooling failures
Stone 11 (Richard Stone, director of Science Magazines Asia news coverage, science and
environment writer, Massive Outbreak of Jellyfish Could Spell Trouble for Fisheries,
Environment 360, a publication of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies,
January 13, 2011,
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/massive_outbreak_of_jellyfish_could_spell_trouble_for_fisherie
s/2359/)
Jellyfish clearly have an impact on human activity. Besides fouling fishing nets, they invade fish farms, block
cooling intakes at coastal power plants, and force beach closures. Some jellies pose a mortal threat. Dozens
of people die each year from jellyfish stings, far more than from encounters with other marine creatures, including sharks. A box
jellyfish, the Chironex sea wasp, may be the most lethal animal on the planet: Its toxin can kill a person in three minutes. Global
warming may allow deadly jellyfish, now mostly found in tropical and subtropical waters, to conquer new turf in temperate waters as
sea surface temperatures rise, warns Richardson. Its very likely that venomous jellyfish will move toward the poles, he says. While
that could be a big blow for tourism, far more worrisome to many researchers is the threat that jellies pose to fish stocks. The
most important helping hand for jellyfish may be overfishing. In one well-documented episode, the devastation of sardine stocks
appear to have cleared the way for the rise of Chrysaora off Namibia, in waters known as the northern Benguela. Recent
research cruises there have hauled in about four times as much jelly biomass as fish biomass.
10

Fish stock decline kills billions
Normile 02 (Dennis Normile, Poor to Feel Pinch of Rising Fish Prices, Science, Vol. 298, No.
5596, pg. 1154, November 8, 2002, http://www.sciencemag.org/content/298/5596/1154.full)
TOKYO The first major attempt to project global supply and demand for fish has confirmed what many have long suspected:
Rising prices are likely to drive fish out of the reach of growing numbers of poor people who rely on the sea for their
protein. But, with several fisheries on the verge of collapse, some analysts believe that the study's
dire projectionspresented last week at the launching of a global research initiative on fisheries science and policy might
in fact be too rosy. The analysis, by agricultural economists in Penang, Malaysia, and in Washington, D.C., models fish supply
and demand to 2020. Under the most likely scenario, it says, prices for salmon and other high-value fish would rise 15%, and prices
for low-end fish such as milkfish and carp would increase by 6%. Fish meal prices, it estimates, would jump 18% to satisfy rising
demand for feed for cultured, carnivorous high-value fish (below). The consequences [of current trends] could be dire,
depending on whether supply gains are feasible, says Mahfuzuddin Ahmed, a co-author of the study, which was
done by the Penang-based WorldFish Center and the Washington, D.C.-based International Food Policy Research Institute. But a
continuation of those gainswhich have produced a sixfold rise in total fish catch since the 1950sis doubtful, says his boss, center
director Meryl Williams, because three-quarters of the current catch comes from fish stocks that are
already overfished, if not depleted. Those [who study] the population dynamics of fisheries would probably be
pessimistic about supplies, she says. Fish now account for about 7% of the total food supply , according to the
center, and are the primary source of protein for roughly one-sixth of the world's population. Yet fish
consumption is generally overlooked in food supply models, which focus primarily on cereals and legumes. Scientists hope to correct
that oversight with Fish for All, an initiative to develop science-based policy alternatives for world fisheries. Scientists,
environmentalists, and industry representatives from 40 countries gathered in Penang last week for a meeting to launch the effort,
led by the WorldFish Center, formerly known as the International Center for Living Aquatic Resources. Both the fish center and the
policy institute are part of the World Bank-funded Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research.
Cooling failure triggers nuclear meltdowns

WNA 12 (World Nuclear Association, Safety of Nuclear Power Reactors, May 2012,
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf06.html)
A particular nuclear scenario was loss of cooling which resulted in melting of the nuclear reactor
core, and this motivated studies on both the physical and chemical possibilities as well as the biological effects of any dispersed
radioactivity. Those responsible for nuclear power technology in the West devoted extraordinary effort to ensuring that a meltdown
of the reactor core would not take place, since it was assumed that a meltdown of the core would create a major
public hazard, and if uncontained, a tragic accident with likely multiple fatalities.
Extinction
Sanders 99 (Kevin Sanders, director of special projects at the War & Peace Foundation, New
York City, The Nightmare Scenario, March 15, 1999, http://www.cointelligence.org/y2k_nukes1.html)
Most worrisome, because of their vast potential for destruction, are the world's nuclear weapons arsenals and nuclear power plants.
For if the network of interconnected systems collapses and cascades into systemic infrastructure failures, power and
communications could be lost worldwide. Restoration may be delayed or even impossible in a

world where everything else has snapped to a halt. In the chaos and confusion that would follow no one knows what would happen
to nuclear bombs and nuclear reactors. In the truly worst-case scenario, accidental nuclear war and/or reactor
meltdowns could release enough deadly radioactivity to return the planet to the
insects.
11

Coral reef decline leads to extinction
Leahy 06 (Stephen Leahy, environmental journalist, cites John Guinotte, marine scientist at
the Marine Conservation Biology Institute in Washington State, Climate Change Shattering
Marine Food Chain, Inter Press Service, April 10, 2006, http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?
idnews=32843)
BROOKLIN, Canada, Apr 10, 2006 (IPS) - Vast swaths of coral reefs in the Caribbean sea and South Pacific Ocean are dying, while
the recently-discovered cold-water corals in northern waters will not survive the century - all due to climate change. The loss of
reefs will have a catastrophic impact on all marine life. One-third of the coral at official monitoring sites in the
area of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have recently perished in what scientists call an "unprecedented" die-off. Extremely
high sea temperatures in the summer and fall of 2005 that spawned a record hurricane season have also caused extensive coral
bleaching extending from the Florida Keys to Tobago and Barbados in the south and Panama and Costa Rica, according to the U.S.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Coral Reef Watch. High sea temperatures are also killing parts of Australia's
2,000-kilometre-long Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest living reef formation. As summer ends in the Southern Hemisphere,
researchers are now investigating the extent of the coral bleaching. Up to 98 percent of the coral in one area has been affected,
reported the Australian Institute of Marine Science last week. "The Great Barrier Reef has been living on this planet for 18 million
years and we've undermined its existence within our lifetimes," says Brian Huse, executive director of the Coral Reef Alliance, a U.S.based NGO dedicated to protecting the health of coral reefs. "Twenty percent of Earth's reefs have been lost and 50 percent face
moderate to severe threats," Huse told IPS. The economic value of reefs globally is estimated at 375 billion dollars, he says. Coral
reefs are uncommon, found in less than one percent of the world's oceans. However, they are considered the tropical
rainforests of the oceans because they provide home and habitat to 25 to 33 percent of all marine
life. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) considers coral reefs one of the life-support systems
essential for human survival. Reefs are made up of tiny animals called polyps, which create cup-like limestone
skeletons around themselves using calcium from seawater. Reefs form as generation after generation of coral polyps live, build and
die, creating habitat for themselves and many other plants and animals. Coral gets its beautiful colors from algae that cover the
polyps. The algae produce oxygen and sugars for the coral polyps to eat while the polyps produce carbon dioxide and
nitrogen, which enhances algae growth. If coral polyps are stressed by too-warm sea temperatures or pollution, they lose their algae
coating and turn white.
12

Coral reef and ocean ecosystem collapse is an invisible threshold --- it means you
should default aff on the precautionary principle to avoid extinction
Watston, 2Kfounder Sea Shepherd conservation Society. Founding Director Greenpeace,
MA Environmentalist[Paul, The Politics of Extinction, http://www.ecoaction.org/dt/beerswil.html]
Individual humans are for the most part insulated from the reality of species loss . Alienated from the
natural world, wrapped in a cocoon of material pleasures, guided by anthropocentric attitudes, the average human being is
unaware and non-caring about the biological holocaust that is transpiring each and every day .
The facts are clear. More plant and animal species will go through extinction within our
generation than have been lost thorough natural causes over the past two hundred million years .
Our single human generation, that is, all people born between 1930 and 2010 will witness the complete
obliteration of one third to one half of all the Earth's life forms , each and every one of them the product of
more than two billion years of evolution. This is biological meltdown, and what this really means is the end
to vertebrate evolution on planet Earth. Nature is under siege on a global scale. Biotopes, i.e.,
environmentally distinct regions, from tropical and temperate rain forests to coral reefs and coastal estuaries, are
disintegrating in the wake of human onslaught. The destruction of forests and the proliferation of
human activity will remove more than 20 percent of all terrestrial plant species over the next
fifty years. Because plants form the foundation for entire biotic communities, their demise will carry with it the extinction of an
exponentially greater number of animal species -- perhaps ten times as many faunal species for each type of plant eliminated. Sixtyfive million years ago, a natural cataclysmic event resulted in extinction of the dinosaurs. Even with a plant foundation intact, it took
more than 100,000 years for faunal biological diversity to re-establish itself. More importantly, the resurrection of biological
diversity assumes an intact zone of tropical forests to provide for new speciation after extinction . Today, the
tropical rain forests are disappearing more rapidly than any other bio-region, ensuring that after the age of humans, the Earth will
remain a biological, if not a literal desert for eons to come. The present course of civilization points to ecocide --
the death of nature. Like a run-a-way train, civilization is speeding along tracks of our own
manufacture towards the stone wall of extinction. The human passengers sitting comfortably in
their seats, laughing, partying, and choosing to not look out the window.Environmentalists are those perceptive few who
have their faces pressed against the glass, watching the hurling bodies of plants and animals go screaming by. Environmental
activists are those even fewer people who are trying desperately to break into the fortified engine of greed that propels this
destructive specicidal juggernaut. Others are desperately throwing out anchors in an attempt to slow the monster down while all the
while, the authorities, blind to their own impending destruction, are clubbing, shooting and jailing those who would save us all.
SHORT MEMORIES Civilized humans have for ten thousand years been marching across the face of the Earth leaving deserts in
their footprints. Because we have such short memories, we forgot the wonder and splendor of a virgin nature. We revise history and
make it fit into our present perceptions. For instance, are you aware that only two thousand years ago, the coast of North Africa was
a mighty forest? The Phoenicians and the Carthaginians built powerful ships from the strong timbers of the region. Rome was a
major exporter of timber to Europe. The temple of Jerusalem was built with titanic cedar logs, one image of which adorns the flag of
Lebanon today. Jesus Christ did not live in a desert, he was a man of the forest. The Sumerians were renowned for clearing the
forests of Mesopotamia for agriculture. But the destruction of the coastal swath of the North African forest stopped the rain from
advancing into the interior. Without the rain, the trees died and thus was born the mighty Sahara, sired by man and continued to
grow southward at a rate of ten miles per year, advancing down the length of the continent of Africa. And so will go Brazil. The
precipitation off the Atlantic strikes the coastal rain forest and is absorbed and sent skyward again by the trees, falling further into
the interior. Twelve times the moisture falls and twelve times it is returned to the sky -- all the way to the Andes mountains. Destroy
the coastal swath and desertify Amazonia -- it is as simple as that. Create a swath anywhere between the coast and the mountains
and the rains will be stopped. We did it before while relatively primitive. We learned nothing. We forgot. So too, have we forgotten
that walrus once mated and bred along the coast of Nova Scotia, that sixty million bison once roamed the North American plains.
One hundred years ago, the white bear once roamed the forests of New England and the Canadian Maritime provinces. Now it is
called the polar bear because that is where it now makes its last stand. EXTINCTION DIFFICULT TO APPRECIATE Gone forever
are the European elephant, lion and tiger. The Labrador duck, giant auk, Carolina parakeet will never again grace this planet of ours.
Lost for all time are the Atlantic grey whales, the Biscayan right whales and the Stellar sea cow. our children will never look upon the
California condor in the wild or watch the Palos Verde blue butterfly dart from flower to flower. Extinction is a difficult
concept to fully appreciate. What has been is no more and never shall be again. It would take
13

<<<CONTINUED --- NO TEXT DELETED>>>
another creation and billions of years to recreate the passenger pigeon. It is the loss of billions of
years of evolutionary programming. It is the destruction of beauty, the obliteration of truth, the
removal of uniqueness, the scarring of the sacred web of life. To be responsible for an extinction
is to commit blasphemy against the divine. It is the greatest of all possible crimes, more
evil than murder, more appalling than genocide , more monstrous than even the
apparent unlimited perversities of the human mind. To be responsible for the complete and
utter destruction of a unique and sacred life form is arrogance that seethes with evil, for the very opposite of evil is
live. It is no accident that these two words spell out each other in reverse. And yet, a reporter in California recently told me that "all
the redwoods in California are not worth the life on one human being." What incredible arrogance. The rights a species, any species,
must take precedence over the life of an individual or another species. This is a basic ecological law. It is not to be tampered with by
primates who have molded themselves into divine legends in their own mind. For each and every one of the thirty
million plus species that grace this beautiful planet are essential for the continued well-being of
which we are all a part, the planet Earth -- the divine entity which brought us forth from the fertility of her sacred
womb. As a sea-captain I like to compare the structural integrity of the biosphere to that of a ship's
hull. Each species is a rivet that keeps the hull intact. If I were to go into my engine room and find my
engineers busily popping rivets from the hull, I would be upset and naturally I would ask them what they
were doing. If they told me that they discovered that they could make a dollar each from the rivets,
I could do one of three things. I could ignore them. I could ask them to cut me in for a share of the profits, or I
could kick their asses out of the engine room and off my ship. If I was a responsible captain, I
would do the latter. If I did not, I would soon find the ocean pouring through the holes left by the
stolen rivetsand very shortly after, my ship, my crew and myself would disappear beneath the waves. And that is the
state of the world today. The political leaders, i.e., the captains at the helms of their nation states, are ignoring
the rivet poppers or they are cutting themselves in for the profits. There are very few asses being kicked out of
the engine room of spaceship Earth. With the rivet poppers in command, it will not be long until
the biospheric integrity of the Earth collapses under the weight of ecological strain and tides of
death come pouring in.And that will be the price of progress -- ecological collapse, the death of
nature, and with it the horrendous and mind numbing specter of massive human destruction .
14
1AC Rare Earth Minerals Adv (1/9)

Rare Earth Minerals are being depleted now --- AUVs accesses new supplies are
key to the US aerospace industry and high tech manufacturing --- absent the plan,
China will out-compete the US and control a monopoly
Green, Senior Editor-in-Chief at Robotics Business Review, 14 (Tom, 5-12-14, Robotics
Business Review, Deep Sea Dive for Rare Earth Elements,
http://www.roboticsbusinessreview.com/article/deep_sea_dive_for_rare_earth_elements)
After a year of falling prices and depleting customer inventories, buyers of Rare Earth Elements (REEs)
are coming back into this $10B market, but now supplies are getting scarce and prices are beginning to soar. With
populations consuming metals and minerals on the rise, especially new middle-class consumers in China and India,
demand is set to skyrocket. Future supply chains and national economies will witness major
disruptions, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) study: Minerals and metals scarcity in manufacturing: The
ticking time bomb. Three deep-ocean mining companies, Nautilus Minerals; UK Seabed Resources (the British division of
Lockheed Martin); and DeepGreen Resources, plan to mine the sea floor under the Pacific Ocean (most notably in the Bismarck
Sea off Papua New Guinea) using a combination of remotely operated or autonomous underwater vehicles, pumps,
suction and riser pipes to extract the minerals. These REEs, with odd monikers like lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium,
promethium, neodymium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, and
lutetium, are not household names, but what they do makes every household and the people in those householdslive
better lives. For example, most of our
fancy electronic gadgetslike our Smartphones and laptopsdepend

on REEs to operate. Better yet for this Pacific sea hunt, the REEs arent alone on the sea floor: staggering levels of
magnesium, gold, silver, cobalt, nickel and copper are there for the taking as well; much of which are easy
pickings as mineral-rich nodules scattered over the sea bottom. Frontrunner: Nautilus Minerals Of the three
contenders, the Canadian company, Nautilus Minerals (TSX:NUS), is the more ready to mine. Nautilus plans to deploy
three machines, operated by remote control. Operators sitting on a ship stationed above the deposit will control mine-bots on
the seafloor: an initial cutter for clearance; a bulk cutter to do most of the work; and a machine to collect and
transport the material to a pumping station. slurry ship The material will then be pumped up in slurry form to the ship,
where it will be de-watered and set to shore for processing. For nodules, robots will roam the seabed. Critical to high-tech
everything REEs are metals with unique physical, chemical and light-emitting properties vital to hybrid vehicles,
rechargeable batteries, wind turbines (renewable energy) mobile (cell) phones, compact fluorescent light bulbs,
laptop computers, disk drives, catalytic converters, and LED, Plasma, and LCD display panels. Neodymium, for example, is
responsible for ensuring that the likes of Smartphones, hard drives, earphones, even MRI scanners, do the job they are designed to
do. Far from abundant on land With over 30 percent of the worlds known REE deposits and by far the
cheapest extraction process, China supplies 95 percent of the worlds REEs . However, China, with a rising middle
class and booming domestic market, is steadily reducing export quotas. The Word Trade Organization (WTO), of which China is a
member, ruled in March of 2014 that China was hoarding and taking unfair advantage of the market . That
decision was two years in coming, and now China will appeal the current WTO judgment, which might take another two years. Byron
Capital analyst, John Hykawy said Ive heard from so many critical materials buyers at large corporations that they want security of
supply. And security of supply to them means avoiding Chinese supply at all costs because they got fooled once. They dont want to
get fooled again. 2- to 3-miles down: REEs not alone on the seabed In the meantime, REEs are again getting to be in
short supply, and with demand forecast to progressively increase, the world drastically needs new
suppliers of REEs. The London Metal Exchange lists neodymium at $800 Kg; terbium metal at 1,900 Kg; and scandium metal
15,500.00 per Kg. Relatively inexpensive is lanthanum at $13 Kg. However, the battery in a Toyota Prius hybrid requires more than
10kg of lanthanum. Now multiply $130 times millions of Toyotas and the need for lots of lanthanum comes into focus. Stephen Ball,
chief executive officer of Lockheed Martin UK, owner of UK Seabed Resources, told the BBC Its another source of minerals
theres a shortage and theres difficulty getting access, so theres strategic value for the UK
government in getting an opportunity to get these minerals. UK Seabed Resources says surveys have revealed
huge numbers of nodules small lumps of rock rich in valuable metals lying on the ocean floor south of Hawaii and west of
Mexico. The exact value of these resources is impossible to calculate reliably, but a leading UN official
described the scale of mineral deposits in the worlds oceans as staggering with
several hundred years worth of

15

cobalt and nickel. These tennis-ball sized nodules, found approximately four kilometers (2.5 miles) beneath the oceans surface,
can provide millions of tons of copper, nickel, cobalt and manganese, as well as rare earth minerals, that
are used in the construction, aerospace, alternative energy, and communications industries ,
among others, reports Lockheed Martin. The Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology and the University of Tokyo
confirmed the discovery of a huge new deposit on the Pacific seabed, claiming the deposit can be mined at very low
cost and will be able to produce materials that are 20 to 30 times more concentrated than those
currently being mined in China. Robot submersibles hold the key Located approximately 5,700 meters or 3.5 miles
down, the Japanese scientists claim the deposits to be approximately 6.8 million metric tons of rare earths, equivalent to 230 years
of local demand. Although subsea mining at depths of 500 feet or less has been carried out for some time,
deep sea projects have had to await technology , which is now coming on line, funded by companies like
Nautilus Minerals, with subsea robot mining tools built by technology partners like Soil Machine Dynamics.
The plan is key to cost-effective detection of mineral deposits --- new technology
means surveys can be done quickly and accurately
Wiltshire, 10, Specialist at Ocean and Resources Engineering [J. C., "MINERAL
EXTRACTION, AUTHIGENIC MINERALS." Marine Policy & Economics: A Derivative of the
Encyclopedia of Ocean Sciences(2010): 274., Google Books, http://books.google.com/books?
hl=en&lr=&id=dqzXwFsOFMcC&oi=fnd&pg=PAT:74&dq=(%22Rare+Earth+Elements
%22+OR+%22rare+earth+minerals%22)+AND+(%22autonomous+underwater+vehicles
%22+OR+%22Autonomous+Benthic+Explorer
%22)&ots=PIzchVTPjs&sig=C1I_dhR2fdZIW6VUSsl3m8t-n44#v=onepage&q&f=false, pg 276]
The first step in minerals development is to find an economic mine site. This is found by
surveying and mineral sampling. A great deal of mineral sampling has already been done over the last 40 years
throughout the worlds ocean. These data are available for initial planning purposes. Following a detailed literature review the
prospective ocean miner would send out a research vessel to sample extensively in the areas under consideration. New
acoustical techniques can be calibrated to show certain kinds of bottom cover, including the
density of manganese nodule cover. This is one way to rapidly survey the bottom to highlight the
areas with potentially economic accumulation of authigenic minerals. Significant advances in
marine electronics, navigation, and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are being brought together.
New chirp sonars which transmit a long pulse of sound in which the frequency of the
transmitted pulse changes linearly with time give high resolution and long-range seafloor and
sub-bottom imagery. Navigation based on the satellite global positioning system (GPS) can now give
accurate underwater positions (1m) when linked to an acoustic relay. This level of survey
equipment is now available on underwater autonomous vehicles, meaning that the cost of a ship
is not necessarily an impediment. Sampling for metal concentrations follows the initial surveys. Sampling may be from
a ship, a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), or a submersible. Sampling is likely to begin with dredges, progress to some kind of
coring, and finish with carefully oriented drilled samples giving a three-dimensional picture of the ore distribution. These data, after
chemical analysis of the contained metals, will give grade and tonnage information. The grade and tonnage estimates of the deposit
will be entered into a financial model to determine whether it is economically profitable to mine a given deposit.
16

China REM monopoly prevents US high tech manufacturing and causes all future
development to offshore US action is key now to win the race and cause
reshoring
Hannis, Senior fellow in defense studies at the American Foreign Policy Council, 12 (Eric, 1120-12, US News, Are We Losing the Race for Rare Earths?,
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/world-report/2012/11/20/the-us-needs-rare-earthindependence-from-china)
The United States, like most of the industrialized world, is currently engaged in a race to develop viable,
non-Chinese sources of the rare earth elements that are so critical to modern technologies. And we better
move fast, or we will lose that race. Why are rare earths so important? Everything from smartphones to iPods to missile
systems requires rare earths. Almost every piece of high tech gadgetry contains some combination of rare earths
to make volumes louder, E-mails vibrate, and bombs able to hit their targets. Nations that control rare
earth production own one of the most capable economic and national security levers in the
modern world. Over the last quarter century, that lever has been controlled overwhelmingly by China.
China began a dedicated campaign to dominate the rare earth supply chain back in the 1970s. In 1992, Deng Xiaoping's drive to
control these elements was famously reflected in his statement that the "Middle East has oil, China has rare earths." China today
has the largest share of rare earth deposits on Earthalmost half the world's reserves. As a result, Beijing
has been able to effectively use access to rare earths as a way to compel high tech companies to
establish production in China. It has also worked to eliminate the competition; starting in the 1990s, China
dumped huge quantities of rare earths onto the world market, resulting in plunging prices that forced
U.S. companies out of the business. With U.S. and foreign competitors out of the way, China began to use rare
earths as an economic development lever. It works like this: Companies that produce their high tech products in
China can get the benefit of lower prices as well as a guaranteed supply. China's intent all along was not just to
develop rare earth production, but also the downstream high tech industries that depend on rare
earths. This supply chain brings with it thousand of jobsand tremendous dependency on China. The
country currently has a stranglehold on the rare earth supply, amounting to more than 95 percent of worldwide production. But a
backlash is beginning. Many companies are increasingly loathe to move their production to mainland
China. Most are afraid of the potential of intellectual property infringement and industrial espionage.
But the need to gain a cost effective, guaranteed supply of rare earths means that many have been forced to
make a "deal with the devil." If viable, non-Chinese sources are developed soon, however,
companies will have an alternative that will allow them a way out of the China relocation trap.
17

Thats key to hegemony --- REM independence is key to weapons development and
preserving hegemony
Hannis, Senior fellow in defense studies at the American Foreign Policy Council, 12 (Eric, 1120-12, US News, Are We Losing the Race for Rare Earths?,
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/world-report/2012/11/20/the-us-needs-rare-earthindependence-from-china)
This race is also important for defense reasons: A reliable domestic source of rare earths for
weapons production is a critical national security goal for modern nations . As China proved in 2010
when it placed a rare earth embargo on Japan because of a territorial dispute, it is not afraid to use
access to rare earths as a lever to get its way in the international arena . Because of concerns over China's
dominance of the rare earths market, the U.S. Department of Defense was directed by Congress in 2011 to study the problem. The
Department of Defense's analysis resulted in an April 2012 report entitled Rare Earth Materials in Defense Applications, which
determined that we are at risk for interruption of some critical rare earth elements
because of Chinese production hegemony. But where are we in the race to develop rare earth production? The
United States, with approximately 13 percent of the world's total reserves, has one of the most economically-viable concentrations of
rare earths in California. Other countries with large deposits of rare earths include Australia, Russia, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan,
among others. Production in California is rapidly developing, and will be able to supply the raw rare earth ore for much of America's
needs within a year or two. The problem is that mining for rare earths is just the start. The industrial capacity that
takes raw rare earth elements and makes them into components that can be used in high tech products largely does not exist in the
United Statesand may not be developed for another 10 to 15 years. So the production of rare earth metals, alloys, and magnets
have to rely on factories located outside the United States, and some even in China. An astounding 80 percent of the worldwide rare
earth magnet production is from China. So the problem is not just about access; we must also develop U.S. capabilities
to refine and make rare earths into useable components. Otherwise, we are simply shipping our raw
materials to China, or other countries, for processing. This state of affairs is unsustainable. Our
national security and our economic health alike depend upon the development an end-to-end,
domestic rare earths supply chain. In much the same way that we should strive for independence from Middle Eastern oil,
the United States now needs to make "rare earth independence" from China a key
priority of government. After all, the nation that supplies our rare earths shares one
key similarity to the region that supplies much of our oil: Neither are getting
friendlier to America.
Strong US manufacturing sector is also to defense technology --- controls military
primacy and the escalation of conflict
O'Hanlon, Scholar at the Brookings Institution, 12 (Michael, January 2012, The
Brookings Institution, The Arsenal of Democracy and How to Preserve It: Key Issues in Defense
Industrial Policy,
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2012/1/26%20defense
%20industrial%20base/0126_defense_industrial_base_ohanlon )
The current wave of defense cuts is also different than past defense budget reductions in their likely industrial impact, as the U.S.
defense industrial base is in a much different place than it was in the past. Defense industrial issues are too often viewed through the
lens of jobs and pet projects to protect in congressional districts. But the overall health of the firms that supply the technologies our
armed forces utilize does have national security resonance. Qualitative superiority in weaponry and other key
military technology has become an essential element of American military power in the modern eranot
only for winning wars but for deterring them. That requires world-class scientific and
manufacturing capabilitieswhich in turn can also generate civilian and military export opportunities
for the United States in a globalized marketplace.
18

The pursuit of hegemony is inevitable, sustainable, and prevents great power war
Ikenberry, Brooks, and Wohlforth 13 -- Associate Professor of Government at Dartmouth
College and the Albert G. Milbank Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton
University and Global Eminence Scholar at Kyung Hee University in Seoul and the Daniel
Webster Professor of Government at Dartmouth College (John Ikenberry, Stephen G. Brooks,
William C. Wohlforth, January/February 2013, Foreign Affairs, Lean Forward: In Defense of
American Engagement http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138468/stephen-g-brooks-gjohn-ikenberry-and-william-c-wohlforth/lean-forward)
Of course, even if it is true that the costs of deep engagement fall far below what advocates of retrenchment claim, they would not be
worth bearing unless they yielded greater benefits. In fact, they do. The most obvious benefit of the current strategy is that it
reduces the risk of a dangerous conflict. The United States' security commitments deter states with aspirations
to regional hegemony from contemplating expansion and dissuade U.S. partners from trying to solve
security problems on their own in ways that would end up threatening other states. Skeptics discount this benefit by
arguing that U.S. security guarantees aren't necessary to prevent dangerous rivalries from erupting. They maintain that the high
costs of territorial conquest and the many tools countries can use to signal their benign intentions are enough to prevent conflict. In
other words, major powers could peacefully manage regional multipolarity without the American pacifier. But that outlook is too
sanguine. If Washington got out of East Asia, Japan and South Korea would likely expand their military capabilities and go nuclear,
which could provoke a destabilizing reaction from China. It's worth noting that during the Cold War, both South Korea and Taiwan
tried to obtain nuclear weapons; the only thing that stopped them was the United States, which used its security commitments to
restrain their nuclear temptations. Similarly, were the United States to leave the Middle East, the countries currently
backed by Washington--notably, Israel,
Egypt, and Saudi Arabia--might act in ways that would intensify the
region's security dilemmas. There would even be reason to worry about Europe. Although it's hard to
imagine the return of great-power military competition in a post-American Europe, it's not difficult to foresee governments there
refusing to pay the budgetary costs of higher military outlays and the political costs of increasing EU defense cooperation. The result
might be a continent incapable of securing itself from threats on its periphery, unable to join foreign interventions on which U.S.
leaders might want European help, and vulnerable to the influence of outside rising powers. Given how easily a U.S. withdrawal
from key regions could lead to dangerous competition, advocates of retrenchment tend to put forth another argument: that such
rivalries wouldn't actually hurt the United States. To be sure, few doubt that the United States could survive the return of conflict
among powers in Asia or the Middle East--but at what cost? Were states in one or both of these regions to start competing against
one another, they would likely boost
their military budgets, arm client states, and perhaps even start regional
proxy wars, all of which should concern the United States, in part because its lead in military capabilities would narrow. Greater
regional insecurity could also produce cascades of nuclear proliferation as powers such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Japan, South Korea,
and Taiwan built nuclear forces of their own. Those countries' regional competitors might then also seek nuclear arsenals. Although
nuclear deterrence can promote stability between two states with the kinds of nuclear forces that the Soviet Union and the United
States possessed, things get shakier when there are multiple nuclear rivals with less robust arsenals. As the number of nuclear
powers increases, the probability of illicit transfers, irrational decisions, accidents, and unforeseen crises goes
up. The case for abandoning the United States' global role misses the underlying security logic of the current approach. By
reassuring allies and actively managing regional relations, Washington dampens competition in the world s key areas,
thereby preventing the emergence of a hothouse in which countries would grow new military capabilities. For proof
that this strategy is working, one need look no further than the defense budgets of the current great powers: on average, since 1991
they have kept their military expenditures as A percentage of GDP to historic lows, and they have not attempted to match the United
States' top-end military capabilities. Moreover, all of the world's most modern militaries are U.S. allies, and the United States'
military lead over its potential rivals .is by many measures growing. On top of all this, the current grand strategy acts as a
hedge against the emergence regional hegemons. Some supporters of retrenchment argue that the U.S. military should
keep its forces over the horizon and pass the buck to local powers to do the dangerous work of counterbalancing rising regional
powers. Washington, they contend, should deploy forces abroad only when a truly credible contender for regional hegemony arises,
as in the cases of Germany and Japan during World War II and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Yet there is already a
potential contender for regional hegemony--China--and to balance it, the United States will need to maintain its key alliances in Asia
and the military capacity to intervene there. The implication is that the United States should get out of Afghanistan and Iraq, reduce
its military presence in Europe, and pivot to Asia. Yet that is exactly what the Obama administration is doing. MILITARY
DOMINANCE, ECONOMIC PREEMINENCE Preoccupied with security issues, critics of the current grand strategy miss one of its
19

most important benefits: sustaining an open global economy and a favorable place for the United States within it. To be sure, the sheer size of its output would guarantee the
United States a major role in the global economy whatever grand strategy it adopted. Yet the country's military dominance undergirds its economic leadership. In addition to
protecting the world economy from instability, its military commitments and naval superiority help secure the sea-lanes and other shipping corridors that allow trade to flow
freely and cheaply. Were the United States to pull back from the world, the task of securing the global commons would get much harder. Washington would have less leverage
with which it could convince countries to cooperate on economic matters and less access to the military bases throughout the world needed to keep the seas open. A global role
also lets the United States structure the world economy in ways that serve its particular economic interests. During the Cold War, Washington used its overseas security
commitments to get allies to embrace the economic policies it preferred--convincing West Germany in the 1960s, for example, to take costly steps to support the U.S. dollar as a
reserve currency. U.S. defense agreements work the same way today. For example, when negotiating the 2011 free-trade agreement with South Korea, U.S. officials took
advantage of Seoul's desire to use the agreement as a means of tightening its security relations with Washington. As one diplomat explained to us privately, "We asked for
changes in labor and environment clauses, in auto clauses, and the Koreans took it all." Why? Because they feared a failed agreement would be "a setback to the political and
security relationship." More broadly, the United States wields its security leverage to shape the overall structure of the global economy. Much of what the United States wants
from the economic order is more of the same: for instance, it likes the current structure of the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund and prefers that
free trade continue. Washington wins when U.S. allies favor this status quo, and one reason they are inclined to support the existing system is because they value their military
alliances. Japan, to name one example, has shown interest in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Obama administration's most important free-trade initiative in the region, less
because its economic interests compel it to do so than because Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda believes that his support will strengthen Japan's security ties with the United
States. The United States' geopolitical dominance also helps keep the U.S. dollar in place as the world's reserve currency, which confers enormous benefits on the country, such
as a greater ability to borrow money. This is perhaps clearest with Europe: the EU'S dependence on the United States for its security precludes the EU from having the kind of
political leverage to support the euro that the United States has with the dollar. As with other aspects of the global economy, the United States does not provide its leadership for
free: it extracts disproportionate gains. Shirking that responsibility would place those benefits at risk. CREATING COOPERATION What goes for the global economy goes for
other forms of international cooperation. Here, too, American leadership benefits many countries but disproportionately helps the United States. In order to counter
transnational threats, such as terrorism, piracy, organized crime, climate change, and pandemics, states have to work together and take collective action. But cooperation does
not come about effortlessly, especially when national interests diverge.
The United States' military
efforts to promote stability and its broader
leadership make it easier for Washington to launch joint initiatives and shape them in ways that reflect U.S. interests.
After all, cooperation is hard to come by in regions where chaos reigns, and it flourishes where leaders can anticipate lasting
stability. U.S. alliances are about security first, but they also provide the political framework and channels of
communication for cooperation on nonmilitary issues. NATO, for example, has spawned new institutions, such as the Atlantic
Council, a think tank, that make it easier for Americans and Europeans to talk to one another and do business. Likewise,
consultations with allies in East Asia spill over into other policy issues; for example, when American diplomats travel to Seoul to
manage the military alliance, they also end up discussing the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Thanks to conduits such as this, the United
States can use bargaining chips in one issue area to make progress in others. The benefits of these communication
channels are especially pronounced when it comes to fighting the kinds of threats that require new forms of
cooperation, such as terrorism and pandemics. With its alliance system in place, the United States is in a stronger position than it
would otherwise be to advance cooperation and share burdens. For example, the intelligence-sharing network within NATO, which
was originally designed to gather information on the Soviet Union, has been adapted to deal with terrorism. Similarly, after a
tsunami in the Indian Ocean devastated surrounding countries in 2004, Washington had a much easier time orchestrating a fast
humanitarian response with Australia, India, and Japan, since their militaries were already comfortable working with one another.
The operation did wonders for the United States' image in the region. The United States' global role also has the more direct effect of
facilitating the bargains among governments that get cooperation going in the first place. As the scholar Joseph Nye has written,
"The American military role in deterring threats to allies, or of assuring access to a crucial resource such as oil in the Persian Gulf,
means that the provision of protective force can be used in bargaining situations. Sometimes the linkage may be direct; more often it
is a factor not mentioned openly but present in the back of statesmen's minds." THE DEVIL WE KNOW Should America come
home? For many prominent scholars of international relations, the answer is yes--a view that seems even wiser in the wake of the
disaster in Iraq and the Great Recession. Yet their arguments simply don't hold up. There is little evidence that the
United States would save much money switching to a smaller global posture. Nor is the current
strategy self-defeating: it has not provoked the formation of counterbalancing coalitions or caused the
country to spend itself into economic decline. Nor will it condemn the United States to foolhardy wars in the
future. What the strategy does do is help prevent the outbreak of conflict in the world's most important
regions, keep the global economy humming, and make international cooperation easier. Charting a
different course would threaten all these benefits. This is not to say that the United States' current foreign policy can't
be adapted to new circumstances and challenges. Washington does not need to retain every commitment at all costs, and there is
nothing wrong with rejiggering its strategy in response to new opportunities or setbacks. That is what the Nixon administration did
by winding down the Vietnam War and increasing the United States' reliance on regional partners to contain Soviet power, and it is
what the Obama administration has been doing after the Iraq war by pivoting to Asia. These episodes of rebalancing belie the
argument that a powerful and internationally engaged America cannot tailor its policies to a changing world. A grand strategy of
actively managing global security and promoting the liberal economic order has served the United States exceptionally well for the
past six decades, and there is no reason to give it up now. The country's globe-spanning posture is the devil we know, and a world
with a disengaged America is the devil we don't know. Were American leaders to choose retrenchment, they
would in essence be running a massive experiment to test how the world would work without an engaged and liberal
leading power. The results could well be disastrous.
20

Aerospace manufacturing alone is key --- decline independently risks a loss of
airpower, global instability and conflict
Pfaltzgraff 10 [Robert L, Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of International Security Studies at.
The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and President of the Institute for Foreign Policy
Analysis, et al., Final Report of the IFPA-Fletcher Conference on National Security Strategy and
Policy, Air, Space, & Cyberspace Power in the 21st-Century, p. xiii-9]
Deterrence Strategy In stark contrast to the bipolar Cold War nuclear setting, todays security environment includes multiple, independent nuclear actors. Some of these independent nuclear weapons states are
potential adversaries, some are rivals, and some are friends, but the initial decision for action by any one of them may lie beyond U.S. control. The United States may need to influence, signal, and restrain enemies,
catalytic warfare, where, for example, a U.S. ally such

escalate to a nuclear exchange. Although the
United States would not be a party to the nuclear escalation decision process, it could be drawn into the conflict.
and it may need to continue to provide security guarantees to non-nuclear friends and allies. America may also face
as Israel or a third party such as China could initiate action that might
Compared to a
bipolar world, very little is known about strategic nuclear interaction and escalation in a multipolar world. The U.S. nuclear deterrent must restrain a wider variety of actors today than during the Cold War. This requires a range of capabilities and the capacity to
address specific challenges. The deterrent must provide security guarantees and assurance sufficient to prevent the initiation of catalytic warfare by an ally, while deterring an adversary from resorting to nuclear escalation. America may also need simultaneously to
deter more than one other nuclear state. Deterrence requirements include four critical elements: early warning, C2, delivery systems, and weapons. The Air Force plays an indispensable role in furnishing the U.S. early warning system in its entirety through satellites
and radar networks. In commynd and control, infrastructure is provided by the Air Force, including Milstar satellites and, in the future, advanced extremely high frequency (AEHF) satellites. In the area of delivery systems and weapons, two-thirds of the strategic
anti-access/areathreats to the sea, air, space, and cyberspace commons are challenging the power
projection capabilities of the United States. These threats, in the form of aircraft and long-range missiles carrying conventional or
nuclear munitions, present problems for our overseas bases. States such as North Korea, China, and Iran jeopardize the
notion that forward-deployed U.S. forces and bases will be safe from enemy attack. Consequently, the United States must create a
triad intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and bombers is furnished by the Air Force and its Global Strike Commynd. U.S. Overseas Basing and the Anti-Access/Area-Denial Threat The increased availability of
denial assets coupled with growing
more flexible basing structure encompassing a passive and active defense posture that includes these features: dispersal, hardening,
increased warning time of attack, and air defenses. Simultaneously, the United States must continue to develop long-range,
offensive systems such as low-observable mynned and remotely piloted strike aircraft, precision missiles, and intelligence,
surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) platforms to penetrate heavily defended AT:/AD environments. This
approach will increase the survivability of U.S. forward-deployed assets and
bolster deterrence
power projection capabilities and thus
and U.S. guarantees to Americas allies and friends. Asymmetric Challenges The increasing number of actors gaining access to advanced and dual-use technologies augments the potential for asymmetric attacks
against the United States and its allies by those who are unable to match U.S. military capabilities. Those actors pose increasing challenges to the ability of the United States to project power through the global commons. Such attacks could target specific U.S.
vulnerabilities, ranging from space assets to the financial, transportation, communications, and/or energy infrastructures, and to the food and water supply, to mention only the most obvious. Asymmetric attacks denying access to critical networks and capabilities
may be the most cost-effective approach to circumventing traditional U.S. force advantages. The USAF and DoD must develop systems and technologies that can offset and defend against asymmetric capabilities. This will require a robust R&D program and
enhanced USAF cooperation with its sister services and international partners and allies. Space Dominance
Space is increasingly a contested domain where U.S. dominance is no
longer assured given the growing number of actors in space and the potential for kinetic and non-kinetic attacks, including
ASAT weapons, EMP, and jamming.
As a result, the United States must protect vital space-based platforms and networks by reducing their vulnerability to attack or disruption and increasing the
countrys resilience if an attack does occur. Required steps include hardening and incorporating stealth into next generation space systems and developing rapid replenishment capacity (including micro-satellite technologies and systems and new launch
capabilities). At the same time, America must reduce its dependence on space capabilities with air-based substitutes such as high altitude, long endurance, and penetrating ISR platforms. Increased cooperation among the services and with U.S. allies to develop such
capabilities will also be paramount. Cyber Security Cyber operations are vital to conducting USAF and joint land, sea, air, and space missions. Given the significance of the cyber threat (private, public, and DoD cyber and information networks are routinely under
attack), the United States is attempting to construct a layered and robust capability to detect and mitigate cyber intrusions and attacks. The USAFs cyber operations must be capable of operating in a contested cyber domain to support vital land, sea, air, and space
missions. USAF cyberspace priorities include developing capabilities to protect essential military cyber systems and to speed their recovery if an attack does occur; enhancing the Air Forces capacity to provide USAF personnel with the resolution of technical
questions; and training/recruitment of personnel with cyber skills. In addition, the USAF and DoD need to develop technologies that quickly and precisely attribute attacks in cyberspace.
quickly
Cyber attacks can spread
among networks, making it extremely difficult to attribute their perpetrator, and therefore to develop a deterrence strategy based on retaliation. In addition, some cyber issues are in the legal arena, including questions about civil liberties. It is
likely that the trend of increased military support to civil authorities (for example, in disaster relief operations) will develop in the cyber arena as well. These efforts will entail greater service, interagency, international, and private-sector collaboration. Organizational
Change and Joint Force Operations To address growing national security challenges and increasing fiscal constraints, and to become more effective, the joint force needs to adapt its organizations and processes to the exigencies of the information age and the
security setting of the second decade of the twenty-first century. This entails developing a strategy that places increased emphasis on joint operations in which each service acts in greater concert with the others, leverages capacities across the services (two land
services, three naval services, and five air services) without duplicating efforts, and encourages interoperability. This would provide combatant commynders (CCDRs) with a greater range of capabilities, allowing heightened flexibility to use force. A good example of
this approach is the Air-Sea Battle concept being developed jointly by the Air Force and Navy, which envisions heightened cooperation between the two services and potentially with allies and coalition partners. Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance
Capabilities There is an increasing demand for ISR capabilities able to access and persist in contested airspace in order to track a range of high-value mobile and hard-to-find targets, such as missile launchers and underground bunkers. This increases the need for
stealthy, survivable systems and the development of next-generation unmynned platforms. The USAF must continue to emphasize precision targeting, both for strike and close-air-support missions. High-fidelity target identification and discrimination enabled by
advanced radars and directed-energy systems, including the ability to find, track, and target individuals within a crowd, will provide battlefield commynders with improved options and new opportunities for leveraging joint assets. Engagement and International
Security Cooperation Allies and coalition partners bring important capabilities from which the USAF and other services have long benefited. For example, allies and coalition partners can provide enhanced situational awareness and early warning of impending
crises as well as assist in understanding the interests, motivations, traditions, and cultures of potential adversaries and prospective coalition partners. Moreover, foreign partner engagement and outreach are an avenue to influence partner and adversary
perspectives, thus shaping the environment in ways favorable to U.S. national security interests. Engagement also may be a key to realizing another Air Force and joint priority: to sustain or gain access to forward operating bases and logistical infrastructure. This is
particularly important given the growing availability of AT:/AD assets and their ability to impede U.S. power projection capabilities. Procurement Choices and Affordability The USAF needs to field capabilities to support current operations and pressing missions
while at the same time pursuing promising technologies to build the force of the future. Affordability, effectiveness, time urgency, and industrial base issues inevitably shape procurement choices and reform. The Air Force must maintain todays critical assets while
also allocating resources to meet future needs. Given the long lifespan anticipated for many weapon systems, planners need to make the most reliable cost estimates and identify problems at the outset of a weapons systems development phase so that they can be
corrected as early and cost-effectively as possible. Support to Civil Authorities As evidenced in the
aftermath of the 2010 earthquakes in Haiti and Chile (the Chile earthquake hit after this conference), the
relief
USAF has a vital role to play in the U.S. response to international
operations and support to civil authorities. In Haiti, the USAF reopened the airport and deployed contingency response elements, while also providing ISR support for the joint forces in the theater. In Chile, USAF satellite communication capabilities
were critical to the recovery and relief efforts. USAF civil support roles are likely to grow to include greater use of the Reserve Components. Consequently, USAF planners should reassess the active and reserve component mix of forces and capabilities to identify
potential mobilization and requirement shortfalls. CLOSING CONFERENCE THOUGHTS A recurring conference theme was the need for the USAF to continue to examine specific issues of opportunity and vulnerability more closely. For example, a future initiative
could include focused working groups that would examine such questions and issues as: How can air, space, and cyberspace capabilities best support deterrence, preserve U.S. freedom of action, and support national objectives? How should the USAF leadership
reconceptualize its vision, institutional identity, and force posture to align as closely as possible with the future national security setting? What is the appropriate balance between high-end and low-end air and space capabilities that will maximize military options
for national decision makers, given emerging threats and fiscal constraints? What are the opportunities, options, and tradeoffs for investment and divestment in science and technology, infrastructure, and programmed capabilities? What are additional
interdependent concepts, similar to Air-Sea Battle, that leverage cross-service investments to identify and foster the development of new joint capabilities? What are alternative approaches to officer accessions and development to support shifting and emerging Air
Force missions, operations, and force structure, including cyber warfare? How can the USAF best interact with Congress to help preserve or refocus the defense-industrial base as well as to minimize myndates and restrictions that weigh on future Air Force
investments? Finally, the USAF must continue to be an organization that views debate, as the Chief of Staff of the Air Force put it in his opening conference address, as the whetstone upon which we sharpen our strategic thinking. This debate must also be used in
pursuit of political support and to ensure that the USAF maintains and develops critical capabilities to support U.S. national security priorities. The 38th IFPA-Fletcher Conference on National Security Strategy and Policy was conceived as a contribution to that
debate. Almost a century has passed since the advent of airpower and Billy Mitchells demonstration of its operational potential with the sinking of the Ostfriesland on July 21, 1921. For most of that time, the United States has benefitted from the rapid development
of air and space power projection capabilities, and, as a result, it has prevailed in successive conflicts, contributed to war deterrence and crisis management, and provided essential humynitarian relief to allies and friends around the world. As we move into the
second decade of the twenty-first century, the U.S. Air Force (USAF), like its service counterparts, is re-assessing strategies, operational concepts, and force structure. Across the conflict spectrum, security challenges are evolving, and potential adversariesstate and
non-state actorsare developing anti-access and other asymmetric capabilities, and irregular warfare challenges are becoming more prevalent. The potential exists for hybrid warfare in which state adversaries and/or non-state actors use a mix of conventional and
unconventional capabilities against the United States, a possibility made more feasible by the diffusion of such capabilities to a larger number of actors. Furthermore, twenty-first-century security challenges and threats may emynate from highly adaptive adversaries
who ignore the Geneva Conventions of war and use military and/or civilian technologies to offset our military superiority. As it develops strategy and force structure in this global setting, the Air Force confronts constraints that will have important implications for
budget and procurement programs, basic research and development (R&D), and the maintenance of critical skills, as well as recruitment, education, training, and retention. Given the dynamic nature of the security setting and looming defense budget constraints,
questions of where to assume risk will demand bold, innovative, and decisive leadership. The imperative for joint operations and U.S. military-civilian partnerships is clear, underscoring the need for a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach that
encompasses international and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). THE UNITED STATES AS AN AEROSPACE NATION: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES In his address opening the conference, General Norton A. Schwartz, Chief of Staff of the Air
Force (CSAF), pointed out how
, with its inherent characteristics of speed,
range, and flexibility, airpower has forever changed
21

warfare. Its advent rendered land and maritime forces vulnerable from the air, thus adding an important new dimension to warfare.
Control of the air has become indispensable to national security because it allows the United States and friendly forces
to maneuver and operate free from enemy air attack. With control of the air the United States can leverage the advantages of air and
space as well as cyberspace. In these interdependent domains the Air Force possesses unique capabilities for ensuring
global mobility, long-range strike, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR). The benefits of
airpower extend beyond the air domain, and operations among the air, land, maritime, space, and cyber
domains are increasingly interdependent.
General Schwartz stated that the Air Forces challenge is to succeed in a protracted struggle against elements of violent extremism and irreconcilable actors while
confronting peer and near-peer rivals. The Air Force must be able to operate with great precision and lethality across a broad spectrum of conflict that has high and low ends but that defies an orderly taxonomy. Warfare in the twenty-first century takes on a hybrid
complexity, with regular and irregular elements using myriad tools and tactics. Technology can be an enabler but can also create weaknesses: adversaries with increased access to space and cyberspace can use emerging technologies against the United States and/or
its allies. In addition, the United States faces the prospect of the proliferation of precision weapons, including ballistic and cruise missiles as well as increasingly accurate mortars, rockets, and artillery, which will put U.S. and allied/coalition forces at risk. In
response to mounting irregular warfare challenges American leaders have to adopt innovative and creative strategies. For its part, the USAF must develop airmyn who have the creativity to anticipate and plan for this challenging environment. Leadership, intellectual
creativity, capacity, and ingenuity, together with innovative technology, will be crucial to addressing these challenges in a constrained fiscal environment. System Versatility In meeting the broad range of contingencies high, low, regular, irregular, and hybrid the
Air Force must maintain and develop systems that are versatile, both functionally (including strike or ISR) and in terms of various employment modes, such as mynned versus remotely piloted, and penetrating versus stand-off systems. General Schwartz emphasized
the need to be able to operate in conflict settings where there will be demands for persistent ISR systems able to gain access to, and then loiter in, contested or denied airspace. The targets to be identified and tracked may be mobile or deeply buried, of high value,
and difficult to locate without penetrating systems. General Schwartz also called attention to the need for what he described as a family of systems that could be deployed in multiple ways with maximum versatility depending on requirements. Few systems will
remain inherently single purpose. Indeed, he emphasized that the Air Force must purposefully design versatility into its new systems, with the majority of future systems being able to operate in various threat environments. As part of this effort further joint
integration and inter-service cooperation to achieve greater air-land and air-sea interoperability will continue to be a strategic necessity. Space Access and Control Space access, control, and situational awareness remain essential to U.S. national security. As
potential rivals develop their own space programs, the United States faces challenges to its unrestricted access to space. Ensuring continuing access to the four global commons maritime, air, space, and cyberspace will be a major challenge in which the USAF has
a key role. The Air Force has long recognized the importance of space and is endeavoring to make certain that U.S. requirements in and for space are met and anticipated. Space situational awareness is vital to Americas ability to help evaluate and attribute attacks.
Attribution, of course, is essential to deterrence. The USAF is exploring options to reduce U.S. dependence on the Global Positioning System (GPS), which could become vulnerable to jamming. Promising new technologies, such as cold atoms, pseudolites, and
imaging inertial navigation systems that use laser radar are being investigated as means to reduce our vulnerability. Cyber Capabilities The USAF continues to develop cyber capabilities to address opportunities and challenges. Cyber threats present challenges to
homeland security and other national security interests. Key civilian and military networks are vulnerable to cyber attacks. Preparing for cyber warfare and refining critical infrastructure protection and consequence management will require new capabilities, focused
training, and greater interagency, international, and private sector collaboration. Challenges for the Air Force General Schwartz set forth a series of challenges for the Air Force, which he urged conference participants to address. They included: How can the Air
Force better address the growing demand for real-time ISR from remotely piloted systems, which are providing unprecedented and unmatched situational awareness? How can the USAF better guarantee the credibility and viability of the nations nuclear forces for
the complex and uncertain security environment of this century? What is the way ahead for the next generation of long-range strike and ISR platforms? What trade-offs, especially between mynned and unmynned platforms, should the USAF consider? How can the
USAF improve acquisition of such systems? How can the USAF better exploit the advantage of low-observables? How can the Air Force better prepare itself to operate in an opposed network environment in which communications and data links will be challenged,
including how to assure commynd and control (C2) in bandwidth-constrained environments? In counter-land operations, how can the USAF achieve improved target discrimination in high collateral damage situations? How should the USAF posture its overseas
forces to ensure access? What basing structure, logistical considerations, andprotection measures are required to mitigate emerging anti-access threats? How can the Air Force reduce its reliance on GPS to ensure operations in a GPS-denied environment? How
can the USAF lessen its vulnerability to petroleum shortages, rising energy prices, and resulting logistical and operational challenges? How can the Air Force enhance partnerships with its sister services and the interagency community? How can it better collaborate
with allies and coalition partners to improve support of national security interests? These issues were addressed in subsequent conference sessions. The opening session focused on the multidimensional and dynamic security setting in which the Air Force will
operate in the years ahead. The session included a discussion of the need to prioritize necessary capabilities and to gauge acceptable risks. Previous Quadrennial Defense Reviews (QDRs) rested on the basic assumption that the United States would be able to
support operations simultaneously or nearly simultaneously in two major regional contingencies, with the additional capacity to respond to smaller disaster-relief and/or stability operations missions. However, while the 2010 QDR1 maintains the need for U.S.
forces to operate in two nearly simultaneous major wars, it places far greater emphasis on the need to address irregular warfare challenges. Its focus is maintaining and rebalancing U.S. force structure to fight the wars in which the United States is engaged today
while looking ahead to the emerging security setting. The QDR further seeks to develop flexible and tailored capabilities to confront an array of smaller-scale contingencies, including natural disasters, perhaps simultaneously, as was the case with the war in
Afghanistan, stability operations in Iraq, and the Haiti relief effort. The 2010 QDR highlights important trends in the global security environment, especially unconventional threats and asymmetric challenges. It suggests that a conflict with a near-peer competitor
such as China, or a conflict with Iran, would involve a mix, or hybrid, of capabilities that would test U.S. forces in very different ways. Although predicting the future security setting is a very difficult if not an impossible exercise, the 2010 QDR outlines
major challenges for the United States and its allies, including technology proliferation and diffusion; anti-access threats
and the shrinking global basing infrastructure; the possibility of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) use against the U.S. homeland
and/or against U.S. forces abroad; critical infrastructure protection and the massed effects of a cyber or space attack;
unconventional warfare and irregular challenges; and the emergence of new issue areas such as Arctic security, U.S. energy
dependence, demographic shifts and urbanization, the potential for resource wars (particularly over access to
water), and the erosion or collapse of governance in weak or failing states. TECHNOLOGY DIFFUSION Technology
proliferation is accelerating. Compounding the problem is the reality that existing multilateral and/or international export regimes
and controls have not kept pace with technology, and efforts to constrain access are complicated by dual-use technologies and
chemical/biological agents. The battlefields of the future are likely to be more lethal as combatants take advantage of
commercially based navigation aids for precision guidance and advanced weapons systems and as global and theater boundaries disappear with longerrange missile systems becoming more common in enemy arsenals. Non-state entities such as Hezbollah have already used more advanced missile systems to target state adversaries. The proliferation of precision technologies and longer-range delivery platforms puts
the United States and its partners increasingly at risk. This proliferation also is likely to affect U.S. operations from forward operating locations, placing additional constraints on American force deployments within the territories of allies. Moreover, as longer-range
ballistic and cruise missiles become more widespread, U.S. forces will find it increasingly difficult to operate in conflicts ranging from irregular warfare to high-intensity combat. As highlighted throughout the conference, this will require that the United States
develop and field new-generation low-observable penetration assets and related capabilities to operate in non-permissive environments. PROLIFERATION TRENDS The twenty-first-century security setting features several proliferation trends that were discussed in
the opening session. These trends, six of which were outlined by Dr. Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr., President of the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis, and Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of International Security Studies, The Fletcher School, Tufts University, framed
subsequent discussions. First, the number of actorsstates and armed non-state groupsis growing, together with strategies and capabilities based on more widely available technologies, including WMD and conventional weapons. This is leading to a blurring of
categories of warfare that may include state and non-state actors and encompass intra-state, trans-state, and inter-state armed conflict as well as hybrid threats. Second, some of these actors subscribe to ideologies and goals that welcome martyrdom. This raises
many questions about dissuasion and deterrence and the need to think of twenty-first-century deterrence based on offensive and defensive strategies and capabilities. Third, given the sheer numbers of actors capable of challenging the United States and their
unprecedented capabilities, the opportunity for asymmetric operations against the United States and its allies will grow. The United States will need to work to reduce key areas of vulnerability, including its financial systems, transportation, communications, and
world contains flashpoints for state-to-state conflict. This includes

North Korea, which possesses nuclear weapons, and Iran, which is developing them. In addition, China
energy infrastructures, its food and water supply, and its space assets. Fourth, the twenty-first-century
is developing an impressive array of weaponry which, as the Commynder of U.S. Pacific Commynd stated in congressional
testimony, appears designed to challenge U.S. freedom of action in the region and, if necessary, enforce Chinas influence over its
neighbors including our regional allies and partners weaponry.2 These threats include ballistic missiles, aircraft, naval forces,
cyber capabilities, anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons, and other power-projection capabilities. The global paradigm of the twenty-first
century is further complicated by state actors who may supply advanced arms to non-state actors and terrorist organizations. Fifth,
the potential for irregular warfare is rising dramatically with the growth of armed non-state actors. The
proliferation of more lethal capabilities,
including WMD, to armed non-state actors is a logical projection of present trends. Substantial numbers of fractured, unstable, and ungoverned states serve as breeding grounds of
armed non-state actors who will resort to various forms of violence and coercion based on irregular tactics and formations and who will increasingly have the capabilities to do so. Sixth, the twenty-first-century security setting contains yet another obvious
dimension: the permeability of the frontiers of the nation state, rendering domestic populations highly vulnerable to destruction not only by states that can launch missiles but also by terrorists and other transnational groups. As we have seen in recent years, these
entities can attack U.S. information systems, creating the possibility of a digital Pearl Harbor. Taken together, these trends show an unprecedented proliferation of actors and advanced capabilities confronting the United States; the resulting need to prepare for highend and low-end conflict; and the requirement to think of a seamless web of threats and other security challenges extending from overseas to domestic locales. Another way to think about the twenty-first-century security setting, Dr. Pfaltzgraff pointed out, is to
A nuclear Iran that engages in or supports terrorist operations in a more

assertive foreign policy An unstable Pakistan that loses control of its nuclear weapons, which fall into the
hands of extremists A Taiwan Straits crisis that escalates to war A nuclear North Korea that escalates tensions on the
Korean peninsula What all of these have in common is the indispensable role that airpower would play in
U.S. strategy and crisis management.
develop scenarios such as the following, which are more illustrative than comprehensive:
22

Externally, China REM monopoly causes global resource wars
Berry, PhD and retired US EPA Senior Manager and Scientists on the subject of
indoor environmental quality, 11 (Michael A., 7-8-11, Morning Notes, The Coming
Resource Wars, http://www.discoveryinvesting.com/uploads/MNs_Friday_July_8_2011.pdf,
WayBackInternetMachine Archived)
Few Americans (and fewer Congressional reps) realize that today there are no manganese mines, no
vanadium mines and no graphite mines in the US and that we import most of our uranium from
Russia. We are dependent upon China and other countries for these critical materials. Wake up
Washington! There are no mines, in part, because it takes years to jump through all the hoops (legal obstructions) that the wellfunded environmentalist lobby has constructed. We are about to pay the price in terms of a bankrupt supply
chain strategy and a lower quality of life as the resource wars gain full force. China has also restricted
exports of molybdenum, tungsten, antimony with more natural resource restrictions to follow. Even the
journalists at the FT this AM missed the crux of the issue. The U.S. government, under pressure from this Administration's
Departments of the Interior, Energy, EPA, numerous environmentalist organizations and, in many cases, industries who
covet the "cheap" materials from China, has looked the other way as strategic materials processing facilities have gone
offshore. Over a period of decades our critical supply chains have also gone offshore and the supporting
IP has become obsolete. TDK, a Japanese company headquartered in Oklahoma that produces rare earth magnets, is a
prime example. Domestic supply chain development is now crucial to the United States and the West. It is
not only jobs that emanate from a vigorous supply chain incubator, it is also ongoing Intellectual property and a supporting and
revised educational platform. This all sounds easy. But of course it is not easy. It will take awareness, time, tender loving care and
focus by our leaders to nurture a new national supply chain incubator. This is what happens when leaders ignore natural resource
policy and its relationship to industrial policy for so many decades. Regarding the rare earth issue which we believe is the
lightning rod and tip of the iceberg coming extractive resource war, Karcl de Gucht, Europe's trade
commissioner, said the WTO verdict would help to create a more level playing field for raw materials. I expect that China will now
bring its export regime in line with international rules. Furthermore, in the light of this result China should ensure free and fair
access to rare earth supplies. Does anyone really believe that China will ignore its new industrial advantages and needs because the
WTO rules so? Of course not. China will appeal this WTO decision and draw out the process. The Resource Wars are now
officially joined and they are joined on more than supply issues. Ron Kirk, US trade representative, complained on Tuesday:
Chinas policies provide substantial competitive advantages for downstream Chinese industries. The
export restrictions have also caused massive distortions and harmful disruptions in supply chains
throughout the global marketplace. Beijings restrictions meant their prices on world markets were 100%
or more of those paid by Chinas domestic manufacturers, according to EU officials. It is not only the U.S. that
has concerns about this growing class of critical metals. Out of more than 40 metals that were analyzed by EU experts, the 14
commodities they consider critical for the region's industry are: antimony, beryllium, cobalt, fluorspar, gallium, germanium,
graphite, indium, magnesium, niobium, the platinum group metals, rare earths, tantalum and tungsten. Today even zinc and copper
are taking on special roles in terms of demand and pricing. In Indonesia workers at Freeports mines are striking. This will not have
an immediate effect on copper prices but if long lived it will be significant. Similar unrest affects Chilean copper resources and Perus
newly elected Leftist government cannot bode well for ongoing cheap production of metals. Just ask the management of Bear Creek
Mining. Bloomberg reports this AM that African countries are raising the cost of mining in that continent by assessing significant
excise taxes. Chinas Minmetals and Brazils Vale are bidding along with Western companies for access to Africas commodity riches.
Therefore commodity prices are likely to go higher and the Discovery premium will also increase. Indeed the
global Resource Wars are just beginning to heat up. Canadian Nobel Laureate Dr. Michael Spence has written an
article in Foreign Affairs (Globalization and Unemployment) and a book (The Next Convergence: The Future of Economic Growth in
a Multispeed World) in which he outlines the coming convergence of lifestyles in the rest of the world. This will heighten the
need for discovery and the level of competition in the Resource Wars . Both writings are required reading if you
want to understand the extent of the coming resource wars. Dr. Spence claims, More and more developing countries have been experiencing sustained
growth rates of 7-10 percent; 13 countries, including China, have grown by more than 7 percent per year for 25 years or more. Although this was unclear
at the outset, the world now finds itself just past the midpoint in a century-long process in which income levels in developing countries have been
converging toward those in developed countries. Now, the emerging economies' impact on the global economy and the advanced economies is rising
rapidly. We emphasize his words, Just past the midpoint! Dr. Spence strongly advocates that this commodity supercycle and the changing
relationships (the convergence) have more decades to last. This is clearly now the time to become a Discovery Investor and to embrace a suitable
allocation for discovery in your portfolio.
23
1AC Disease Research Adv (1/6)

Trends of antibiotic resistance are worsening and pose a major global health issue
Fox 11/2/14 (Maggie Fox, senior health writer for NBC news, citing Dr. Keiji Fukuda, WHO's
Assistant Director-General for Health Security, Drug-Resistant Bugs Represent a Global
Threat, WHO Says, November 2, 2014, http://www.wgrz.com/story/news/2014/11/02/drugresistant-bugs-a-global-threat/18372817/)
Germs that defy antibiotics are now a major global health threat, causing near-untreatable
cases of diarrhea, sepsis, pneumonia and gonorrhea, the World Health Organization reported in 2012. Overuse and misuse
of antibiotics are to blame, and the WHO's been warning about the problem for years but it
keeps worsening, says Dr. Keiji Fukuda, WHO's Assistant Director-General for Health Security. "We are really seeing
the emergence of this all over the world," Fukuda told a news conference. "What it means is that all of us, all
our family memberswhen we are most vulnerable and in need of these medicines there is simply the chance
that they are not available," he added. "Unless we take significant actions to improve efforts to prevent
infections and also change how we produce, prescribe and use antibiotics, the world will lose more and more of these
global public health goods and the implications will be devastating."
AUVs are key to solve disease --- allows for bioresearch in the deep sea
NRC 96 [National Research Council. Undersea Vehicles and National Needs. Washington,
DC: The National Academies Press, 1996, http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?
record_id=5069&page=55]
The ocean's animal and plant species form an enormous genetic resource for producing a variety
of chemical compounds that can be used for medical, agricultural, and industrial purposes. It is
likely that many underseas genetic substances will be discovered and assessed; some have already been developed and
have shown potential. The antimicrobial steroid, squalamine, recently isolated from sharks, appears to be a potent deterrent,
with unusually slight side-effects, to fungal infections of the type that plague cancer and AIDS
patients (Stone, 1993). Many other marine organisms produce similar antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal agents. Particularly
promising sites for the discovery of new bioactive molecules can be found at the hydrothermal vents that occur at great depths along
the ocean ridges. The biological communities there contain enzymes and other compounds that can
function at very high temperatures and may provide thermally stable compounds for use in
high-temperature catalysts, cleaning agents, or solvents. Deep sea organisms are also sources of
pressure-tolerant compounds. One value of pressure-tolerant catalysts , for example, is that their
structural hardiness allows them to function effectively in challenging industrial applications
(Flam, 1994; Jannasch, 1995; New England Biolabs Catalog, 1994; Adams et al., 1995a). Undersea vehicles have already
performed much of the work on hydrothermal vents, and both DSVs and ROVs are at work in the Pacific and
Atlantic oceans, locating and collecting specimens for research. Undersea vehicles must be able to
perform deep water operations to locate and survey sites of interest and then inspect them in
detail over relatively small areas.
24

This allows access to a host of new medicines that addresses antibiotic resistance
and cancer
NRC 09 (Ocean Exploration: Highlights of National Academies Reports, National Academies
Ocean Science Series, http://oceanleadership.org/wpcontent/uploads/2009/08/Ocean_Exploration.pdf)
The ocean benefits human health and well-being in immeasurable ways. The nutritional benefits of eating fish,
rich in protein and omega-3 fatty acids, make the ocean an indispensablebut not unlimitedsource of healthy food. Ocean
science is revealing many other ways the ocean can benefit human health, from providing new
sources of drugs to helping unravel many of the mysteries of human disease. The Ocean Is the
Most Promising Frontier for Sources of New Drugs In 1945, a young organic chemist named Werner
Bergmann set out to explore the waters off the coast of southern Florida. Among the marine organisms he scooped from the sand
that day was a Caribbean sponge that would later be called Cryptotethya crypta. Back in his lab, Bergmann extracted a novel
compound from this sponge that aroused his curiosity. The chemical Bergmann identified in this sponge, spongothymidine,
eventually led to the development of a whole class of drugs that treat cancer and viral diseases and are still in use today. For
example, Zidovudine (AZT) fights the AIDS virus, HIV, and cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C) is used in the treatment of leukemias and
lymphomas. Acyclovir speeds the healing of eczema and some herpes viruses. These are just a few examples of how the study of
marine organisms contributes to the health of thousands of men, women, and children around the world. New antibiotics, in
addition to new drugs for fighting cancer, inflammatory diseases, and neurodegenerative
diseases (which often cannot be treated successfully today), are greatly needed. With drug resistance nibbling
away at the once-full toolbox of antibiotics, the limited effectiveness of currently available drugs has
dire consequences for public health. Historically, many medicines have come from nature
mostly from land-based natural organisms. Because scientists have nearly exhausted the supply of
terrestrial plants, animals, and microorganisms that have interesting medical properties, new sources of
drugs are needed. Occupying more than 70 percent of the Earths surface, the ocean is a virtually
unexplored treasure chest of new and unidentified speciesone of the last frontiers for
sources of new natural products. These natural products are of special interest because of the
dazzling diversity and uniqueness of the creatures that make the sea their home . One reason marine
organisms are so interesting to scientists is because in adapting to the various ocean environments, they have evolved
fascinating repertoires of unique chemicals to help them survive. For example, anchored to the
seafloor, a sponge that protects itself from an animal trying to take over its space by killing the invader has been compared
with the human immune system trying to kill foreign cancer cells. That same sponge, bathed in seawater containing millions of
bacteria, viruses, and fungi, some of which could be pathogens, has developed antibiotics to keep those pathogens
under control. Those same antibiotics could be used to treat infections in humans.
Sponges, in fact, are among the most prolific sources of diverse chemical compounds. An estimated 30
percent of all potential marine-derived medications currently in the pipelineand about 75 percent of recently patented marinederived anticancer compoundscome from marine sponges. Marine-based microorganisms are another
particularly rich source of new medicines. More than 120 drugs available today derive from land-based microbes.
Scientists see marine-based microbes as the most promising source of novel medicines from the sea. In all, more than 20,000
biochemical compounds have been isolated from sea creatures since the 1980s. Because drug discovery in the marine
frontier is a relatively young field, only a few marine-derived drugs are in use today . Many others are
in the pipeline. One example is Prialt, a drug developed from the venom of a fish-killing cone snail. The cone snails produce
neurotoxins to paralyze and kill prey; those neurotoxins are being developed as neuromuscular blocks for individuals with chronic
pain, stroke, or epilepsy. Other marine-derived drugs are being tested against herpes, asthma, and breast
cancer. The National Research Council report Marine Biotechnology in the Twenty-First Century (2002) concluded A cone snail
uses its powerful venom to kill a fish. Prialt, an effective medication for managing chronic pain in AIDS and cancer patients, was
derived from the venom produced by this type of snail. (Image from Kerry Matz, University of Utah, Salt Lake City) OCEAN
SCIENCE SERIES that the exploration of unique habitats, such as deep-sea environments, and the isolation
25

and culture of marine microorganisms offer two underexplored opportunities for discovery of
novel chemicals with therapeutic potential. The successes to date, which are based upon a very
limited investigation of both deep-sea organisms and marine microorganisms, suggest a high
potential for continued discovery of new drugs Marine Organisms Provide Models for Understanding
Human Biology Among the most fascinating aspects of ocean science is the use of marine creatures as models for unraveling the
mysteries of basic biochemical and physiological processes. Scientists have made many remarkable discoveries by studying marine
life. For example, the big purple slug offers researchers clues about learning and memory.
New antibiotic sources are the only sustainable solution to combat antibiotic
resistance --- ocean research is key
Avery 13 (Susan Avery, Director, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Deep Sea Challenge:
Innovative Partnerships in Ocean Observations,: S. HRG. 113268, June 2013, gpo.gov)
Answer. Scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution explores microbial chemical ecology and the interplay of
applications in biomedicine to discover chemotherapies for human betterment. One specific research project area has to
do with microbially-derived molecules that could aid in the problem of antibiotic
resistant pathogens. Antibiotics have been one of the greatest contributions to human health, however, the
discovery of new antibiotics has not kept pace with the growing threat of bacterial antibiotic
resistance. With the lack of new antibiotics in the drug discovery pipeline , especially for Gram-negative
infections, a new strategy needs to be implemented to both preserve the clinical effectiveness of
existing antibiotics and block the progression of antibiotic resistance. Multidrug transporters
have been determined to be a key target in these efforts. The search for molecules of pharmacological
significance to reverse drug resistance has benefited enormously from understanding the natural
history of chemical interactions among marine microorganisms. For instance, some recent findings in have led scientists to
suspect that microbes in certain marine habitats produce diverse molecules that inhibit these multidrug transporters of various
types.
26

An epidemic is inevitable --- new treatments are the only option to stave off
extinction
Adams 14 (Mark Adams, reporter for Natural News, an online news source specializing in
medicine and natural sciences, citing a study published in the journal of the Society for
Healthcare Epidemiology of America and Dr. Joshua Thaden as well as CDC officials like Dr
Arjun Srinivasan, Drug-resistant superbug infections explode across U.S. hospitals: 500%
increase foreshadows 'new plague' caused by modern medicine, 7/17/14, Natural News,
http://www.naturalnews.com/046041_CRE_superbugs_drugresistant_infections_modern_plague.html#
(NaturalNews) Drug-resistant superbug infections have reached near-epidemic levels across U.S.
hospitals, with an alarming 500% increase now documented in a study just published in the August issue of
Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology (the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America). (1) Lead author of
the study, Dr. Joshua Thaden, warned "This dangerous bacteria is finding its way into healthcare facilities
nationwide... A CRE epidemic is fast approaching... Even this marked increase likely
underestimates the true scope of the problem given variations in hospital surveillance practices." The study also
found that an astonishing 94 percent of CRE infections were caused by healthcare activities or hospital procedures. CRE superbugs
explained CRE (carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae) is an incredibly dangerous superbug causing nearly
a fifty percent fatality rate once a patient is infected. The World Health Organization calls it "one of the
three greatest threats to human health," and all known antibiotics are useless in treating it . CRE
arose out of the systematic abuse of antibiotics by doctors, who inadvertently created the perfect breeding ground for deadly bacteria
by using narrowly-targeted chemical medications that lack the kind of full-spectrum action found in nature (in herbs like garlic, for
example). Because of their highly-targeted chemical approach, antibiotics encouraged bacteria to develop molecular defenses that
resulted in widespread resistance to Big Pharma's drugs. The situation is so bad today that the entire pharmaceutical
industry has no drug, no chemicals and no experimental medicines which can kill CRE
superbugs. Even worse, there are virtually no new antibiotics drugs in the research
pipelines, either.
Drug companies have discovered that it's far more profitable to sell "lifestyle management" drugs like statin drugs and blood pressure drugs than to sell antibiotics which treat acute infections. Antibiotics simply aren't
very profitable because relatively few people acquire such infections. Meanwhile, everyone can be convinced they might have high cholesterol and therefore need to take a statin drug for life. Drug companies, in other words, have all but abandoned the industry of
treating infections. Instead, they now primarily engage in the promotion of disease symptoms while selling drugs that attempt to alter measurable markers of those symptoms such as cholesterol numbers. Even though drug companies caused the superbug pandemic
: Humanity faces a new

plague caused by modern medicine The CDC has admitted that we are now living in a "post-antibiotics era." As Infection Control
Today states, "Antibiotic resistance is no longer a prediction for the future. It is happening right
now in every region of the world and has the potential to affect anyone ." (2)
that's now upon us, in other words, they have deliberately abandoned humanity in defending against those superbugs because it's simply not profitable to do so. The end of antibiotics has arrived
Dr. Arjun Srinivasan, associate director at the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, went even further in a PBS interview, stating: (3) We've reached the end of antibiotics, period... We're here. We're in the post-antibiotic era. There are patients for whom we have no therapy, and we are literally in a position of having
a patient in a bed who has an infection, something that five years ago even we could have treated, but now we can't. Keep in mind that doctors refuse to use natural substances to treat infections, which is why they believe no defenses against superbugs exist. Their
indoctrination into the world of pharmaceuticals is so deeply embedded in their minds, in other words, that they cannot even conceive of the idea that an herb, a food or something from Mother Nature might provide the answer to superbugs. See this Natural News
article on natural antibiotics that kill superbugs. The list includes honey. Hospitals are the perfect breeding grounds for superbugs By their very design, hospitals are prefect breeding grounds for superbugs for six very important reasons: 1) They put all the infected
people under one roof, creating a high density infectious environment. 2) They allow doctors and medical staff to quickly and easily carry and transmit infectious diseases to new patients. Previous studies have documented how superbugs easily ride on doctors' ties,
for example, or their mobile phones. 3) Medical staff still don't wash their hands as frequently as they should. The intense time demands placed on them discourage careful hand washing, causing many to skip this crucial step between patient visits. 4) Hospitals
almost universally refuse to use broad-spectrum antibacterial remedies which are not drugs. Natural substances like honey and garlic show extraordinary multi-faceted antibacterial properties, as do certain metals such as silver and copper. Yet because these
substances are not developed by pharmaceutical companies which dominate the field of medical practice, they are simply ignored even though they could save many lives. (And a doctor who prescribes "honey" doesn't sound as amazing and all-knowing as a doctor
who prescribes "the latest, greatest laboratory breakthrough patented chemical medication.") 5) Hospital practices suppress human immune function to the point of systemic failure. Rather than boosting immune function, conventional medical treatments such as
antibiotics and chemotherapy cause immune system failure. Hospitals lack sunlight and hospital food lacks key immune-boosting minerals such as zinc and selenium. On top of that, most of the drugs prescribed to patients by hospitals deplete key nutrients required
for healthy immune function, leaving patients even more susceptible to superbug infections. 6) Hospital staff spread infectious diseases to their private homes. After acquiring an infection at work (at the hospital), staffers easily spread those infections to their own
family members at home. The antibiotics plague is upon us
We are right now living through the early stages of a global plague caused by
modern medicine. The industry that created this plague is utterly defenseless against it, leaving humanity to fight
for survival in a world that's now far more dangerous than the one that existed before the invention of antibiotics. Antibiotics have
indeed saved millions of lives, and they forever have an important place in any medical practice. Yet their careless use -- combined
with medicine's willful and foolish abandonment of natural antibiotics that work far better -- has led humanity down the path of its
own destruction. Today, a simple scrape of your arm or leg might now be fatal. Infections that occur during
routine medical procedures which would have once been considered minor issues are now deadly. And the worst part is that the
bacteria continue to evolve more elaborate defenses against drugs while increasing their
transmissibility. Human hospitals (and entire cities) are, by design, ideal pandemic hubs that
rapidly spread disease. Like it or not, humanity has created the perfect storm for a
pandemic decimation of the global population.
27

Cancer is a leading systemic killer of millions of lives --- its impact will only
increase
WHO 13 (World Health Organization, Cancer, January 2013,
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs297/en/)
Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for 7.6 million deaths (around 13%
of all deaths) in 2008 (1). Lung, stomach, liver, colon and breast cancer cause the most cancer deaths
each year. The most frequent types of cancer differ between men and women. About 30% of cancer deaths are due to the five
leading behavioral and dietary risks: high body mass index, low fruit and vegetable intake, lack of physical activity, tobacco use,
alcohol use. Tobacco use is the most important risk factor for cancer causing 22% of global cancer deaths and 71% of global lung
cancer deaths. Cancer causing viral infections such as HBV/HCV and HPV are responsible for up to 20% of
cancer deaths in low- and middle-income countries. About 70% of all cancer deaths in 2008
occurred in low- and middle-income countries. Deaths from cancer worldwide are projected to
continue rising, with an estimated 13.1 million deaths in 2030 (2).
Long-term human survival is also directly related to the ability to treat cancer
Sircus 10 (Dr. Mark Sircus, Director International Medical Veritas Association, Doctor of
Oriental and Pastoral Medicine, Emergency Room Medicine for Cancer Treatment, April 23,
2010, http://drsircus.com/medicine/cancer/emergency-room-medicine-for-cancer-treatment2)
These substances offer a power unequalled in the world of medicine that we can harness to cure cancer.
As cancer rates surge upward human survival is directly related to a safe and effective
protocol for cancer, diabetes as well as heart and a host of neurological diseases. In the emergency room medicines
have to be safe while delivering an instant life saving burst of healing power. Obviously if they are safe and strong enough
for emergency situations they are going to help us with chronic diseases and acute ones as well. Thus what is presented
here is truly astounding in terms of safety, low cost and proven effectiveness. This protocol offers a power unequalled in the world of
medicine, which we can harness to cure cancer and other chronic diseases. The answer has been sitting in front of allopathic
medicines nose all along, found in simple and inexpensive substances used everyday to save peoples lives in emergencies. We see
cancer as a slow moving emergency situation and recommends that whatever one decides to do one must
start treatments immediately with these basic emergency room medicines to begin a healing/stabilizing
process. Luckily the basic protocol of intensive care medicines can be purchased over the counter but it is advised to find a
competent health care practitioner to guide you through treatment. Though a sea of options are available to address chronic
diseases, just like in the emergency room we have to carefully choose what the logical first steps are when facing chronic diseases.
There are certain protocols that are used when a life is only seconds away from ending. We know
and understand that the patient is struggling with the basics of life and treatments are chosen to address immediate life threatening
concerns.
28

Only US research provides a framework for marketplace access and distribution
DeVol et al. 11 chief research officer at the Milken Institute, Bedroussian, research
economist at the Millken Institute, and Yeo, senior research analyst at the Millken Institute,
Sept 2011 (Ross, Armen, and Benjamin, The Global Biomedical Industry: Preserving U.S.
Leadership, http://www.milkeninstitute.org/pdf/CASMIFullReport.pdf)
Biomedical innovation is an intricate process that begins in the lab and spans years of effort to transform
scientific discoveries into vaccines, diagnostics, devices, and therapies that improve patients lives. Over the
past few decades, the United States has created and refined a remarkably productive framework
for developing new biomedical innovations and bringing them to the marketplacein fact, its
one of the most dramatic success stories written by any American industry in the past century.
Whether measured by international or domestic market share, revenue, jobs, number of regulatory
approvals, patents, R&D expenditures, or publications in the biomedical field, the U.S. holds a
commanding position. Prior to 1980, European firms defined the industry, both in terms of market presence and in their
ability to create and produce innovative new products. Historical advantages and an enviable concentration of resources fueled the
success of firms in Germany, France, the U.K., and Switzerland. Japan had a presence in the industry as well. But beginning in the
1980s, the United States surged to the forefront of biomedical innovation. This sudden and remarkable shift was no accident: It was
the result of strong policy positions taken by the federal government. The absence of price controls, the clarity of
regulatory approvals, a thoughtful intellectual property system, and the ability to

attract foreign scientific talent to outstanding research universities put the U.S. on top. The
resulting ecosystemdefined by university-business collaborations, industry clusters, private
equity finance, and entrepreneurshipfar surpassed the prevailing model in Europe. The
innovative leaps made in biopharmaceutical research, medical devices, and diagnostics gave the
U.S. a major advantage that it continues to hold today .
Pandemics outweigh on probability and size
Zakaria, 5. Fareed, A Threat Worse than Terror, 10-31, Newsweek,
http://www.fareedzakaria.com/ARTICLES/newsweek/103105.html.
A flu pandemic is the most dangerous threat the United States faces today," says Richard Falkenrath,
who until recently served in the Bush administration as deputy Homeland Security adviser. "It's
a bigger threat than terrorism. In fact it's bigger than anything I dealt with when I was in government."
One makes a threat assessment on the basis of two factors: the probability of the event, and
the loss of life if it happened. On both counts, a pandemic ranks higher than a major terror attack,
even one involving weapons of mass destruction. A crude nuclear device would probably kill hundreds of thousands. A flu pandemic
could easily kill millions. Whether this particular virus makes the final, fatal mutation that allows it to
move from human to human, one day some virus will. The basic factor that is fueling this surge of viruses is
China's growth. (China is the natural habitat of the influenza virus.) As China develops, it urbanizes, and its forests and wetlands
shrink. That forces migratory birds to gather closer together-and closer to human habitation--which increases the chances of a virus
spreading from one species to the next. Also, growth means a huge rise in chicken consumption. Across thousands of homes in China
every day, chickens are slaughtered in highly unhygienic ways. "Every day the chances that this virus or another such virus will move
from one species to another grow," says Laurie Garrett, author of "The Coming Plague," who has been writing brilliantly on this topic
for years. Nobody really disputes that we are badly unprepared for this threat. "If something like this pandemic were to happen
today," says Falkenrath, "the government would be mostly an observer, not a manager." The government can't even give intelligent
advice to its citizens because it doesn't actually know what to say. We don't know whether people should stay put, leave cities, stay
home or go to the nearest hospital. During the cold war, hundreds of people in government participated in
dozens of crisis simulations of nuclear wars, accidents and incidents. These "tabletop exercises" were
conducted so that if and when a real crisis hit, policymakers would not be confronting critical
decisions for the first time. No such expertise exists for today's deadliest threat.
29
1AC Solvency (1/3)

Plan: The United States federal government should substantially increase its
support of non-military autonomous underwater vehicles.
Development of AUVs has stalled
Larson, 7-11-14Eric, citing LeHardy (AUV Expert @ Phoenix Intl who helped search for
MH370) and Bunje (Ph.D. and senior director of prize development and ocean health @
XPRIZE) Underwater Drones Might Soon Map the Ocean Floor, Mashable,
http://mashable.com/2014/07/11/drones-underwater/
Three weeks after Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 went missing, Pete LeHardy and his crew were on a plane headed for Australia.
Previous teams searching for Flight 370 had come up fruitless, but the general consensus at the time, at least was that the plane
was buried underwater some 500 to 1,000 miles off the southwest coast of Perth. LeHardy, a business development
manager at Louisiana-based Phoenix International, had a simple mission: Find the wreckage .
Over the next 70 days, he and his team employed an automatic underwater vehicle (AUV) named Artemis, also known as the
Bluefin-21, to search more than 850 square kilometers throughout the area. They found nothing. "It wasn't just us. There were 26
nations out there searching as well," LeHardy says. "And we all agreed: This just wasn't the spot." Malaysian officials recently
announced they would begin searching a new area in early August, hundreds of miles south of the original location. Until then,
Artemis is sitting in storage in Australia. "Even though we didn't find anything, we still accumulated a lot of data about that part of
the ocean that we didn't have before," LeHardy says. " The ocean is so vast in that part of the world. But now we at least know a little
more about what's down there The ocean is so vast in that part of the world. But now we at least know a little more about what's
down there." AUVs like Artemis drones, essentially, that operate remotely at great depths aren't exactly new. But
until recently, they haven't been used much, restricted largely to commercial research for oil and gas industries.
However, as they continue to become more common, assembled and used by universities and
ocean exploration organizations, the vehicles are being employed for all new tasks : searching for
wreckage, researching new depths and helping us paint a clearer picture of what's under the surface. Less than 5% of the
world's oceans have been explored at depth. Paul Bunje, Ph.D., senior director of prize
development and ocean health at the XPRIZE Foundation , an educational nonprofit based in Culver City,
California, points to an imbalanced budget ratio between NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmosphere
Association (NOAA). "In 2013, NASA's exploration budget was roughly $3.8 billion 150 times greater
than NOAA's budget of $23.7 million," he says. "We have better information about the surface of Mars than we do about the
depths of our oceans." It all comes down to priorities. Public funding for the sciences hasn't been high in recent years, Bunje says,
and interest in ocean exploration has been sinking (no pun intended.) To make matters worse: In May,
an AUV named Nereus, owned and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Woods Hole,
Massachusetts, imploded six miles under the Pacific. What happened exactly isn't clear, but scientists speculate the
pressure at that depth about 16,000 pounds per square inch caused the robot to cave in. Nereus was 30 days into a 40-day
expedition to explore the Kermadec Trench, northeast of New Zealand the second deepest trench in the world. It was
scheduled for six more exploratory expeditions later in the year, all of which team members say will have to
be scrapped. The WHOI did not respond to multiple requests for comment. "What happened to Nereus is a
shame," LeHardy says. "There are so few of these machines out there, and when one gets
destroyed like this, it makes a huge impact on everyone involved ." Artemis operates using basic sonar.
Unlike Nereus' mission to explore, LeHardy's team usually embarks on assignments to find aircraft, like Flight 370, that have sunk
underwater. The vehicle sends sound waves to get an estimate of how deep the area they're exploring is; then, once it has an idea, it
plunges as deep as possible and photographs the terrain. It's part of the reason why LeHardy still feels optimistic after the failed
search off the coast of Perth. Although they didn't accomplish their main goal, they still collected pictures of a previously unknown
part of the ocean baby steps toward eventually mapping most of it. With the next search coming up in August, they'll collect more
data just like it. "The ocean really is our final frontier ," Bunje says. "If we map as much terrain as
possible, we illuminate the unknown. And there are always radical breakthroughs in the
unknown." It's not necessarily about searching for sunken treasure or lost cities, he says it's just about knowing what's down
there.
30
1AC Solvency 2/3)

AUV development is inevitable but the plan is necessary to develop a
comprehensive national framework for its effectiveness --- also catalyzes private
sector involvement and allows for sustainable production
FIND 14 Federal information and news dispatch (FIND, House Transportation and
Infrastructure Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Hearing, federal
press release, http://insurancenewsnet.com/oarticle/2014/02/07/house-transportation-andinfrastructure-subcommittee-on-coast-guard-and-maritime-a-457472.html#.U6xpufmICQo,
HW)
The AUV's evolution is taking place at an amazing rate of change. At the recent Coast Guard NAVSAC
meeting in Norfolk, VA, the NAVSAC panel received briefings from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) about the surface and sub-surface autonomous vessels
already in use by NOAA and the private sector. The ocean already has thousands of autonomous WaveGlider & SHARC's upon it or
below the water's surface. These autonomous systems will become the Light Ships (ATONs) of our
future, replacing or certainly reducing the number of LNB's the Coast Guard maintains. These new
ATONs are equipped with hydrographic surveying tools (depth measuring devices) and have the capability to stay positioned over a
fixed position, avoid a hazard like a coastal rock or to re-position itself over a moving object like the ever changing river bottom on
major inland waterways. The future ATON built upon AUV technology will recognize changing water
levels, currents and atmospheric conditions and provide near real time positioning and
measurement data and be a more dynamic and responsive system of ATONs. This calls
attention to the importance of the services provided by NOAA's National Ocean Service (NOS),
tri-service office, comprised of the Office of Coast Survey (OCS), National Geodetic Survey
(NGS) and Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO- OPS). The demand for
authoritative hydrographic survey data cannot be fully met by the current level of funding for NOAA's navigation, observations and
positioning programs. The NOS services related navigation, observations and positioning are crucial to the future development and
deployment of the AUVs and future ATON systems. Such NOS programs as GRAV-D and Coastal LIDAR that provide baseline
foundation data are critically important. These activities must be funded at least at the President's requested level, if not at a higher
level. Social Security Changes You Need to Know As a result, it is important that Congress promptly
reauthorize the Hydrographic Services Improvement Act, H.R. 1399, introduced by

Representative Don Young of Alaska and currently pending before Congress. Moreover, MAPPS
strongly supports H.R. 1382, the Digital Coast Act, introduced by Representative R.A. "Dutch"
Ruppersberger of Maryland and Rep. Young of Alaska. Enactment of H.R. 1382 and H.R. 1399
separately or as a merged bill will go a long way toward a coordinated and comprehensive
national mapping effort for coastal, state and territorial waters of the United States and
better integrate navigational and non-navigational geospatial activities in NOAA. The Maritime
Administration (MARAD) grant program for improvements to the Marine Highway Program should include hydrographic surveying
& mapping activities that directly contribute to decisions regarding placement of ATONs on the inland waterways. These
ATON's are essential for the safe passage of goods on the marine transportation system. This
grant program should provide incentives for private sector participation, again through a P3.
Increased utilization of and partnership with the private sector geospatial community will help
accelerate federally-funded research, enhance navigation and transportation, and create
economic growth and job creation in the private sector. We would emphasize the need to better
coordinate the geospatial activities among these various agencies and numerous programs and
applications. As the Government Accountability Office found (Geospatial Information: OMB and Agencies Can Reduce
Duplication by Making Coordination a Priority GAO-14-226T, Dec 5, 2013) federal agencies involved in geospatial activities have
failed "to identify planned geospatial investments to promote coordination and reduce duplication". GAO also reported
agencies "had not yet fully planned for or implemented an approach to manage geospatial data
as related groups of investments to allow agencies to more effectively plan geospatial data
31
1AC Solvency (3/3)

collection efforts and minimize duplicative investments, and its strategic plan was missing key
elements." MAPPS strongly supported a provision enacted in the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 (PL 112141) to develop a funding strategy to leverage and coordinate budgets and expenditures, and to maintain or establish joint funding
and other agreement mechanisms between federal agencies and with units of state and local government to share in the collection
and utilization of geospatial data among all governmental users. Specifically, section 100220 (42 USC 4101c) requires the office of
Management and Budget, in consultation with several agencies to "submit to the appropriate authorizing and appropriating
committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives an interagency budget crosscut and coordination report, certified by the
Secretary or head of each such agency, that-- (A) contains an interagency budget crosscut report that displays relevant sections of the
budget proposed for each of the Federal agencies working on flood risk determination data and digital elevation models, including
any planned interagency or intra-agency transfers; and (B) describes how the efforts aligned with such sections complement one
another." This provision provides that agencies "work together to ensure that flood risk determination data and geospatial data are
shared among Federal agencies in order to coordinate the efforts of the Nation to reduce its vulnerability to flooding hazards." We
recommend a similar legislative provision with regard to geospatial data related to charting,
navigation, and ATON, involving the Coast Guard, NOAA, MARAD, the Corps of Engineers,
USGS, and other relevant federal agencies, as well as state and local government and the private
sector. Hydrographic survey data supports a variety of maritime functions, such as port and harbor maintenance and dredging
that facilitates the 98 percent of our international trade that moves through U.S. ports, coastal engineering, coastal zone
management, and offshore resource development. There is an enormous capacity and capability in the
private
sector to provide NOAA, the Coast Guard, Corps of Engineers and other government agencies
the hydrographic surveying, charting, aerial photography, photogrammetry, LIDAR, and other
geospatial disciplines that support ATON. The private sector stands ready to continue to
assist these agencies achieve their important missions. MAPPS urges Congress to enact
legislation to accelerate and complete the transition from government or university performance
of commercially available geospatial services to contractor performance, while refocusing agencies on
inherently governmental activities, such as establishing standards, coordinating user requirements, determining needs, and
managing contracts. Federal agencies should maintain an "intellectual" core capability in surveying and mapping, versus a large
dollar of capital capability. Congressional appropriations and authorizations should be directed
toward commercial contracting for data collection requirements, rather than capital equipment.
Creating a pathway to greater utilization of the private sector and forming public-private
partnerships will result in cost savings to the tax payer, improve the economy, enhance
navigation, reduce duplication, and make programs more efficient. We commend
Congress for its leadership on ATON, hydrography and nautical charting programs. Important
steps have been taken, and progress has been made, but we must continue to strive to bring the
full expertise, innovation and efficiency of the private sector to all of the federal government's
mapping and charting activities. In summary, the ATON of the future can and should be smaller, lighter, more agile and
more self-sustaining than the current LNB's we know today. A new public-private partnership is the key to such success.
32
2AC Environment Adv Biodiversity Impact

Species diversity loss causes global extinction were at the tipping point
crossing the threshold in the next 10 years makes it irreversible
Walsh, 10 (Bryan Walsh, Wildlife: A Global Convention on Biodiversity Opens in Japan, But
Can It Make a Difference? Ecocentric Blog @ TIME, 10-18,
http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2010/10/18/wildlife-a-global-convention-on-biodiversityopens-in-japan-but-can-it-make-a-difference/#ixzz131wU6CSp)
The story of non-human life on the planet Earth over the past few decades is a simple one: loss .
While there are always a few bright spotsincluding the recovery of threatened animals like the brown pelican,
thanks to the quietly revolutionary Endangered Species Act on a planetary scale biodiversity is steadily
marching backwards, with extinctions rising and habitat destroyed. Species as diverse as the tigerless
than 3,500 live in the wild todayto tiny frogs could be gone forever if the trends keep heading downwards. In a bitterly ironic twist,
back in 2002 the United Nations declared that 2010 would be the international year of biodiversity ,
and countries agreed to" achieve a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national
level," as part of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). At this paper in Science shows (download a PDF here),
however, the world has utterly failed to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss, and by just about
every measurement, things are getting worse all the time . (Read the Global Biodiversity Outlook if you really
want to be depressed.) With that cheery backdrop, representatives from nearly 200 nations are meeting in the Japanese city of
Nagoyahome to Toyota and not a whole lot elsefor the 10th summit of the CBD, where they will set new goals for reducing
species loss and slowing habitat destruction. At the very least, they should know how critical the biodiversity challenge isas
Japanese Environment Minister Ryo Matsumoto said in an opening speech: All life on Earth exists thanks to the
benefits from biodiversity in the forms of fertile soil, clear water and clean air. We are now
close to a 'tipping point' - that is, we are about to reach a threshold beyond which
biodiversity loss will become irreversible, and may cross that threshold in the next
10 years if we do not make proactive efforts for conserving biodiversity . Ahmed Djoghlaf, the executive secretary of the
CBD, struck an even darker note, reminding diplomats that they were on a clockand time was running out: Let's have the courage to look in the eyes of our children and admit that we have failed, individually
and collectively, to fulfil the Johannesburg promise made by 110 heads of state to substantially reduce the rate of loss of biodiversity by 2010. Let us look in the eyes of our children and admit that we continue to
lose biodiversity at an unprecedented rate, thus mortgaging their future. But what will actually come out of the Nagoya summit, which will continue until Oct. 29? Most likely there will be another agreementa
new protocoloutlining various global strategies on sustaining biodiversity and goals on slowing the rate of species loss. (You can download a PDF of the discussion draft document that will be picked over at
Nagoya.) It won't be hard for governments to agree on general ambitions for reducing biodiversity losswho's against saving pandas?but the negotiations will be much trickier on the question of who will
actually pay for a more biodiverse planet? And much as we've seen in international climate change negotiations, the essential divide is between the developed and developing nationsand neither side seems ready
to bend. The reality is that much of the world's biodiversitythe most fantastic species and the most complete forestsis found in the poorer, less developed parts of the world. That's in part because the world's
poor have been, well, too poor to develop the land around them in the way rich nations have. (There was once a beautiful, undeveloped island off the East Coast of the U.S., with wetlands and abundant forests. It
was called Mannahatta. It's a little different now.) As a result, the rural poorespecially in tropical nationsare directly dependent on healthy wildlife and plants in a way that inhabitants of developed nations
aren't. So on one hand that makes the poor directly vulnerable when species are lost and forests are chopped downwhich often results in migration to thronging urban areas. But on the other, poverty often drives
the rural poor to slash-and-burn forests for agriculture, or hunt endangered species to sell for bush meat. Conservation and development have to go hand in hand. That hasn't always been the mantra of the
conservation movementas Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow writes in Slate, conservation projects in the past sometimes displaced the human inhabitants over a reserve or park, privileging nature over people. But that's
changed in recent decadesenvironmental groups like Conservation International or the Nature Conservancy now spend as much of their time working on development as they do in protecting nature. "Save the
people, save the wildlife"that's the new mantra. The missing ingredient is moneyand that's what will be up for debate at Nagoya. As climate change has risen on the international agenda, funding for
biodiversity has laggedthe 33 member nations of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) donated $8.5 billion for climate change mitigation projects in 2008, but just $3 billion
A biodiverse landscape, intact forests, clean water and air

all of these ebbing qualities of a healthy world are vital for our economies as well. (The Economics of
Ecosystems and Biodiversity, a UN-funded study, estimates that nature degradation costs the world $2 trillion to
$5 trillion a year, with the poorest nations bearing the brunt of the loss.) Rich countries could pay more biodiverse developing
annually for biodiversity. One way to change that could be through "payment for ecosystem services."
nations to keep nature runningallowing poorer countries to capitalize on their natural resources without slashing and burning.
Will that work? I'm skepticalthe experience of climate change negotiations have shown that the nations of the world are great at
high ideals and fuzzy goals, but not so hot at actually dividing up the pie in a more sustainable fashion. That doesn't mean there
aren't smaller solutionslike Costa Rica's just-announced debt-for-nature dealbut a big bang from Japan this month doesn't seem
too likely. The problem is as simple as it is unsolvable, at least so farthere's no clear path to national development so far that
doesn't take from the natural world. That worked for rich nations, but we're rapidly running out of planet, as a report last week from
the World Wildlife Fund showed. And there's something greater at stake as well, as the naturalist E.O. Wilson
once put it: The one process now going on that will take millions of years to correct is
the loss of genetic and species diversity by the destruction of natural habitats-this is the folly our
descendants are least likely to forgive us. We're losing nature. And that loss really
is forever.
33
2AC Environment Adv Environment Impact

Environmental destruction is the greatest threat to human survivalseveral
scenarios
Coyne and Hoekstra 7 *professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the
University of Chicago, **Associate Professor in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary
Biology at Harvard University (Jerry and Hopi, The New Republic, The Greatest Dying, 9/24,
http://www.truthout.org/article/jerry-coyne-and-hopi-e-hoekstra-the-greatest-dying)
But it isn't just the destruction of the rainforests that should trouble us. Healthy ecosystems the world over provide
hidden services like waste disposal, nutrient cycling, soil formation, water purification, and
oxygen production. Such services are best rendered by ecosystems that are diverse. Yet, through both intention and accident,
humans have introduced exotic species that turn biodiversity into monoculture. Fast-growing zebra mussels, for example, have
outcompeted more than 15 species of native mussels in North America's Great Lakes and have damaged harbors and watertreatment plants. Native prairies are becoming dominated by single species (often genetically homogenous) of corn or wheat. Thanks
to these developments, soils will erode and become unproductive which, along with temperature change, will diminish agricultural
yields. Meanwhile,with increased pollution and runoff, as well as reduced forest cover, ecosystems
will no longer be able to purify water; and a shortage of clean water spells disaster. In many ways,
oceans are the most vulnerable areas of all. As overfishing eliminates major predators, while polluted and warming waters kill off
phytoplankton, the intricate aquatic food web could collapse from both sides. Fish, on which so many humans depend, will be a fond
memory. As phytoplankton vanish, so does the ability of the oceans to absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. (Half of the
oxygen we breathe is made by phytoplankton, with the rest coming from land plants.) Species extinction is also imperiling coral reefs
a major problem since these reefs have far more than recreational value: They provide tremendous amounts of food for human
populations and buffer coastlines against erosion. In fact, the global value of "hidden" services provided by ecosystems those
services, like waste disposal, that aren't bought and sold in the marketplace has been estimated to be as much as $50 trillion per
year, roughly equal to the gross domestic product of all countries combined. And that doesn't include tangible goods like fish and
timber.Life as we know it would be impossible if ecosystems collapsed .Yet that is where we're
heading if species extinction continues at its current pace. Extinction also has a huge impact on medicine. Who really cares if, say, a
worm in the remote swamps of French Guiana goes extinct? Well, those who suffer from cardiovascular disease. The recent
discovery of a rare South American leech has led to the isolation of a powerful enzyme that, unlike other anticoagulants, not only
prevents blood from clotting but also dissolves existing clots. And it's not just this one species of worm: Its wriggly relatives have
evolved other biomedically valuable proteins, including antistatin (a potential anticancer agent), decorsin and ornatin (platelet
aggregation inhibitors), and hirudin (another anticoagulant). Plants, too, are pharmaceutical gold mines. The bark of trees, for
example, has given us quinine (the first cure for malaria), taxol (a drug highly effective against ovarian and breast cancer), and
aspirin. More than a quarter of the medicines on our pharmacy shelves were originally derived from plants. The sap of the
Madagascar periwinkle contains more than 70 useful alkaloids, including vincristine, a powerful anticancer drug that saved the life
of one of our friends. Of the roughly 250,000 plant species on Earth, fewer than 5 percent have been screened for pharmaceutical
properties. Who knows what life-saving drugs remain to be discovered? Given current extinction rates, it's estimated that we're
losing one valuable drug every two years. Our arguments so far have tacitly assumed that species are worth saving only in proportion
to their economic value and their effects on our quality of life, an attitude that is strongly ingrained, especially in Americans. That is
why conservationists always base their case on an economic calculus. But we biologists know in our hearts that there are deeper and
equally compelling reasons to worry about the loss of biodiversity: namely, simple morality and intellectual values that transcend
pecuniary interests. What, for example, gives us the right to destroy other creatures? And what could be more thrilling than looking
around us, seeing that we are surrounded by our evolutionary cousins, and realizing that we all got here by the same simple process
of natural selection? To biologists, and potentially everyone else, apprehending the genetic kinship and common origin of all species
is a spiritual experience not necessarily religious, but spiritual nonetheless, for it stirs the soul. But, whether or not one is moved
by such concerns, it is certain that our future is bleak if we do nothing to stem this sixth
extinction.We are creating a world in which exotic diseases flourish but natural medicinal cures
are lost; a world in which carbon waste accumulates while food sources dwindle; a world of
sweltering heat, failing crops, and impure water. In the end, we must accept the possibility that we
ourselves are not immune to extinction. Or, if we survive, perhaps only a few of us will
remain, scratching out a grubby existence on a devastated planet. Global warming will seem like
a secondary problem when humanity finally faces the consequences of what we have done to
nature: not just another Great Dying, but perhaps the greatest dying of them all.
34
2AC Environment Adv Methane Internal Links (1/3)

AUVs solve mapping of vents ROVs cant solve
Kumagi et al 10 Japan Agency for MarineEarth Science and Technology
[Hidenori, Hydrothermal plumes imaged by highresolution sidescan sonar on a cruising AUV,
Urashima Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems: G3. ProQuest]
An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is an ideal platform that enables a closer approach to
the seafloor than other platforms. The AUV provides remarkable advancement not only in
imaging smallscale bathymetry with high resolution but also in imaging the spatial distribution
of scattering signals within a water column. Acoustic echoes can be recorded continuously by AUVs,
potentially providing information related to hydrothermal plumes within a water column. In May 2007,
such an AUV, Urashima, of the Japan Agency for MarineEarth Science and Technology,
captured fantastic acoustic images within the water column above an active hydrothermal field ,
the Iheya-North field, off Okinawa. Numerous filament- tous and hyperbolic echoes were recorded on the sidescan sonar images.
According to the temperature and geochemical anomaly, the scattering signals within the water column were hydrothermal plumes
upwelling from the vent area. This proof of concept has implications for long range exploration for vent
field with AUVs. Mapping of the geographical and venting intensities of a particular
hydrothermal field have required huge efforts to date. They have typically required several tens
of dives of manned submersibles and of Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) to obtain detailed maps of
geological phenomena such as hydrothermal vents, biological colonies, and positional markers to ensure the necessary geolocation.
As a conventional means to locate each area, mosaics of still camera images or video images are
manually produced from the largescale bathymetric data acquired using the ships hull mounted multibeam system.
Consequently, appropriate remote sensing techniques have been sought since the discovery of
seafloor hydrothermal activities in the late 1970s [cf. Thomson et al., 1989, 1992]. [3] In this context, an AUV is an
ideal platform that enables closer approach to the seafloor . Recently, a series of successful trials has
been performed by the AUVABE of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution equipped with Eh
sensor, a geochemical sensor [Yoerger et al., 2007]. The threephase survey approach has located and
then mapped hydrothermal vents in several hydrothermal fields. This achievement is largely attributable
to the maneuverability and autonomous capability of the AUV. Such small-scale bathymetry with high
resolution (<1 m) reveals a detailed 2D alignment of hydrothermal vents in a particular area [e.g.,Ferrini et al., 2008].
Studying cold vents key to climate research

Simonetti 13 doctoral candidate in Geological Sciences, University of Southern California
(Antonello, SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL CHARACTERIZATION OF A COLD SEEP-HYDRATE
SYSTEM (WOOLSEY MOUND, DEEP-WATER GULF OF MEXICO) UMI Dissertation
Publishing. ProQuest.
Cold seeps are areas where methane is transferred from the lithosphere into the hydrosphere,
accounting for the major source of hydrocarbons in seawaters . Formation of gas hydrate in cold
seeps modulates the global discharge of methane to the environment . However, cold seeps are
dynamic settings where hydrates dissociate on short and long time-scales triggering substantial
methane fluxes to the oceans. These methane vents sustain unique ecosystems at the ocean floors and contribute
to ocean acidification. Also, the methane can potentially reach the sea surface and be exchanged
with the atmosphere contributing to global warming. Understanding how cold seep-hydrate
systems (CSHSs) operate through time and space is therefore crucial to evaluate their global impact
on ocean biogeochemistry and climate.
35

Tech improvements key to methane hydrate development cold vents are key
ProQuest)
Seafloor sites prone to methane venting are named cold vents ; these sites are associated with
shallow gas accumulations, pockmarks, gas hydrate deposits, authigenic carbonate, and biological communities. Their
naming convention stems from the earlier discovery of hot vents at mid-ocean ridges, where fluids well in excess of 80C are
expelled at the seafloor. The cold vents in contrast lack often (but not necessarily always) a strong thermal anomaly as measured in
the sediments and fluids that are expelled (water and/or gas) and do not exhibit signs of increased temperatures relative to the
surrounding areas. Marine sediments hosting high concentrations of methane are appropriate
environments for the formation of gas hydrate . Gas hydrate is an ice-like clathrate structure with methane as the
host molecule. The existence of naturally occurring gas hydrate on continental margins was not documented until the 1970s
(Shipley et al., 1979) through evidence of a widespread Bottom Simulating Reflector (BSR). Recent estimates of global mass of gas
hydrate in marine sediments covers a broad range from 0.5-2.5 x 103 Gt (Milkov, 2004), 3.0 x 103 Gt (Buffett and Archer, 2004),
and 85 x 103 Gt (Kluada and Sandler, 2005). These estimates are still received contentiously due to the lack of constrainable hydrate
data globally. Naturally occurring hydrate structures that develop on the seafloor contain dense concentrations of methane gas.
Methane is known to occur in concentrations up to 7.6 mol/L, or more simply, dissociated hydrate would have a methane-to-water
ratio of 164:1 at standard temperature and pressure (STP) (e.g. Sloan, 1990). Marine and permafrost accumulations
of gas hydrate have been suggested as a potential energy resource. Dispersed gas hydrate in fine
grained sediment (e.g. at the 4 Blake Ridge or in the Gulf of Mexico) lack sufficiently high concentrations of
methane to make extraction economical with current technology and at global gas market prices. However,
areas of coarser-grained sediments with higher porosities and permeabilities are more suitable
for hydrate accumulation and flow (e.g. found in the Nankai Trough or at Mallik). The 2008
Malik well test in permafrost had initial production values of 3500- 4000 m3 d-1 (Dallimore et al.,
2012). Gas hydrate may not be a practical energy source, since uncertainty still exists on whether production can maintain a
dependable flow rate beyond the initial production period, which was 6 days at Malik. At the time of this thesis (May 2013 ) initial
production tests are being carried out by the Japanese government in the marine sediments of
the Nankai Trough. The results of these production tests, improvements in engineering
technologies, and the growing demand for fossil fuels could lead to gas hydrate becoming an
economical fuel source.
36

AUVs solve seafloor mapping key to cold vent research
Furlong 13 Masters student, University of Victoria
(Jonathan, Characteristic Morphology, Backscatter, and Sub-seafloor Structures of Cold-Vents
on the Northern Cascadia Margin from High-Resolution Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Data
UMI Dissertations Publishing. ProQuest)
The data presented in this thesis further confirm the utility of the AUV to map the seafloor
accurately, and to resolve the geology of near-surface sediments to depths of ~40 m. Shallow faults, with
relief of less than a meter, can be resolved in soft sediment at the surface. While bathymetry data may show excellent
resolution, backscatter data continue to provide invaluable information about seafloor hardness.
The AUV sub bottom profiler echo-sounder penetration depth was not uniform through the study area. It is inferred that due to the
high frequency of the AUV signal the unit is especially susceptible to attenuation effects and transmission losses. This conclusion
was reached through evidence of near-surface transmission losses in a portion of the survey area that was confirmed to have nearsurface stacked turbidite packages with highly reflective sands due to their anomalously high velocity. This evidence was
extrapolated to a large region just east of Cucumber Ridge that experiences a disproportionately low depth of seismic penetration
compared to the surrounding area and the majority of the surveyed area. This area is expected to contain larger accumulations of
closely stacked turbidite layers with a near surface highly reflective sand package. The conclusion that this near surface
higher reflectivity layer is sand is in contrast to previous geophysical work done in the region
that has inferred seafloor authigenic carbonate as the source of high reflectivity. The past studies
did not have ROPOS coring tools, or high-resolution sonar to distinguish low reflectivity sands
or muds. Methane emission from continental margins occurs mainly as a steady diffuse flow or
seepage where most of the leaking methane is not released into the water column but consumed by sulphate reducing bacteria.
However at cold vent sites methane release is magnitudes higher (Etiope and Klusman, 2002; Riedel et al,
2010). The AUV data interpreted in this thesis serve as an important database to address the
evolution of venting on the northern Cascadia accretionary prism.
37
2AC Environment Adv Coral Reef Internal Links (1/2)

AUVs can be used to explore coral reefs and determine data for preservation
Smale 12, Marine Biological Association Research Fellow
Regional-scale benthic monitoring for ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) using
an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), ICES Journal of Marine Science,
http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/05/18/icesjms.fss082.full
The deployment of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) for mapping and sampling the deep-sea
environment is a further technological development. In recent years, AUVs have been used to survey
invasive pest species (Barrett et al., 2010), describe benthic community structure at depths of .1000s m
(Sherman and Smith, 2009), examine coral mound morphology (Grasmueck et al., 2006), and assess
environmental impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (Camilli et al., 2010). Within the context of resource
management, AUVs have facilitated surveys of groundfish and their associated habitat (Clarke et al., 2009), as well
as sensitive coral-dominated habitats (Singh et al., 2004; Armstrong et al., 2006). AUVs are emerging as highly effective
tools for sampling marine environments, because they (i) are untethered and can conduct nondestructive sampling in remote marine habitats (i.e. under ice shelves, over untrawlable terrain, and in depths .1000 m); (ii) can repeat spatial
surveys to detect change over time; and (iii) are fitted with a range of instrumentation to facilitate the simultaneous acquisition of a variety of physical and biological data. Here, we describe the use of an AUV for
conducting long-term monitoring of benthic habitats in temperate Western Australia (WA) to support EBFM activities within the West Coast Bioregion (as defined by the Department of Fisheries, WA). In
temperate WA, coastal marine ecosystems are impacted by fishing for targeted species such as the Western Rock Lobster, Panulirus cygnus (Australias most valuable single-species fishery) and Pink Snapper,
Pagrus auratus. Widespread commercial and recreational fishing activities have influenced trophic processes (e.g. through the addition of bait, see Waddington and Meeuwig, 2009), population structure of
targeted species (Langlois et al., in press-a), and fish community structure (Watson et al., 2007). Moreover, fragile habitats, such as some coral reefs around the Houtman Abrolhos Islands, have been physical
perturbed by the deployment of lobster pots (Webster et al., 2002). Concurrently, the most pressing environmental change factors influencing marine ecosystems in WA are thought to include variability in ocean
currents (Gaughan, 2007), changes in land run-off (Lough and Hobday, 2011), introduced marine pests (Sliwa et al., 2009; Smale and Childs, 2012), and seawater acidification and warming (Orr et al., 2005;
et al., 2011a). However, specific ecological responses to fishing and environmental

change are not well known and the ability to predict (and mitigate for) changes in ecosystem
structure is poor. A major impediment to marine research is the lack of historical baseline
information against which to detect change, and many regions along the vast, remote coastline of WA are data-poor
Pearce and Feng, 2007; Wernberg
(Wernberg et al., 2011a). However, the old, climatically buffered, infertile seascape of southwestern Australia with its limited
environmental heterogeneity (Langlois et al., 2012) has been shown to provide a simple model system in which to investigate the
impacts of pressures. Management of marine ecosystems in temperateWA is currently shifting from a single
species to an ecosystem-based approach . To provide a framework for this transition, a decision-making/assessment
process has been developed by the Department of Fisheries WA (Fletcher et al., 2010) which defines assets that must be considered
for ecosystem-based management. Environmental, ecological, social, and economic assets associated with the marine ecosystems of
WA are included in component trees, and each asset has been assigned a risk rating to prioritize management efforts and to identify
knowledge gaps (Fletcher et al., 2010). However, to validate and (if necessary) alter individual risk ratings, information on the status
of assets over time must be collected and fed back into the component trees. Submerged rocky reefs are key assets
within the EBFM approach, as they support rich and abundant assemblages of macroalgae,
invertebrates, and reef fish (see Smale et al., 2011, for recent review). Reef assemblages are highly
productive and generate food and habitat for economically important species such as the Western Rock
Lobster and Pink Snapper. To achieve a cost-effective approach to monitoring these assets, several key indicators that capture the
quality, extent, and composition of benthic habitats have been proposed. These include the relative abundance of warm and cool
water habitat-forming species (e.g. reef-building corals vs. canopy forming macroalgae), the spatial coverage of species that may be
particularly sensitive to ocean warming (e.g. the brown macroalgae Scytothalia dorycarpa), and multivariate assemblage structure at
coarse taxonomic levels (Smale et al., 2010a, 2011; Wernberg et al., 2011b) Here, we report on the commencement of a monitoring
programme to quantify the structure of benthic habitats in temperate WA. The goals of the monitoring efforts are to (i) improve the
understanding of natural variability in benthic assemblages, (ii) facilitate the detection of significant ecological change driven by, for
example, ocean warming, and (iii) generate time-series data that can be used to validate and/or amend the risk ratings associated
with ecological assets identified through the EBFM process . To achieve these goals, an AUV was deployed to
conduct ongoing, repeat sampling at two key locations. To our knowledge, this Page 2 of 11 D. A. Smale et al.
Downloaded from http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/ by guest on June 26, 2014 represents the first application of the AUV
technology for conducting routine monitoring of benthic habitat indicators to support EBFM. The work reported here
also
forms part of a nationwide programme of AUV surveys of benthic ecosystems implemented as
one of the biological components of Australias Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS).
38
2AC Environment Adv Coral Reef Internal Links (2/2)

AUVs are the only effective method of solving coral reef mapping
James A. Goodman Samuel J. Purkis Stuart R. Phinn 01/01/2013 (Electrical and Computer
Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, Oceanographic Center and National
Coral Reef Institute, and School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management
respectively Coral Reef Remote Sensing from ArticlesPlus
Without accurate topographic information, however, it can be difcult to reconcile variations
observed between video transects and seabed acoustic response in a cold-water coral habitat (Dolan
et al. 2008). In summary, despite the large coverage and the high resolution of the maps acquired using deep-towed SSS, the use
of this sensor alone is not an efcient approach for mapping cold-water corals due to poor positioning
accuracy, lack of topographic data, and operational challenges related to this type of survey. Multi-beam sonar is a more recent
system used for mapping cold-water coral habitats. Multi-beam systems have traditionally been hull-mounted on the mother ship
(Roberts et al. 2005; Dolan et al. 2008; Guinan et al. 2009) and more recently on ROV (i.e., remotely operated vehicle; Foubert et al.
2011). Multi-beam systems transmit acoustic waves in a fan-like conguration that is perpendicular to the
vessel track (Fig. 10.2). Depth
soundings are recorded within each beam, creating a 3D digital elevation

model (DEM) with an area much larger and more contiguous than results from single-beam surveys. In addition to bathymetry,
multi-beam systems can record the amplitude of backscattered signals. Like SSS images, the backscatter amplitudes can
be used to infer supercial sediment type, and to distinguish soft sediment seabed from coral habitats
(e.g., Foss et al. 2005). The number and spacing of beams in multi-beam sonar varies among models and manufacturers. One of the
most commonly used hull-mounted multi-beams, the 12 kHz Simrad EM 120 system, contains 191 beams over a range of 150 ,
producing a beam width of*1 in cross-track direction (Kongsberg 2005). The bin-size resolution (i.e., the seaoor area over which
sounding occurs and backscatter is measured) and the swath width of the DEM depend on the width of the beams when they
encounter the seabed (Fig. 10.2). Beam width expands as distance increases between the sensor and the seaoor. On the hullmounted multibeam systems, the sensor is far from the cold-water coral habitats they measure. Thus hull-mounted systems have
generated maps with relatively large swath but low resolution (Fig. 10.2). Advantages of mounting the system on the mother vessel
are that the ships motion, heading, roll, pitch, heave, and position can be accurately measured by ancillary sensors and GPS
receivers (Courtney and Shaw 2000).These ship-related measurements can be used to correct the multi-beam data and increase
DEM quality. Even with these corrections, however, hull-mounted multi-beam sonar systems produce cold-water
coral habitat maps that are approximately 10-fold coarser in resolution than the maps acquired by deep-towed SSS
platforms. In addition, the acoustic image recorded by the hull-mounted multi-beam system is usually of lower quality in terms of
backscatter intensity contrast than the data produced by deep-towed SSS systems. This is mainly because the incident angle in hullmounted multi-beam systems is more variable in multi-beam systems relative to those from deep-towed SSS, and the measured
reectivity is averaged within each beam across its entire swath (Lurton 2002; Foss et al. 2005). Taken together, deep-towed SSS
and hull-mounted multi-beam sonars have different advantages and limitations: SSS is ideal for imaging the seabed, whereas multibeam provides accurate topography. Together these data are critical for assessing he distribution of cold-water coral habitats and the
environmental forces that inuence them. Therefore the most powerful survey approach to produce both high quality
and ne-scale resolution topographic and sonar maps is to
combine both sensors in a single vehicle that can : (1)

travel autonomously near the seaoor, and (2) carry internal sensors that precisely measure the
motion and position of the platform. AUVs and ROVs have no umbilical cable to the mother vessel. AUVs are
typically torpedo-shaped platforms and therefore can maneuver on a more exact route and at higher speeds
relative to ROVs and deep-towed SSS (George et al. 2003). For example, AUVs can travel up to 4 knots,
approximately twice as fast as most deep-towed SSS surveys and ROVs (Northcut et al. 2000). The
autonomy of an AUV also increases survey efciency relative to deep-towed platforms. For example, in a gridded
survey, a vehicle must turn 180 when it reaches the end of each line, and begin a new line adjacent to the previous line (i.e., line
turn). The line turn duration of an AUV is about 5 min; the same procedure can take up to six hours in a deep-towed survey
(Northcut et al. 2000). Furthermore, AUVs can employ multiple navigation and mapping tools in order to
acquire simultaneously bathymetry, backscatter data, and sub-surface proles as well as environmental parameters such as current
data and temperature. Thus, AUVs can produce highly informative and accurate integrated datasets.
39
2AC Environment Adv Plankton Internal Links (1/2)

AUVs key to monitor plankton populations thats key to overall marine
biodiversity
Ryan 5/17/14 - Ph.D., Biological Oceanography, University of Rhode Island (JP, Journal of
Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, Science Direct,
http://www.sciencedirect.com.proxy.lib.umich.edu/science/article/pii/S0022098114001361,
HW)
Near-coastal retention of larvae affects the ecology of many marine species. In coastal upwelling
ecosystems having strong offshore transport, larval ecology is greatly influenced by nearshore
retention in bays and in the lee of headlands. Further, frontal dynamics along the periphery of retention zones can drive larval
accumulation and transport. The purpose of this study is to examine larval distributions and associated processes across a retention
zone and its peripheral front in the coastal upwelling environment of Monterey Bay, California, USA. During fall 2009 an
autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) was used to observe environmental variability at high
resolution and acquire targeted water samples. Invertebrate larvae in samples were
subsequently identified and quantified using molecular methods. To infer ecological processes
we examine larval distributions in relation to environmental processes revealed by the AUV data
and the greater regional observing system. As a window into biologicalphysical interactions that may concentrate
motile larvae in convergence zones, we examine more extensive in situ and remote sensing observations that describe distribution
patterns of motile phytoplankton. During the 10-day study intensification of upwelling caused flow of cold water into the bay and
formation of an upwelling front. Drifter and satellite observations showed retention of near-surface water within the bay inshore of
the front, where a bloom of motile phytoplankton intensified. Larval distributions were related to processes
inferred at a range of scales. At the scale of the retention zone, dense phytoplankton
accumulations indicated concentration of motile plankton in a convergence zone created by flow
toward the coast, as well as nutritional support for larvae. At the scale of the front, velocity and water property measurements
indicated convergence between cold deep-shelf water transported shoreward along shoaling bathymetry and the overlying warm
surface water, influencing plankton accumulation and vertical transport. At the finest scales resolved, aerial photography revealed
banded accumulations of dense phytoplankton bloom patches and narrow foam lines, common indicators of small-scale
convergence zones and consistent with internal wave processes. Exceptionally high larval concentrations were
detected in samples from locations affected by frontal and internal wave dynamics. This study
illustrates how autonomous feature recognition and targeted sampling with an AUV, applied
within the greater context of multidisciplinary observation across regional to small scales, can
advance plankton ecology research. As agents of population persistence and connectivity, larvae
are essential to the structure and function of coastal marine ecosystems (Carson, 2010, Cowen et al., 2006
and Mace and Morgan, 2006). Advancing the understanding of larval ecology is thus essential to
effective ecosystem based management (Davoren et al., 2007 and Sponaugle, 2009). Only through
understanding processes of larval ecology and the associated forcing, scales, and interactions can we design
marine reserves to effectively sustain the biodiversity and resilience of marine communities
(Fenberg et al., 2012, Gaines et al., 2010 and Palumbi, 2003). However, difficult research challenges are
presented by the small size of larvae relative to the scales of ocean dynamics , as well as the inherent
complexity, patchiness and variability of both coastal marine ecosystems and larval populations. These challenges hinder
our ability to understand the survival and transport of larvae and the cascading effects on
ecosystems. This study presents results from novel methods designed to overcome some of these
challenges. These methods integrate high-resolution multidisciplinary sensing and adaptively
targeted sampling conducted simultaneously by an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV),
providing effective observation and sampling of plankton patchiness and its ecological context.
40
2AC Environment Adv Plankton Internal Links (2/2)

Plankton observation key to climate change research
Richardson 8 - Associate Editor for Journal of Animal Ecology [Anthony, In hot water:
zooplankton and climate change ICES Journal of Marine Science 2008. Scopus]
An overview is provided of the observed and potential future responses of zooplankton communities to
global warming. I begin by describing the importance of zooplankton in ocean ecosystems and the
attributes that make them sensitive beacons of climate change . Global warming may have even
greater repercussions for marine ecosystems than for terrestrial ecosystems, because
temperature influences water column stability, nutrient enrichment, and the degree of new production, and thus the
abundance, size composition, diversity, and trophic efficiency of zooplankton. Pertinent descriptions of
physical changes in the ocean in response to climate change are given as a prelude to a detailed discussion of observed impacts of
global warming on zooplankton. These manifest as changes in the distribution of individual species and
assemblages, in the timing of important life-cycle events, and in abundance and community structure. The
most illustrative
case studies, where climate has had an obvious, tangible impact on zooplankton and substantial
ecosystem consequences, are presented. Changes in the distribution and phenology of zooplankton
are faster and greater than those observed for terrestrial groups. Relevant projected changes in
ocean conditions are then presented, followed by an exploration of potential future changes in
zooplankton communities from the perspective of different modelling approaches. Researchers have used a
range of modelling approaches on individual species and functional groups forced by output
from climate models under future greenhouse gas emission scenarios . I conclude by suggesting
some potential future directions in climate change research for zooplankton , viz. the use of richer
zooplankton functional groups in ecosystem models; greater research effort in tropical systems; investigating climate change in
conjunction with other human impacts; and a global zooplankton observing system.
41
2AC Environment Adv Renewable Energy Internal Links

AUVs are an important solution to reduce costs with marine renewable energy
NERC No Date [Natural Environment Research Council, No Date, The Natural Environmental
Research Council is a subset of the National Oceanography Centre, Autonomous Underwater
Vehicles, https://ke.services.nerc.ac.uk/Marine/Members/Documents/One-page
%20information%20sheets/Technology%20Sheets/Tech%20Summary%20Sheet%20%20%20AUV%20for%20Portal%20-%20Final.pdf]
Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) may be one of the solutions to reducing the high costs of
surveying and monitoring marine renewable energy sites: AUVs can be instrumented to allow
site characterisation, baseline surveys and post installation monitoring, for a fraction of the
current costs. AUV technology can provide information ranging from sediment
characteristics and seabed morphology to vegetation , benthic epifauna and infauna making it an ideal solution for scour monitoring for renewable energy projects. There is a
requirement for shallow water AUVs that can withstand the high flow and
turbulent environments often found at marine renewable sites.
42
2AC REM Adv AUVs Key

AUVs make deep sea minerals commercially feasible
Israeli Homeland Security 10 (3-19-10, Israeli Homeland Security, Deep Sea Mining,
http://i-hls.com/2013/03/deep-sea-mining/?
utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=deep-sea-mining)
Deep sea mining is becoming more popular, increasing the demand for protecting the exploration
and then the mining itself. Israeli companies may offer systems that will match the new needs. Deep sea mining is
aimed at exploring rare minerals on the bed of the high seas. The best proof for this trend , is the
announcements by Lockheed Martin that it is are starting to explore for rare minerals in the Pacific. UK Seabed Resources, a
subsidiary of the British arm of Lockheed Martin, said that it has obtained a license to prospect for high-value minerals in a 58,000square-kilometer area of the Pacific between Hawaii and Mexico. According to DEFENSE NEWS the company hopes to use
technologies already developed for the aerospace and defense sector to help make the
exploitation financially viable. Developments in space, unmanned aerial vehicles and underwater vehicles for
the oil industry have changed the financial dynamics of deep sea mining , said Lockheed Martin UK. Fueled by
increasing prices for raw materials, the company hopes to extract tennis ball-sized nodules of copper, nickel, cobalt
and manganese, as well as rare earth minerals that sit on the seabed around four kilometers below the surface. The
British company is targeting a combination of remotely operated or autonomous underwater vehicles, pumps, suction
and riser pipes to extract the minerals. A Canadian-based company, Nautilus Minerals, already is working on a project to
extract minerals using remotely piloted machines from an area of the sea near Papua New Guinea. Lockheed Martin officials here
said the precious metals extracted would also be of interest to the company itself for its aerospace,
communications and defense activities.
43
2AC REM Adv Vents Internal Links

AUVs have massive capabilities to find REMs- especially in hydrothermal vents
Yoshida et al., works at Marine Technology and Engineering System, AUV
Specialist, 13 [Hiroshi, An autonomous underwater vehicle with a canard rudder for
underwater minerals exploration", Proceedings of 2013 IEEE,
http://www.deepdyve.com/lp/institute-of-electrical-and-electronics-engineers/anautonomous-underwater-vehicle-with-a-canard-rudder-for-underwater-zTu872vwOY //nz]
Exploration and mining of natural resources in the region of seabed are needed for lasting
economic growth, because an abundance of natural resources, including rare metal , is in Japan's
exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The cost down of exploration and mining is an important issue for
industrialization. It is well known that unmanned and/or autonomous platforms for exploration
are effective to reduce operation cost. JAMSTEC has developed a cruising type autonomous
underwater vehicle (AUV) to perform exploration in hydrothermal activity areas up to depth of 3,000
meters since 2011. This specified purpose AUV (5 m long, 2.7 tons in weight) has capability of high
maneuverability for eliciting high performance of sonars and is equipped with three sonars: a
synthetic aperture sonar (SAS), an interferometry sonar (IFS) and a sub-bottom profiler (SBP). The
cruising AUV, named Yumeiruka, is thus has a canard rudder to maintain a fixed posture in horizontal
and vertical plane. In March 2013 the 15-days sea trial of the vehicle was carried out in the Sagami Bay and we achieved
constant pitch control by using the canard rudder during an altitude change.
44
2AC REM Adv Resource Wars (1/2)

REM shortages and crackdowns risk war countries consider rare earths
indispensible
Hinten-Nooijen Professor of Economics at Tilburg University in the Netherlands 10 (Dr.
Annemarie, 3-25-10, Tilburg University, Rare minerals The treasures of a sustainable
economy, http://www.tilburguniversity.edu/nl/over-tilburg-university/cultuur-ensport/cwl/publicaties/beschouwingen/minerals/)
Driving a hybrid car, using energy from wind turbines or solar panels. That are choices to contribute to the transition to a
sustainable economy. Sustainability is the spearhead of many western policy plans. It is regarded as the solution to get out of the
crisis. But ironically, the raw materials that are needed for hybrid cars and wind turbines, for our
technological industry as a whole, are not that sustainable. Necessarily required minerals like neodymium
and indium are rare. And they are not available in the west, China has almost all of them. And having
this position of power, China wants to use it. That is about strategy. The high-tech raw materials play a
central part in the highly industrialised high-wage countries to survive the global competition by
technological excellence. Will future wars be about minerals instead of oil, territories or water? THE BONE
MARROW OF MODERN ECONOMY Minerals are an indispensable material pillar of our current economies and
societies. They are the natural product of geological processes and occur in the crust of the planet. Only a fraction of the
known minerals exists in greater quantities . Some of these are mined, refined and processed; are broken up into their
elemental components, which are recombined into different types of materials. These materials are used to manufacture
products that form the backbone of our modern economies: from LCD displays to fighter jets, from smart
phones to electric cars. Without minerals, industrial society and modern technology would be
inconceivable. That seems unbelievable, because we hardly hear or read about them in the media - whereas several research
reports have been published recently. But imagine that by reading this article on printed paper or at your computer screen, minerals
like nickel, chromium, molybdenum, gallium, selenium, aluminium, silicon and manganese were needed! And all these elements
have to be first extracted from minerals, which in turn need to be mined from the earth's crust. CHINA'S GREEN DEAL In recent
years, the world economy has grown enormously, and many new high-tech applications have been
made. Moreover, the demand for minerals has exploded. Mining tried to meet the demand. A global
competition between countries and companies over rare mineral resources started. Prices have shot up,
countries have created strategic stockpiles or imposed export restrictions in order to secure
supplies of these valuable resources. Mineral scarcity concerning the industry seems to be more of an
economic issue than an issue set by limited resources. Minerals are getting evermore difficult to find and
costly to extract - while they are the key to advanced sustainable technologies. Talking about
sustainability seems not talking about China, because China is still building many polluting coal-fired power plants,
and the social circumstances there are poor. However, recent developments also show progress concerning
sustainability. And in a country like China these developments go faster than in many western democracies. Where
we in the west talk and dawdle, they think and act strategically. In the United States, president Obama has to explain the Americans
that forms of the New Green Deal are inevitable - like the situation in the thirties of the last century, when President Roosevelt made
the so-called New Deal to reform the economy. Many Americans do not want the government to influence the market. They radically
believe in the free market. In China, by contrast, the ideological separation between market and government does not exist. There is
no Wall Street with greedy bankers, no neoconservative Grand Old Party that dreams of the cowboy economy. Decisions are taken
quickly. And besides, they have to feed one billion people and develop a country that lived in Mao-ist poverty before. The Chinese are
successful, after all, also in creating a sustainable economy: China does not only build old polluting power stations but uses the latest
technology, with CO2- catch and -storage. And they are working on alternatives: windmills. In the next five years, they will build
100,000 windmills in the Gobi desert. Did they hate the wind in that area before, now they consider it the new gold. In the northwest area of China, the province of Gansu, the Qilian-mountains pass into the Gobi desert. There China is building the biggest
windmill and solar panel park in the world. Six windmill parks with a capacity of ten gigawatts each are built, making China the
biggest market of technology of wind energy, defeating the United States. "Red China becomes green China", party officials are
saying. China has to grow, and so has the contribution of wind, water and sun at the energy market. This market would be
interesting for foreign investments. According to Chinese officials they are welcome and can get subsidies. But, Beijing has decided
that 70 percent of the windmills have to be made and designed in China. So it can be questioned if European and American
companies have a fair chance in tendering for a contract. China considers itself a developing country and thinks that the western
45
2AC REM Adv Resource Wars (2/2)

countries should contribute money to China to reduce the CO2 discharge. While America thought that energy saving is not
worthwhile, China has taken an enormous energy-technological lead. The authoritarian and undemocratic but intelligent China
exposes a variant of the New Deal. THE OPEC OF THE RARE MINERALS The example of China shows us that
sustainable economy has everything to do with strategy and power. In a few decades China has been
flooding the market of rare metals. The legend goes that president Deng Xiaoping had already predicted this in 1992,
during a tour in the south of China: "They [the Mid East] have oil, but we in China have rare minerals". Nowadays, China indeed
has 95 percent of the global supply of rare minerals. How did it do that? It was a result of good strategy: in
the nineties, China flooded the world market with the rare minerals, although there was not that much
demand. The west thought it okay because getting the minerals was a very expensive production process and the environmental
legislation was very strict. The western competitors went bankrupt and they closed their mines. China
became powerful. One of the centres of the rare mineral supply is around the city Baotou, an industrial city of two million
people in Inner Mongolia. Here the states concern exploits almost half of the world storage of neodymium. DISRUPTION OF THE
MARKET The lack of raw materials is not particularly a result of the geological availability but of disruptions in
the market, because the developments of the world wide demand for rare minerals are not recognised in time - as part of the
stormy development of the Chinese economy and the expansion of technical developments - and because the minerals
occur in only a few countries. Experts have predicted that in the next few decades the demand of neodymium will increase by a
factor 3.8. China uses 60 percent of its exploitation for its own economy. What's more, the Chinese export quota become stricter
every year. What happens? Sudden peaks in the demand can lead to speculative price movements and a disruption of the market.
"2010 will be the year of the raw materials", according to Trevor Greetham, Asset Allocation Director of Fidelity. Indium, a silverwhite metal, which is not found directly in nature, but is a residual product of thin and zinc, is used in LCD displays for TVs,
computers, mobile phones, and for led lights and the ultrathin and flexible solar panel. The price of this mineral multiplied tenfold
between 2003 and 2006 from 100 to 980 Dollars per kilogram. The price of neodymium decreased from 11.7 dollar per kilogram in
1992 to 7.4 dollar in 1996. The market volume rose. In 2006 almost all of the world production of 137,000 tons came from China. By
scaling back the export, prices rose, up to 60 dollar per kilogram in 2007. Imagine that for a hybrid car, like the Toyota Prius or the
Mercedes S 400, you need at least 500 grams of neodymium for the magnetic power of the engine; and for the newest generation of
wind turbines, the ones that are 16 meters high, you need about 1000 kilogram. That makes 60,000 dollars - for just a little bit of
metal! Big business for China. At the same time, China makes further strategic investments: it took an interest in oil and gas fields.
In August 2009, PetroChina paid 41 billion dollar to gain access to an enormous field of natural gas in front of the coast of Australia.
And in September that year, it obtained a stake of 60 percent in the exploitation of fields of tar sand in Alberta, which might hold
one of the biggest oil reserves in the world. And because China considers titanium a growing market, it took an interest of 70 percent
in a titanium mine in Kenia - not only to build the Chinese 'Jumbojet', but also to provide Boeing with 2000 tons of titanium each
year. By doing so, China might beat the competition in the battle for the market in green technologies. The 'free' market can be
questioned. The mineral policies of China and the US both mention the usage of administrative barriers. These nontariff barriers
involve regulations that seek to protect the national mineral extraction industry. As a result, it is much harder for foreign companies,
if not impossible, to invest and gain a foothold in the national mineral extraction industry in these countries. The search for rare
metals has become a global race: a mine in California has also been reopened, the mine of Mountain Pass. In 2008, it was bought by
a group of investors, the partnership 'Molycorp Minerals'. The process of bringing the old mines into use costs much time and
money. What does this mean for us? Do we get more dependent of China? The 'Innovationplatform' in Rotterdam planned to build a
unique windmill park in the sea, further from the coast and in the strongest sea wind than anywhere in the world. To build these
windmills, we need rare minerals, the export of which is dominated by China. Part of the project is Darwind, which designed
enormous windmills for at sea. But the umbrella company, of which Darwind is part, Econcern, was about to go bankrupt. Then, in
mid-August 2009 it was saved by the, surprisingly, Chinese XEMC. THE THREAT OF GEOPOLITICAL INSTABILITY The
transition to a sustainable economy involves underexposed elements like deficiency in minerals

and shifting balances of power. They are the ideal receipt for geopolitical instability . The new
world order will be a balance between countries that do have particular raw materials and ones that do
not. The lack of indispensable minerals sharpens the relations in the world. The access to critical
minerals is more and more an issue of national security, concluded the 'The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies'
(HCSS) in its report about the scarcity of minerals (January 2010). The US, Japan and China are making a policy that tries to
secure the supply of these raw materials. That will disturb the free market activity. HCSS thinks that large
concerns will, with support of the government, compete more intensively with each other for access to these raw materials, e.g. by
direct investments in areas rich in raw materials. Mineral scarcity will be an issue in the next decades, though it is uncertain when
and to what extent. And we have to do something because a change in supply of rare minerals directly affects our current modern
lives.
46
2AC REM Adv REMs Solve Hegemony

Rare earths are critical to all military systemsthe aff saves hegemony
Richardson, Visiting senior research fellow at the Institute of South East Asian Studies in
Singapore, 10 (Michael, 10-18-10, Yale Global Online, Chinas Chokehold On Rare-Earth
Minerals Raises Concerns, http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/chinas-rare-earth-minerals)
Yet China could keep its dominant grip on the rare-earths industry for some years. It holds 35 percent of
global reserves, but supplies over 95 percent of demand for rare-earth oxides, of which 60 percent is domestic,
according to Industrial Minerals Company of Australia, a consultancy. Just as important, Chinese companies, many of
them state-controlled, have advanced in their quest to make China the world leader in processing
rare-earth metals into finished materials. Success in this quest could give China a decisive
advantage not just in civilian industry, including clean energy, but also in military production if
Chinese manufacturers were given preferential treatment over foreign competitors. Cerium is the most abundant of the
17 rare earths, all of which have similar chemical properties. A cerium-based coating is non-corrosive and has
significant military applications. The Pentagon is due to finish a report soon on the risks of US military
dependence on rare earths from China. Their use is widespread in the defense systems of the US,
its allies, and other countries that buy its weapons and equipment. In a report to the US Congress in April, the
Government Accountability Office said that it had been told by officials and defense industry executives that where rare-earth
alloys and other materials were used in military systems, they were responsible for the functionality of the
component and would be difficult to replace without losing performance. For example, fin actuators in precision-guided
bombs are specifically designed around the capabilities of neodymium iron boron rare-earth magnets. The main
US battle tank, the M1AT: Abrams, has a reference and navigation system that relies on samarium cobalt
magnets from China. An official report last year on the US national defense stockpile said that shortages of four rare
earths lanthanum, cerium, europium and gadolinium had already caused delays in
producing some weapons. It recommended further study to determine the severity of the delays.
47
2AC REM Adv AT: No Shortage

REMs demand high now and increasing --- theyre worth trillions of dollars to the
manufacturing sector and global supplies are diminishing significantly
Els, Editor for Mining News, 6/29 (Frik, 6-29-14, Mining, Canada identifies top rare earth
projects, http://www.mining.com/canada-identifies-top-rare-earth-projects-48319/)
That equates to industry revenues at the primary level of a modest $4 billion annually . Though REE production is small
in comparison to other metals and minerals, the committee noted that REEs support a manufacturing
sector worth between $2 trillion and $4.8 trillion . Director general of the industry and analyst for the Department
of Natural Resources, Christiane Villemure, says in the report: "Over the last 10 to 15 years, the world
consumption of REEs has increased at 8% to 12% per annum, a trend that experts agree will
continue, and may increase." Industrial demand for certain REEs are projected to shoot up by as much as
2,600% by 2025 according to studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. That compares to a 30-year historical
production growth trend of roughly 5% annually. Five elements are highlighted in the report neodymium (Nd), Europium (Eu),
Terbium (Tb), Dysprosium (Dy) and Yttrium (Y) due to "scarcity, high demand, and criticality in much
high-tech application." The report quotes Luisa Moreno, senior research analyst at Euro Pacific Canada, that while China
supplies nearly all of the worlds heavy REE demand , its resources are diminishing significantly,
with "less than 30 years worth of estimated supply remaining."
48
2AC Disease Adv Ocean Research Solves

Ocean research is key --- holds unique properties for combatting diseases
National Academies 09 (Ocean Exploration, Highlights of National Academies Report,
http://policy.oceanleadership.org/wp-content/uploads/2009-National-Academies-OceanExploration.pdf)
In 2003, scientists made a discovery that set the telecommunications industry buzzing. The skeleton of a type of deep-sea sponge
known as the Venus Flower Basket, or Euplectella, was shown to consist of thin silicon fiers, called spicules, that transmit light at
least as well as commercial optical fiers. 1 Unlike manmade optical fiers that will break if bent too far, the silicon spicules of the
Venus Flower Basket can be tied in a knot without breaking. Marine biologists have known for decades that sponge skeletons
transmit light, but until recently they hadnt studied the light carrying properties of spicules. Even though practical applications
could be decades away, this deep-sea discovery gives researchers new perspectives on how nature
creates materials with nanoscale precision. There are many such discoveries. An enzyme, taken from bacteria that
break down fats in cold water, has been used to improve laundry detergent. A glowing green protein from jellyfish has been widely
used in medicine, helping researchers illuminate cancerous tumors and trace brain cells leading to Alzheimers diseasean
accomplishment that garnered the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the researchers Osamu Shimomura, Martin Chalfi, and Roger
Y. Tsien, who discovered and developed this technology. Each new discovery is a reminder of how little is
known about the ocean environment, which is so critically important to health and life on Earth.
To enable the full exploration of the oceans and seafloor and the sustainable development of their resources, the National Research
Council report Exploration of the Seas: Voyage into the Unknown (2003) recommended that the United States vigorously pursue
the establishment of a global ocean exploration program. Such an effort could be modeled after the federally funded space
exploration program, involving multiple federal agencies as well as international participation. Ocean Exploration and Human
Health At least 20,000 new biochemical substances from marine plants and animals have been
identified during the past 30 years, many with unique properties useful in fighting disease.
Biodiscovery researchers have had success in all types of ocean environments. A 1991 expedition by the Scripps Institution of
Oceanographys Paul Jensen and William Fenical resulted in the discovery of a new marine bacterium, Salinispora tropica, fou fnd
in the shallow waters off the Bahamas. This bacterium produces compounds that are being developed as anticancer agents and
antibiotics. It is related to the land-based Streptomyces genus, the source of more than half of our current suite of antibiotics.3
Deep-water marine habitats constitute a relatively untapped resource for the discovery of drugs. In early 2000, Shirley Pomponi and
Amy Wright from Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution explored deep waters a few miles off the shore of the Florida Keys.
Using the robotic claws and high-powered vacuums of the Johnson Sea-Link submersibles, the team gathered a host of deep-water
organisms. They met success with the discovery of a new genus of sponge, nicknamed the Rasta sponge, containing anticancer
compounds.4 The promise and problems of developing novel marine chemicals into bioproducts, from
pharmaceuticals to compounds used in agriculture, is examined in the National Research Council report Marine
Biotechnology in the Twenty-First Century. The report recommends revitalizing the search for new products
by making it a priority to explore unexamined habitats for new marine organisms.
49
2AC Disease Adv AT: No ABR Threat

Most recent evidence indicates it is a growing threat
The Pharmaceutical Journal 11/18/14 (The Pharmaceutical Journal, Antibiotic Resistance
a Threat to Public Safety in Europe, November 18, 2014, http://www.pharmaceuticaljournal.com/news-and-analysis/news-in-brief/antibiotic-resistance-a-threat-to-public-safetyin-europe/20067198.article)
Increasing bacterial resistance across Europe, particularly to carbapenems and polymixin antibiotics, is a
threat to public safety, according to the Stockholm-based European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
Data released by the ECDC to coincide with European Antibiotic Awareness Day (18 November 2014) show that,
although resistance to carbapenems has remained at a low level in most European countries, it increased from 4.6% in 2010
to 8.3% in 2013[1]. Carbapenems are a last-line defence against healthcare-associated infections, including Klebsiella pneumoniae.
Polymixins are essential for treating infections that are not susceptible to carbapenems. Data on resistance to polymixins were
collected by the ECDC for the first time in 2013. They show that K pneumoniae is becoming more resistant to these antibiotics.
Although the ECDC says that the data should be interpreted with caution owing to the low numbers of isolates tested and differences
in laboratory procedures, it warns that increasing resistance to polymixins is a cause for serious concern and a threat to public
safety. It adds: Resistance to polymixins is an important reminder that therapeutic options are
becoming even more limited.

Global antibiotic resistance is increasing rapidly - the ability to treat diseases at all
is close to collapsing ending modern medicine
Fukuda, 14 - Assistant Director-General Health Security, World Health Organization, 14
(Keiji, Antimicrobial resistance: global report on surveillance 2014 April,
http://www.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/112642/1/9789241564748_eng.pdf?ua=1)
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) within a wide range of infectious agents is a growing public health threat of
broad concern to countries and multiple sectors. Increasingly, governments around the world are beginning to pay attention to a
problem so serious that it threatens the achievements of modern medicine. A post-antibiotic erain
which common infections and minor injuries can killfar from being an apocalyptic fantasy, is
instead a very real possibility for the 21st century. Determining the scope of the problem is essential for formulating and
monitoring an effective response to AMR. This WHO report, produced in collaboration with Member States and other partners,
provides as accurate a picture as is presently possible of the magnitude of AMR and the current state of surveillance globally. The
report focuses on antibacterial resistance (ABR) in common bacterial pathogens. Why? There is a major gap in knowledge about the
magnitude of this problem and such information is needed to guide urgent public health actions. ABR is complex and
multidimensional. It involves a range of resistance mechanisms affecting an ever-widening range of bacteria, most of which can
cause a wide spectrum of diseases in humans and animals. One important finding of the report, which will serve as a baseline to
measure future progress, is that there are many gaps in information on pathogens of major public health importance. In addition,
surveillance of ABR generally is neither coordinated nor harmonized, compromising the ability to assess and monitor the situation.
Nonetheless, the report makes a clear case that resistance to common bacteria has reached alarming levels in
many parts of the world indicating that many of the available treatment options for common
infections in some settings are becoming ineffective. Furthermore, systematic reviews of the scientific evidence
show that ABR has a negative impact on outcomes for patients and health-care expenditures.
50
2AC Add-On Economy (1/2)

AUVs are vital to several industrieskey to competitive growth
NSF 11, National Science Foundation
Socioeconomic Impact Analysis Report for the Proposed Pioneer Array of the Ocean
Observatories Initiative ", NationalScienceFoundation.gov,
https://www.nsf.gov/geo/oce/envcomp/ooi/app-i-final-siar.pdf
Benefits from ocean observing flow to industry through two basic pathways: improving
efficiency and reducing risk. Better data on natural systems improve nowcasts5 and forecasts of
environmental conditions. Better nowcasts and forecasts allow business owners and consumers to make
better decisions reducing costs or improving revenues. Cost reductions can take the form of a container ship avoiding a
coastal storm or homeowners preparing better for that same storm. Tourists can reduce costs by avoiding
contaminated beaches and coastal resource managers can use data to avoid beach contamination in the first place. Better
nowcasts and forecasts reduce the number of search and rescue missions (SARs) because at-sea
risks are reduced; both for the ocean going vessel and the rescuer. For example, a recreational boater decides to stay at home
because of an accurate small craft advisory. This reduces costs for the recreator as she did not waste the time and fuel to drive to her
boat only to cancel the trip and return home, and it reduces costs to society because she did not take the trip and risk becoming the
focus of a SAR mission. Overall, NOAA (2008) estimates that the Coastal Ocean Observing System (COOS) in the U.S.
generates between $500 million and $1 billion in benefits to the U.S. economy each year . The
Pioneer Array is the only observing array on the east coast that is part of the proposed NSF-funded OOI; however, there are NOAAfunded COOS within the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.
51
2AC Add-On Economy (2/2)

Declining U.S. economic primacy triggers arms races, miscalc and great power war
Khalilzad, PhD, Former Ambassador and Professor, 11 Former Professor of Political Science
@ Columbia, Former ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan
(Zalmay Khalilzad was the United States ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq, and the United
Nations during the presidency of George W. Bush and the director of policy planning at the
Defense Department from 1990 to 1992. "The Economy and National Security" Feb 8
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/259024/economy-and-national-security-zalmaykhalilzad)//BB
Today, economic and fiscal trends pose the most severe long-term threat to the United States
position as global leader. While the United States suffers from fiscal imbalances and low economic
growth, the economies of rival powers are developing rapidly . The continuation of these two trends could
lead to a shift from American primacy toward a multi-polar global system, leading in turn to increased geopolitical rivalry and
even war among the great powers. The current recession is the result of a deep financial crisis, not a mere
fluctuation in the business cycle. Recovery is likely to be protracted. The crisis was preceded by the buildup over two decades of
enormous amounts of debt throughout the U.S. economy ultimately totaling almost 350 percent of GDP and the development of
credit-fueled asset bubbles, particularly in the housing sector. When the bubbles burst, huge amounts of wealth were destroyed, and
unemployment rose to over 10 percent. The decline of tax revenues and massive countercyclical spending put the U.S. government
on an unsustainable fiscal path. Publicly held national debt rose from 38 to over 60 percent of GDP in three years. Without
faster economic growth and actions to reduce deficits, publicly held national debt is projected to reach
dangerous proportions. If interest rates were to rise significantly, annual interest payments which already are larger than
the defense budget would crowd out other spending or require substantial tax increases that would undercut economic growth.
Even worse, if unanticipated events trigger what economists call a sudden stop in credit markets for U.S. debt, the United States
would be unable to roll over its outstanding obligations, precipitating a sovereign-debt crisis that would almost certainly compel a
radical retrenchment of the United States internationally. Such scenarios would reshape the international order. It was the economic
devastation of Britain and France during World War II, as well as the rise of other powers, that led both countries to relinquish their
empires. In the late 1960s, British leaders concluded that they lacked the economic capacity to maintain a presence east of Suez.
Soviet economic weakness, which crystallized under Gorbachev, contributed to their decisions to withdraw from Afghanistan,
abandon Communist regimes in Eastern Europe, and allow the Soviet Union to fragment. If the U.S. debt problem goes
critical, the United States would be compelled to retrench, reducing its military spending and shedding
international commitments. We face this domestic challenge while other major powers are
experiencing rapid economic growth. Even though countries such as China, India, and Brazil have profound political,
social, demographic, and economic problems, their economies are growing faster than ours, and this could alter the global
distribution of power. These trends could in the long term produce a multi-polar world. If U.S. policymakers fail to act and other
powers continue to grow, it is not a question of whether but when a new international order will emerge. The closing of the
gap between the United States and its rivals could intensify geopolitical competition
among major powers, increase incentives for local powers to play major powers against one
another, and undercut our will to preclude or respond to international crises because of
the higher risk of escalation. The stakes are high. In modern history, the longest period of peace among the great
powers has been the era of U.S. leadership. By contrast, multi-polar systems have been unstable, with their competitive dynamics
resulting in frequent crises and major wars among the great powers. Failures of multi-polar international systems produced both
world wars. American retrenchment could have devastating consequences. Without an American security blanket, regional powers
could rearm in an attempt to balance against emerging threats. Under this scenario, there would be a heightened
possibility of arms races, miscalculation, or other crises spiraling into all-out conflict.
Alternatively, in seeking to accommodate the stronger powers, weaker powers may shift their geopolitical posture away from the
United States. Either way, hostile states would be emboldened to make aggressive moves in their
regions.
52
2AC Add-On Natural Disasters (1/2)

AUVs are key to detection that helps predict and manage natural disasters
Smith & Marks 14Walter H.F. Smith is a Geophysicist in NOAA's Laboratory for Satellite Altimetry and
Chair of the scientific and technical sub-committee of GEBCOthis link opens in a new window, the international and
intergovernmental committee for the General Bathymetric Charts of the Oceans. Smith earned a B.Sc. at the
University of Southern California, M.A., M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees at Columbia University, and was a post-doctoral
fellow at the Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography before joining
NOAA in 1992. Karen Marks has worked as a Geophysicist since 1990 at the NOAA Laboratory for Satellite Altimetry
of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA. She received a B.S. in
Geology from the University of Florida, an M.S. in Geophysics from Boston College, and a Ph.D. in Geophysics from
the University of Houston, with a dissertation on the geophysics of the Australian-Antarctic Discordance Zone. Eos,
Vol. 95, No. 21, May 27th 2014 Full Journal Title is: Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union. It is a
weekly magazine of geophysics. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014EO210001/pdf
The depths in Figure 1 are from GEBCO [2010], which uses satellite altimetry to interpolate gaps between ship survey data publicly
available in open sources [Smith and Sandwell, 1994, 1997]. The accuracy of the positions and depths in these survey data limits the
accuracy of the satellite estimates. In addition, depth estimates from satellite altimetry are most accurate
where the seafloor topography is moderate and composed of oceanic crust overlain by less than 200 meters of
sediment [Smith and Sandwell, 1994]. Whittaker et al. [2013] estimate sediment thicknesses in the area
varying from 12 meters to 1.5 kilometers, and Deep Sea Drilling Project site 256 (gray dot in Figure 1) found 251 meters of
sediment [Davies et al., 1974]. The seabed in the MH370 search area records a complex geologic history of
the breakup of Australia, India, and Antarctica approximately 130 million years ago [Williams et al.,
2013a]. The shallowest depth in the area shown in Figure 1 is about 237 meters on Broken Ridge, a structure related to the
separation of Australia and Antarctica whose conjugate, the Kerguelen Plateau, lies on the Antarctic plate. Within the acoustic search
zone of Figure 1, the shallowest depth is about 1637 meters at the summit of Batavia Plateau. The deepest point in the area shown
also lies within the acoustic search zone, where the trough of the Wallaby- Zenith Fracture Zone plunges to an estimated 7883
meters, just south of the Zenith Plateau. These plateaus are fragments of continental crust, leftovers of Indo-Australian continental
breakup [Williams et al., 2013b], and are embedded in old, deep seafloor. The search for airplane debris in the open
ocean is not without precedent: On 1 June 2009, Air France flight AF447 disappeared over the
Atlantic Ocean. However, the present search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 takes place
under very different circumstances. When AF447 disappeared, there was little doubt about
where it would be found. The flight had not deviated significantly from its intended path from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, and
the aircraft was routinely sending messages monitoring the health of its flight systems along with its position. Warning and failure
messages generated by these systems in the last few minutes of flight helped to locate the crash site, and a surface search there found
floating debris and fuel slicks the very next day. In addition, the AF447 crash site was in an area already 100%
covered by a previous state-of-the-art bathymetric survey (MBES and GPS), and this knowledge of the
undersea terrain helped searchers select and program autonomous underwater vehicles
(AUVs) to search for the black boxes. Even so, they were not recovered until nearly 2 years after the crash. In
comparison, the MH370 crash site is very poorly known. There are no measured depths in
public databases at the locations where ping contacts were reported. Satellite altimetry estimates that
depths at the Chinese and Australian contact locations are about 4300 and 5160 meters, respectively, but these estimates are
quite uncertain and might be in error by approximately 250 meters or more. Selecting an appropriate AUV and programming its
search path require knowledge of the terrain. A Bluefin 21 AUV initially deployed over Zenith Plateau to search for
debris, for example, was not designed to operate at depths below 4500 meters. Lack of knowledge
of seafloor topography has other consequences . Bottom topography steers surface currents [Gille et al.,
2004] while bottom roughness controls ocean mixing rates [Kunze and Llewellyn Smith, 2004], and poor knowledge
of these characteristics limits the accuracy of forecasts of everything from the path of floating
debris to the path of tsunamis [Mofjeld et al., 2004] and the future of climate [Jayne et al., 2004]. The state of
knowledge of the seafloor in the MH370 search area, although poor, is typical of that in most of Earths oceans, particularly in the
Southern Hemisphere. In many remote ocean basins the majority of available data are celestially navigated analog measurements
[Smith, 1993] because systematic exploration of the oceans seems to have ceased in the early 1970s [Smith, 1993,
53
2AC Add-On Natural Disasters (2/2)

1998; Wessel and Chandler, 2011], leaving the ocean floors about as sparsely covered as the interstate highway system covers the
United States [see Smith and Sandwell, 2004, Figure 2]. When these sparse soundings are interpolated by satellite altimetry, as in
Figure 1, the resulting knowledge of seafloor topography is 15 times worse in the horizontal and 250 times worse in the vertical than
our knowledge of Martian topography [Smith, 2004]. Although a new bathymetric satellite altimeter mission could improve this
situation significantly [Smith and Sandwell, 2004], ships with echo sounders remain the best technology
for ocean mapping. The global ocean deeper than 500 meters (that is, deeper than the continental shelves) could be fully
surveyed with state-of-the art navigation and acoustic multibeam systems with a total effort of about 200 ship-years of vessel activity
at a total cost less than that of a typical planetary exploration mission [Carron et al., 2001]. Until there is such an effort, knowledge
of Earths ocean floors will remain limited to the resolution available from satellite altimetry, which is vastly poorer than our
knowledge of the topographies of Earths Moon, Mars, and Venus. Perhaps the data collected during the search for
MH370 will be contributed to public databanks
and will be a start of greater efforts to map Earths
ocean floor.
Natural disasters cause extinction and outweigh
Sid-Ahmed 5 [Mohamed, Al-Ahram Weekly Editor, Jan 6, The post-earthquake world,
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/724/op3.htm]
The human species has never been exposed to a natural upheaval of this magnitude within living memory. What happened in South
Asia is the ecological equivalent of 9/11. Ecological problems like global warming and climatic disturbances in general
threaten to make our natural habitat unfit for human life. The extinction of the species has
become a very real possibility, whether by our own hand or as a result of natural disasters of a
much greater magnitude than the Indian Ocean earthquake and the killer waves it spawned. Human civilisation has developed in the
hope that Man will be able to reach welfare and prosperity on earth for everybody. But now things seem to be moving in the opposite
direction, exposing planet Earth to the end of its role as a nurturing place for human life. Today, human conflicts have
become less of a threat than the confrontation between Man and Nature. At least they are
less likely to bring about

the end of the human species. The reactions of Nature as a result of its exposure to the onslaughts of
human societies have become more important in determining the fate of the human species than any
harm it can inflict on itself. Until recently, the threat Nature represented was perceived as likely to arise
only in the long run, related for instance to how global warming would affect life on our planet. Such a threat could take
decades, even centuries, to reach a critical level. This perception has changed following the devastating
earthquake and tsunamis that hit the coastal regions of South Asia and, less violently, of East Africa, on 26 December. This
cataclysmic event has underscored the vulnerability of our world before the wrath of Nature and shaken the sanguine belief that the
end of the world is a long way away. Gone are the days when we could comfort ourselves with the notion
that the extinction of the human race will not occur before a long-term future that will only materialise
after millions of years and not affect us directly in any way. We are now forced to live with the possibility
of an imminent demise of humankind.
54
***DEEP OCEAN AFFIRMATIVE***
55
1AC Plan
Plan: The United States federal government should substantially increase its deep
ocean exploration.
56
1AC Pharmaceutical Advantage (1/8)

Exploring deep oceans has the potential to unlock new pharmaceutical
innovations
Martins et al, 2014 (Ana, Assistant Professor and Head of the Oceanography Department at the University of the
Azores, Helena Vieira, Helena Gaspar, Susana Santos, Marketed Marine Natural Products in the Pharmaceutical and Cosmeceutical
Industries: Tips for Success, Mar Drugs 12(2): 1066-1101, February 17, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3944531/)
Natural products (NP) are usually small molecules, with a molecular weight below 3000 Da, which are produced by a biological source such
as plants, animals and microorganisms, but which occurrence may be limited to a particular taxonomic family, genus, species or even organism [1].
They are often called secondary metabolites because, predominantly, they are not biosynthesized by the general metabolic pathways and have no
primary function directly involved in the normal growth, development or reproduction of an organism. They are generally used by organisms to control
ecological relationships that involve defense against predation, competition for space and food, interspecies communication for the purposes of mating,
hunting or quorum signaling, among other functions. NP have long been a traditional source of medicines , and are still
nowadays considered the most successful supply of potential drug leads with more than 1 million new chemical entities discovered so far [2,3].
Historical examples of early identified natural compounds are undoubtedly the isolation of morphine from Papaver somniferum poppies, first reported
in 1803, and the discovery in 1929 by Flemming of the first antibiotic penicillin from the fungus Penicillium notatum [3]. Since then, numerous other
These compounds are

known to present several advantages as compared with non-natural compounds such as high
chemical diversity, biochemical specificity, binding efficiency and propensity to interact with
biological targets, which make them favorable lead structures. Suitable natural sources for the discovery of new
potentially bioactive molecules are numerous, but marine environment, harboring a vast variety of organisms
differing in their physiology and adaptation capacity, is becoming a top spot for the
identification of new drug leads. From the over 33 animal phyla described to date, 32 are represented in the aquatic environment,
NP have been isolated and identified with 60% of the drugs currently on the market being of natural origin [4].
with 15 being exclusively marine [5]. Despite the fact that oceans cover more than 70% of the earths surface, the exploration of marine ecosystems has
only began in the mid 1970s, with the emergence of modern snorkeling, the introduction of scuba in 1970 and later, around 1990, with the use of
remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) [2]. Due to technical limitations, exploitation of marine organisms started with the collection of large creatures such
as red algae,
sponges and soft corals, which were shown to produce a large variety of compounds with
quite unique chemical structures [6]. Invertebrates alone comprise approximately 60% of all marine animals and were described as
the source of more than 11,000 new NP since 1990 [7,8,9]. With the continuous exploitation of the marine environment, attention turned to
microorganisms such as marine cyanobacteria , marine fungi, and several other groups of marine bacteria due to their
biological and habitat diversity, which resulted in the ability to produce metabolites with unmatched structures [10].
Microorganisms constitute nowadays a prolific source of structurally diverse bioactive metabolites
and have yielded some of the most important active ingredients known today [11]. Recently it was even
realized that many compounds previously isolated from marine macroorganisms, such as sponges and tunicates, are in fact, metabolic products of
associated microorganisms [12,13]. Due
to their broad panel of bioactivities such as anti-tumor, antimicrotubule, anti-proliferative, photoprotective, antibiotic and anti-infective marine natural
products (MNP) are exceptionally interesting high-value ingredients for applications in the
pharmaceutical industry and more and more companies are investing in this field. Following the same trend, cosmetics industry is
progressively turning to the sea in the search for new ingredients. Traditionally, in the field of cosmetic industry cosmetics were defined as articles to be
applied to human body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering the appearance without affecting body structure or functions
[20]. However, more recently, the cosmetic industry introduced a special class of products, the cosmeceuticals, as a combination of cosmetics and
pharmaceuticals, as bioactive ingredients are now combined with creams, lotions and ointments [21]. Interestingly, an increasing number of suppliers
of the cosmetic industry are being pushed to include extracts made from costal plants, seaweeds, algae and sea minerals into cosmeceutical ingredients.
These extracts contain vitamins and minerals and they show ultraviolet and anti-oxidant protection and general anti-aging benefits [22,23,24,25]. In
fact, activities such as antioxidant, anti-wrinkle, anti-tyrosinase and anti-acne are among the most usual activities of marine cosmetic ingredients for
skin health [21,26]. Hence, an entire new paradigm of beauty care, combining cosmetics and pharmaceuticals properties into novel products with
biologically active ingredients, will be the hallmark of the next decades. The aim of this review is to outline the role of MNP in pharmaceutical and
cosmeceutical industries, to identify the main bottlenecks found during the process of discovery and development, and to give an overview over the
compounds that entered successfully in those markets. Tips for success will also be given so that more MNP can reach the market.
57

We are currently missing out on this opportunity, only the plan can revitalize the
pharmaceutical industry
Skropeta, 2008 (Danielle, Ph.D. from Australian National University, Deep-Sea Natural Products,
http://pubs.rsc.org.turing.library.northwestern.edu/en/content/articlehtml/2008/np/b808743a)
Over the past 50 years, approximately 20,000
natural products have been reported from marine flora and

fauna, and yet less than 2% of those derive from deep-water marine organisms.1 The vast oceans cover 70%
of the world's surface, with 95% greater than 1000 m deep .2Although difficulty in accessing these depths has
previously hindered deep-sea research, today with improved acoustic technology and greater access to submersibles, deep-sea exploration is
It has
been estimated that the number of species inhabiting the world's oceans may be as high as 10
million,4 and the ocean fringe with its high concentration of competing species was always thought to have the highest species diversity. On the
contrary, recent analyses have shown that the deep sea is one of the most biodiverse and species-rich habitats
on the planet, rivalling that of coral reefs and rainforests . With over 60% of drugs on the market of natural origin,
natural products can be considered the foundation of the pharmaceutical industry. 10 Although in recent
uncovering extensive deep-water coral reefs that are home to a wealth of species on continental shelves and seamounts world-wide (Fig. 1).3
years the pharmaceutical industry decreased its activity in this area, today natural product-based drug discovery is experiencing a renaissance.11 In
particular, the marine environment, a rich source of structurally unique, bioactive metabolites, has produced a number of drug candidates that are
currently in clinical trials.1216 In the ever-expanding search for sources of new chemical diversity, the
exploration of deep-sea
fauna has emerged as a new frontier in drug discovery and development . Novel marine actinomycetes
obtained from deep oceanic sediments such as the Mariana trench, are a promising source of new and
unexplored chemical diversity for drug discovery. There are vastly different environmental conditions and oceanographic
parameters at play in the deep-sea (Fig. 2).26,27 Pressure increases by 1 atm for every 10 m below sea level, thereby varying from 10 atm at the shelfslope interface to >1000 atm in the deepest part of the trenches. Consequently, species inhabiting these depths must adapt their biochemical machinery
to cope with such pressures. Temperatures taper off rapidly with increasing depth down to [similar]2 C at bathal depths of >2000 m. As lower
temperatures reduce the rates of chemical reactions, deep-sea species must adjust their biochemical processes to function at depressed temperatures.
Light penetration decreases exponentially with depth, such that below 250 m essentially no light penetrates. In the dark, cold depths of the ocean,
vision becomes less important, and it is presumed that chemoreception and mechanoreception play greater roles. The near-bottom current is much
slower in the deep sea compared to shallow-water with speeds of around 10 cm s1 at bathyal depths and 4 cm s1 at abyssal depths. The average
metabolic rates and growth rates are lower than shallow-water species, however the latter is closely aligned to food availability. In the deep-sea the pH
is typically around 828,29 and the salinity about 35% and therefore entirely marine, with a relatively low level of variability. The sediment comprises
weathered rock washed into the sea by wind and rivers, as well as planktonic material obtained from the water above.26,27 Deep-sea
organisms survive under extreme conditions in the absence of light, under low levels of oxygen and intensely high pressures,
all of which may affect their primary metabolic pathways and consequently their secondary metabolites.31,32 For this reason, deep-sea fauna
are expected to have a greater genetic diversity than their shallow-water counterparts, and a
higher probability of containing structurally unique metabolites . The extraordinarily high level of diversity of deepsea benthic fauna has been well known, and the mechanism to explain it hotly debated, since the 1960s.5,3336 Soft-bottom deep-sea fauna are found
to be similar at the higher taxonomic level to shallow-water fauna and consist primarily of megafauna such as echinoderms (sea cucumbers, star fish,
brittle stars) and anemones; macrofauna such as polychaetes, bivalve molluscs, isopods, amphipods and other crustacea; and meiofauna which
primarily comprise foraminifers, nematodes and copepods, while hard-bottom deep-sea fauna are dominated by sponges and cnidarians(soft corals,
gorgonians). At the species level, however, deep-sea
fauna are found to contain a high number of single rare

species, with more than half being new to science, and with some taxa comprising almost entirely of new species. In addition, many of the
species are found to exclusively inhabit the deep sea, with high levels of biodiversity extending to
abyssal depths of 5000 m.26,27 Recent sampling expeditions by the ANDEEP (Antarctic benthic deep-sea biodiversity) project in the Southern
Ocean deep sea revealed extremely high levels of biodiversity across a range of taxa including meio-, macro- and megafauna, with the highest levels of
species richness amongst the first two. In general, abundance decreased with increasing depth, while species richness increased with the highest
number of species found at bathyal depths of 3000 m. Depth and biogeography trends were found to vary between taxa, and there was an apparent
higher species richness for many taxa of the Southern ocean compared to the Arctic deep sea.
58

Specifically, marine-based drug discovery is critical to innovations that effectively
solve global disease pandemics
NRC 2009 (Ocean Exploration: Highlights of National Academies Reports, National Academies Ocean Science
Series, http://oceanleadership.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Ocean_Exploration.pdf)
The ocean benefits human health and well-being in immeasurable ways. The nutritional benefits of eating fish, rich in protein and
omega-3 fatty acids, make the ocean an indispensablebut not unlimitedsource of healthy food. Ocean science is revealing many other ways the
ocean can benefit human health, from providing new sources of drugs to helping unravel many of the
mysteries of human disease. The Ocean Is the Most Promising Frontier for Sources of New Drugs In 1945, a young organic chemist named Werner
Bergmann set out to explore the waters off the coast of southern Florida. Among the marine organisms he scooped from the sand that day was a Caribbean sponge that would
later be called Cryptotethya crypta. Back in his lab, Bergmann extracted a novel compound from this sponge that aroused his curiosity. The chemical Bergmann identified in this
sponge, spongothymidine, eventually led to the development of a whole class of drugs that treat cancer and viral diseases and are still in use today. For example, Zidovudine
(AZT) fights the AIDS virus, HIV, and cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C) is used in the treatment of leukemias and lymphomas. Acyclovir speeds the healing of eczema and some
herpes viruses. These are just a few examples of how the study of marine organisms contributes to the health of thousands of men, women, and children around the world.
New antibiotics, in addition to new drugs for fighting cancer, inflammatory diseases, and
neurodegenerative diseases (which often cannot be treated successfully today), are greatly needed. With drug resistance
nibbling away at the once-full toolbox of antibiotics, the limited effectiveness of currently available drugs
has dire consequences for public health. Historically, many medicines have come from nature mostly from land-based natural organisms.
Because scientists have nearly exhausted the supply of terrestrial plants, animals, and
microorganisms that have interesting medical properties, new sources of drugs are needed. Occupying more than 70 percent of the
Earths surface, the ocean is a virtually unexplored treasure chest of new and unidentified species one
of the last frontiers for sources of new natural products . These natural products are of special
interest because of the dazzling diversity and uniqueness of the creatures that make the sea their
home. One reason marine organisms are so interesting to scientists is because in adapting to the various ocean environments, they have evolved
fascinating repertoires of unique chemicals to help them survive. For example, anchored to the seafloor, a sponge that
protects itself from an animal trying to take over its space by killing the invader has been compared with the human immune system trying to kill foreign cancer cells. That same
sponge, bathed in seawater containing millions of bacteria, viruses, and fungi, some of which could be pathogens, has developed antibiotics to keep those pathogens under
control. Those same antibiotics could be used to treat infections in humans.
Sponges, in fact, are among the most prolific sources of
diverse chemical compounds. An estimated 30 percent of all potential marine-derived medications currently in the pipelineand about 75 percent of
recently patented marine-derived anticancer compoundscome from marine sponges. Marine-based microorganisms are another
particularly rich source of new medicines. More than 120 drugs available today derive from land-based microbes. Scientists see marine-based
microbes as the most promising source of novel medicines from the sea. In all, more than 20,000 biochemical compounds have been isolated from sea creatures since the 1980s.
Because drug discovery in the marine frontier is a relatively young field, only a few marinederived drugs are in use today. Many others are in the pipeline. One example is Prialt, a drug developed from the venom of a fish-killing cone snail. The
cone snails produce neurotoxins to paralyze and kill prey; those neurotoxins are being developed as neuromuscular blocks for individuals with chronic pain, stroke, or epilepsy.
Other marinederived drugs are being tested against herpes, asthma, and breast cancer. The National Research Council report Marine Biotechnology in the Twenty-First Century
(2002) concluded A cone snail uses its powerful venom to kill a fish. Prialt, an effective medication for managing chronic pain in AIDS and cancer patients, was derived from the
the exploration of unique

deep-sea environments, and the isolation and culture of marine microorganisms offer
two underexplored opportunities for discovery of novel chemicals with therapeutic potential. The
successes to date, which are based upon a very limited investigation of both deep-sea organisms
and marine microorganisms, suggest a high potential for continued discovery of new drugs Marine Organisms
venom produced by this type of snail. (Image from Kerry Matz, University of Utah, Salt Lake City) OCEAN SCIENCE SERIES that
habitats, such as
Provide Models for Understanding Human Biology Among the most fascinating aspects of ocean science is the use of marine creatures as models for unraveling the mysteries of
basic biochemical and physiological processes. Scientists have made many remarkable discoveries by studying marine life. For example, the big purple slug offers researchers
clues about learning and memory.
59

Pandemics cause extinction
Yu 9 (Victoria, Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science, Human Extinction: The Uncertainty of Our Fate, 22
May 2009, http://dujs.dartmouth.edu/spring-2009/human-extinction-the-uncertainty-of-our-fate)
A pandemic will kill off all humans. In the past, humans have indeed fallen victim to viruses.
Perhaps the best-known case was the bubonic plague that killed up to one third of the European
population in the mid-14th century (7). While vaccines have been developed for the plague and
some other infectious diseases, new viral strains are constantly emerging a process that
maintains the possibility of a pandemic-facilitated human extinction. Some surveyed students mentioned
AIDS as a potential pandemic-causing virus. It is true that scientists have been unable thus far to find a sustainable cure for AIDS,
mainly due to HIVs rapid and constant evolution. Specifically, two factors account for the viruss abnormally high mutation rate: 1.
HIVs use of reverse transcriptase, which does not have a proof-reading mechanism, and 2. the lack of an error-correction
mechanism in HIV DNA polymerase (8). Luckily, though, there are certain characteristics of HIV that make it a poor candidate for a
large-scale global infection: HIV can lie dormant in the human body for years without manifesting itself, and AIDS itself does not kill
directly, but rather through the weakening of the immune system. However, for more easily transmitted viruses such as influenza,
the evolution of new strains could prove far more consequential. The simultaneous occurrence of
antigenic drift (point mutations that lead to new strains) and antigenic shift (the inter-species transfer of
disease) in the influenza virus could produce a new version of influenza for which scientists may not
immediately find a cure. Since influenza can spread quickly, this lag time could potentially lead to a global
influenza pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (9). The most recent scare of this variety came
in 1918 when bird flu managed to kill over 50 million people around the world in what is sometimes referred to as the Spanish flu
pandemic. Perhaps even more frightening is the fact that only 25 mutations were required to convert the original viral strain
which could only infect birds into a human-viable strain (10).
60

Also, a strong pharmaceutical sector prevents economic collapse
Washington Post, 2014 (Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, One Perscription for U.S.
Economic Growth, May 5, http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/brand-connect/wp/enterprise/one-prescription-for-u-s-economicgrowth/)
After withering under six years of financial storm clouds, the U.S. economic forecast appears to be showing new life. But leaders
in government and business have
work to do if they want to create an environment that not only

encourages continued growth, but accelerates it versus global competitors. One area ripe for harvest: U.S.
biopharmaceuticals. The U.S. currently leads the world in biopharmaceutical invention. And according to a new report by the
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and the Battelle Technology Partnership Practice, this pioneering
role and investment in innovation not only creates a favorable environment for improved patient outcomes and
the development of new medicines, it could also help spur the U.S. economy by adding more
than 300,000 jobs in the next 10 years. The report looks at two possible 10-year trajectories. One examines a future of
continued investment and growth, while the other imagines the U.S. falling behind competitor nations, including Brazil, Singapore
and China, which are investing in their own biopharmaceutical industries. Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom have been
longstanding competitors in this sector as well. The differentiator? Whether or not the U.S. embraces advanced policies. If current
trends continue, industry leaders cited in the report predict the next 10 years will bring only modest growth, and biopharmaceutical
companies could lose nearly 150,000 jobs, according to the report. A lack of investment in innovation could have
major implications for both the overall economy and the biopharmaceutical industry, which generates
nearly $790 billion in the U.S. each year, supports more than 3 million jobs and helps improve the
quality of life for millions of Americans. The message is clear: the continued success of the biopharmaceutical
industry both in delivering life-saving and life-enhancing medicines to patients and in contributing to U.S.
economic growth is dependent on thoughtful, forward-looking policies that prioritize innovation, says
John J. Castellani, President and CEO of PhRMA. What are the factors that promote growth? The report outlines a number of
recommendations, including the following: Increase understanding around the costs of new product development. Ensure
appropriate protection for intellectual property and promote access to innovative medicines to give biopharmaceutical companies
the incentive they need to continue to develop cutting-edge therapies. Ensure that startup efforts have the private financial backing
they need to develop new medicines. Revise the drug-approval process to help get new medications to market more quickly. Back
educational efforts to create a strong workforce. Provide economic innovation incentives to fuel growth. The current regulatory
climate without these changes may stifle growth and have a negative effect on innovation. This report vividly illustrates the
inextricable link between a healthy biopharmaceutical R&D system and the health care policy environment, says Robert J. Hugin,
PhRMA Immediate Past Chairman and CEO of Celgene Corporation, in a written release. Sustainable, market-based access and
reimbursement for innovative medicines today is essential to incentivize the long-term, high-risk investment needed for new
medical innovations in the future. The ability to innovate quickly is becoming the most important
determinant of economic growth and a nations ability to compete and prosper in the 21st century global knowledgebased economy. As this new report indicates, the U.S. must focus squarely on ensuring that its policies help
encourage such invention, not hinder it.
61

An innovative pharmaceutical industry is also critical to sustain long-term growth
Lechleiter, 2012 (John, Ph.D. and Senior Organic Chemist in Research and Development, Beyond the Fiscal Cliff,
Pharmaceutical Innovation is the Key to Long-Term Fiscal Health, December 11,
http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnlechleiter/2012/12/11/beyond-the-fiscal-cliff-pharmaceutical-innovation-is-the-key-to-longterm-fiscal-health/)
the long-term budget deficit will depend in large part on two

key trendlines: health care costs and economic growth. Id like to explain how pharmaceutical innovation
can be a key positive factor in both areas if it isnt choked off by short-sighted efforts to close the budget gap. The first trendline: health care
costs. Back in 2009, then-budget director Peter Orszag wrote, Over the long run, the deficit impact of every other fiscal policy
variable is swamped by the impact of health-care costs. That hasnt changed. One big reason: 10,000 Americans will reach
When you look beyond the current fiscal cliff brinksmanship,
retirement age every day for the next 19 years. Medicare is the fastest-growing major entitlement, growing 68 percent since 2002, according to the Heritage Foundation. And
these folks, as a whole, can be expected to live longer than those who started receiving benefits when Medicare was enacted in the 1960s. So, while pharmaceuticals account for
only 10 percent of health care spending, medicines are inevitably caught up in efforts to tame its growth. In countries around the world including the U.S. our biggest
customer is the government, operating a health care system faced with relentlessly rising costs of caring for an aging population. Yet those medicines often represent the most
cost-effective approach to preventing and treating disease. Thats the true value of pharmaceutical innovation. To cite just one example, Columbia University economist Frank
Lichtenberg has estimated that every dollar Medicare spends on new medicines saves six dollars in other health care costs, on things like hospitalizations and physicians
services. This finding was borne out by a 2011 study of the Medicare Part D prescription drug program, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study
found that older Americans who previously lacked comprehensive drug coverage saved about $1,200 in medical costs the year they signed up for Part D. If we apply that to the 11
million seniors who have gained comprehensive coverage through Part D, total savings exceed $13 billion. And new medicines ultimately yield a legacy of cost-effective generics,
we need continued
innovation to address serious medical needs unmet by current medicines or by any other medical intervention.
For example, a recent study found that new treatments that could delay the onset of Alzheimers disease for five years
would save U.S. government health care programs $140 billion annually by 2030. As Washington grapples with the
which today account for 80 percent of U.S. prescriptions and are actually less expensive here than in other countries around the world. But
difficult trade-offs of entitlement reform, innovation is the best hope of making those choices less painful of providing better health care without busting the budget. The
second trendline: economic growth. As President Obama has noted, The single most important thing we can do to reduce our debt and deficits is to grow. Heres an area where
Innovative pharmaceuticals are a U.S. economic strength
our industry would appreciate more attention.

, a 21st century industry
where the U.S. has gained world leadership in the past 30 years. The U.S. share of new medicines during the decade 2001-2010 was 57 percent, compared with 33 percent for
The biopharmaceuticals sector accounts

for about 650,000 jobs nationwide, and contributes around $917 billion to the economy each
year, according to a 2011 report by Battelle. And if we include clinical testing centers, supply chain managers, and other partners, our industry supports 4 million jobs across
the nation. The value of U.S. biopharmaceutical exports totaled $232 billion between 2005 and 2010 and grew 61 percent
over six years. Its hard to find another U.S. industry that can match that record. In sum, innovative
pharmaceuticals can contribute to both sides of the long-term fiscal ledger by helping hold down
health care costs and driving economic growth. But that may not happen if pharmaceuticals are seen first and foremost as a ready source
France, Germany, Switzerland, and the UK combined reversing the relative positions in the 1970s.
of near-term revenues. One particularly troublesome idea, included in the Presidents proposals, calls for extending Medicaid price controls on medicines into Medicare Part D.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that such a proposal would cut revenues for research-based pharmaceutical companies by well over $100 billion over the next 10
years. Keep in mind that it takes well over $1 billion for companies like ours to bring a new medicine to patients. In a March 2011 report, the CBO cites a key disadvantage of
extending Medicaid rebates to Part D would be to reduce the amount of funds that manufacturers invest in research and development of new products. The potential cost is
real, as R&D cutbacks delay or derail the next breakthrough treatment for diabetes or Alzheimers. And it would impose costs on the economy, as well. A 2011 analysis by Battelle
Memorial Institute estimated that such a $10 billion to $20 billion per year reduction in pharmaceutical industry revenue would result in 130,000 to 260,000 lost jobs.
Ironically, Medicare Part D happens to be the rare example of a government program that has cost far less than anticipated. According to the CBO, it is coming in 43 percent or
$435 billion below initial projections for its first seven years. Part D shows how the power of competition can improve government health care programs but thats a subject
Policymakers face a daunting task in closing the yawning gap between revenues and
expenditures in the coming years, but targeting medical innovation is a particularly counterproductive
approach. The trends are clear: Starving medical innovation to hit short-term fiscal targets will only make the next round of budget talks that much harder.
for another day.
62

Economic decline causes global nuclear war
Harris and Burrows, 2009 (Mathew, PhD European History at Cambridge, counselor in the National Intelligence
Council (NIC) and Jennifer, member of the NICs Long Range Analysis Unit Revisiting the Future: Geopolitical Effects of the
Financial Crisis http://www.ciaonet.org/journals/twq/v32i2/f_0016178_13952.pdf)
Increased Potential for Global Conflict Of course, the report encompasses more than economics and indeed believes the future is
likely to be the result of a number of intersecting and interlocking forces. With so many possible permutations of outcomes, each
with ample Revisiting the Future opportunity for unintended consequences, there is a growing sense of insecurity. Even so,
history may be more instructive than ever. While we continue to believe that the Great Depression is not
likely to be repeated, the lessons to be drawn from that period include
the harmful effects on fledgling

democracies and multiethnic societies (think Central Europe in 1920s and 1930s) and on the sustainability
of multilateral institutions (think League of Nations in the same period). There is no reason to think that
this would not be true in the twenty-first as much as in the twentieth century. For that reason, the
ways in which the potential for greater conflict could grow would seem to be even more apt in a constantly
volatile economic environment as they would be if change would be steadier. In surveying those risks, the
report stressed the likelihood that terrorism and nonproliferation will remain priorities even as resource issues move up on the
international agenda. Terrorisms appeal will decline if economic growth continues in the Middle
East and youth unemployment is reduced. For those terrorist groups that remain active in 2025, however, the
diffusion of technologies and scientific knowledge will place some of the worlds most dangerous capabilities within their reach.
Terrorist groups in 2025 will likely be a combination of descendants of long established groups_inheriting organizational
structures, command and control processes, and training procedures necessary to conduct sophisticated attacks_and newly
emergent collections of the angry and disenfranchised that become self-radicalized, particularly in the
absence of economic outlets that would become narrower in an economic downturn . The
most dangerous casualty of any economically-induced drawdown of U.S. military presence
would almost certainly be the Middle East. Although Irans acquisition of nuclear weapons is not inevitable, worries
about a nuclear-armed Iran could lead states in the region to develop new security arrangements
with external powers, acquire additional weapons, and consider pursuing their own
nuclear ambitions. It is not clear that the type of stable deterrent relationship that existed between the great powers for
most of the Cold War would emerge naturally in the Middle East with a nuclear Iran. Episodes of low intensity
conflict and terrorism taking place under a nuclear umbrella could lead to an unintended escalation and
broader conflict if clear red lines between those states involved are not well established. The close proximity of
potential nuclear rivals combined with underdeveloped surveillance capabilities and mobile dual-capable Iranian
missile systems also will produce inherent difficulties in achieving reliable indications and warning
of an impending nuclear attack. The lack of strategic depth in neighboring states like Israel, short warning
and missile flight times, and uncertainty of Iranian intentions may place more focus on preemption
rather than defense, potentially leading to escalating crises. 36 Types of conflict that the world continues to
experience, such as over resources, could reemerge,particularly if protectionism grows and there is
a resort to neo-mercantilist practices. Perceptions of renewed energy scarcity will drive countries to
take actions to assure their future access to energy supplies. In the worst case, this could result in interstate conflicts
if government leaders deem assured access to energy resources, for example, to be essential for
maintaining domestic stability and the survival of their regime. Even actions short of war, however, will
63

Continued no text deleted
have important geopolitical implications. Maritime security concerns are providing a rationale for naval buildups
and modernization efforts, such as Chinas and Indias development of blue water naval capabilities. If the fiscal stimulus
focus for these countries indeed turns inward, one of the most obvious funding targets may be
military. Buildup of regional naval capabilities could lead to increased tensions, rivalries, and
counterbalancing moves, but it also will create opportunities for multinational cooperation in protecting critical sea
lanes. With water also becoming scarcer in Asia and the Middle East, cooperation to manage
changing water resources is likely to be increasingly difficult both within and between states
in a more dog-eat-dog world.
64
2AC Pharmaceutical Advantage Uniqueness

US pharmaceutical spending is at an all-time low
LaMattina 14 (John LaMattina is an expert in the pharma industry and a writer for Forbes. Pharma R&D Cuts Hurting U.S.
Competitive Standing < http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnlamattina/2014/01/03/pharma-rd-cuts-hurting-u-s-competitivestanding/>)
A recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) should send warning signals to
all interested in the state of the biopharmaceutical R&D in the U.S. The article, Asias Ascent Global
Trends in Biomedical R&D Expenditures, analyzes global biomedical R&D spending for the period between 2007 and 2012. While
the article focuses on the relative rise in spending by Japan, China and India, the eye-opening data for me are the
numbers from the U.S. The authors point out that the U.S. share of this global spend has
fallen from 51.2% in 2007 to 45.4% in 2012. Europes investment was essentially unchanged and Asias
increased from 18.1% to 23.8%. Further digging into the numbers revealed the following. The decline of $12.0 billion in
the inflation-adjusted U.S. expenditures from 2007 to 2012 was therefore driven by a $12.9
billion reduction in industrys investment in R&D. The U.S. share of global industry R&D
expenditures decreased from 50.4% in 2007 to 42.3% in 2012. The authors later say that The decline
is remarkable because the United States has provided a majority of the funding from biomedical
R&D globally for the past two decades a share that some previous analyses suggested was as
high as 70 80%. Moreover, the decline was driven almost entirely by reduced investment by
industry, not the public sector, between 2007 and 2012. Much of the news from the pharmaceutical industry
over the past five years has been about scaling back R&D. Companies like Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Merck have done just that, much
to the delight of Wall Street analysts who have been urging pharmaceutical companies to rethink reinvesting 17 20% of revenues
into R&D and to scale this back to 10 14 %. While such a decrease in spending can bring short-term
returns with respect to higher financial returns, such policies have negative long-term
consequences. Those companies that aggressively cut their R&D budgets will ultimately experience shrinking pipelines. More
importantly, for patients, these cuts will lessen the chances of coming up with new medicines for
diabetes, Alzheimers disease, cancer, etc. Ironically, this is coming at a time when new insights
into the cause of disease are occurring on a daily basis. Yet, as part of these cuts, major companies are getting
out of research in key areas like antibacterials, depression, schizophrenia and AIDS. While some of this work is being picked up by
small biotechs and start-ups, this situation is far from ideal. Is there anything that can be done to reverse this trend? The NEJM
authors suggest that: Instead, even as it boosts NIH funding, the U.S. government might also develop strategies to provide
incentives to industry for investing in biomedical R&D. Thats a nice suggestion, but given the current state of
pharmas reputation and the pressures on the U.S. healthcare budget, I find it hard to believe
that R&D incentives for pharma will have much traction in Congress. Increased R&D spend will
only occur if courageous CEOs decide to do so.
65
2AC Pharmaceutical Advantage Oceans Key (1/5)

Ocean exploration is key to disease solving pharmaceuticals
Haefner 2003 (Haefner is the department head of the inflammatory diseases at Johnston and Johnston. Drugs from the
Deep: marine natural products as drug candiates
<http://www.researchgate.net/publication/10696056_Drugs_from_the_deep_marine_natural_products_as_drug_candidates/fil
e/9c96052034555dd176.pdf>))
In recent years, marine natural product bioprospecting has yielded a considerable number of
drug candidates. Most of these molecules are still in preclinical or early clinical development but
some are already on the market, such as cytarabine, or are predicted to be approved soon, such as ET743 (Yondelism).
Research into the ecology of marine natural products has shown that many of these compounds
function as chemical weapons and have evolved into highly potent inhibitors of physiological
processes in the prey, predators or competitors of the marine organisms that use them . Some of the
natural products isolated from marine invertebrates have been shown to be, or are suspected to be, of microbial origin and this is
now thought to be the case for the majority of such molecules. Marine microorganisms, whose immense genetic
and biochemical diversity is only beginning to be appreciated, look likely to become a rich
source of novel chemical entities for the discovery of more effective drugs . More than
70% of our planet's surface is covered by oceans and life on Earth has its origin in the sea. Ln
certain marine ecosystems, such as coral reefs or the deep-sea oor. Experts estimate that the biological
diversity is higher than in tropical rainforests. Many marine organisms are soft bodied and have a sedentary life style necessitating
chemical means of defense. Therefore, they have evolved the ability to synthesize toxic compounds or to obtain them from marine
microorganisms. These compounds help them deter predators. Keep competitors at bay or paralyze their prey. The
overwhelming biological diversity of marine microbes has so far only been

explored to a very limited extent. This diversity is believed to give rise to an equally high diversity of secondary
metabolites synthesized by the marine microfauna and microflora Natural products released into the water are
rapidly diluted and, therefore, need to be highly potent to have any effect. For this reason. and
because of the immense biological diversity in the sea as a whole. it is increasingly recognized
that a huge number of natural products and novel chemical entities exist in the oceans, with
biological activities that may be useful in the quest for finding drugs with greater efficancy and
specicity for the treatment of many human disease |l.2].
66

Brings new medical cures and advances
DSCC 2005 (Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, Potential cancer cures from the deep sea threatened by high seas bottom
trawling <http://www.savethehighseas.org/news/view.cfm?ID=55>)
A report released by Marine Conservation Biology Institute (MCBI) and Natural Resources
Defense Council (NRDC), suggests that deep sea life holds major promise for the treatment of
human illnesses (1). But scientists are increasingly concerned that bottom trawling
may be destroying medically beneficial species before they are even discovered .
Scientific interest is increasingly turning to the potential medical uses of organisms
found in the deep sea, much of which lies in international waters , said Sara Maxwell,
conservation scientist at MCBI and principal author of the report. These organisms have developed unique
adaptations that enable them to survive the in cold, dark and highly pressurized environment of
the deep sea. Their novel biology offers a wealth of opportunities for pharmaceutical
and medical research. 15,000 natural products have so far been discovered from marine
microbes, algae, and invertebrates. (2) The report suggests that the most exciting potential uses
lie in the medical realm (3). To date, most marketed marine products have come from shallow
and often tropical marine organisms, but compounds derived from both shallow and deep-sea
marine species could be used in treating Alzheimers disease, asthma, pain, and
viral infections, among other human ailments. Shallow water compounds have already produced
pharmaceuticals being used in the treatment of cancer, and deep sea organisms show incredible cancerfighting promise. The majority of marine-derived compounds are obtained from either micro-organisms or stationary
bottom-dwelling organisms such as corals, sponges, and tunicates. Unable to evade predators through movement,
stationary organisms rely heavily on their chemical defense mechanisms to protect themselves
mechanisms that are proving interesting in the search for cancer treatments . Two compounds
originally isolated from deep sea organisms are now in human clinical trials as anticancer
compounds. Several others are in preclinical stages and show considerable promise. (4) Another compound, Topsentin, isolated
from a deep-water sponge, which lives at depths of 990 to 1,980 feet (300 to 600 meters), shows promise for use as an
anti-inflammatory agent to treat arthritis and skin irritations. It is also being investigated as a
treatment for Alzheimers disease and to prevent colon cancer and is currently in preclinical
evaluation. Deep sea sediment bacteria are also interesting to scientists searching for new
antibiotics. 60 years of research on soil-dwelling actinomycete bacteria resulted in the discovery of almost 70 percent of the
worlds naturally occurring antibiotics. However, the rate of new discoveries has dropped
dramatically and the search for new actinomycete strains and the antibiotics they produce, has
been extended to new environments - including the oceans. To date interesting compounds have been isolated
from marine actinomycetes and other novel microbes found at depths of up to 1,500 meters (495,000 feet). (5) More than 60 new
chemical compounds have been isolated from marine actinomycetes over the last 10 years and ten new genera of microbes have been
discovered from which 2,500 new strains have been isolated. The deep sea is, therefore, potentially a
huge source of medically important compounds, a source that science has only just
begun to explore. But this potential underwater pharmacy is already being
destroyed. Just as the technology has evolved to enable scientists to slowly venture into one of
67

the earths last frontiers, so the latest technology now enables the fishing industry to reach the
previously unreachable. Advances in bottom trawling technology mean that it is now possible to fish the breathtaking deep
sea landscapes of mountains, hills, ridges and troughs that very few of us will ever see. Equipped with more powerful engines, bigger
nets, more precise mapping and advanced navigational and fish-finding electronics, deep sea bottom trawlers drag fishing gear
across the ocean floor as much as two kilometres (1.2 miles) deep in search of a few commercial fish and crustacean species. One
sweep of a bottom trawl can uproot and pulverize a thriving deep ocean ecosystem and the
unique life it sustains, said Lisa Speer of NRDC. Fragile coral systems in particular stand no
chance against these ruthlessly effective underwater bulldozers. Once destroyed,
slow-growing deep-sea species are either lost forever or are unlikely to recover for
decades or centuries, Speer warned. Alarmed that species and ecosystems are being destroyed by bottom trawling,
before their potential can be tapped, in 2004 a group of 1,136 marine scientists from around the world signed a statement urging the
United Nations to adopt a moratorium on high-seas bottom trawling. Now, moved by the failure of the international community to
take such action, a number of these scientists, among them MCBIs President Elliott Norse, are touring Europe in April 2005 in
order to bring their concerns directly to decision makers and underline their call for an immediate UN GA moratorium. The
MCBI/NRDC report repeats the call for an immediate moratorium until

enforceable regulations to identify and protect sensitive deep sea ecosystems are
in place. Because much of the deep sea lies beyond the zones of national jurisdiction, it is up to
the international community to act to protect and manage the deep sea, concludes Maxwell.
All mankind should benefit from a potentially huge source of medically important compounds
that science is only beginning to explore.
68

Unexplored and pharmaceutical potential exploration is key
National Academy 09 (The National Academy is an independent research institution with advisors on science,
engineering, and medicine for the world. Ocean Exploration < http://oceanleadership.org/wpcontent/uploads/2009/08/Ocean_Exploration.pdf>)
The ocean is the largest biosphere on Earth, covering nearly three-quarters of our planet's surface and occupying a volume of 1.3
billion cubic kilometers. Despite the major role of the ocean in making the Earth habitable through
climate regulation, rainwater supply, petroleum and natural gas resources, and a breathtaking
diversity of species valued for their beauty, seafood, and pharmaceutical potential
humankind has entered the 21st century having explored only a small fraction of the
ocean. Some estimates suggest that as much as 95 percent of the world ocean and
99 percent of the ocean oor are still unexplored. The vast mid-waterthe region between the ocean's
surface and the seafloormay be the least explored, even though it contains more living things than all of Earth's rainforests
combined. Similarly, the ocean floor and sediments encompass an extensive microbial biosphere
that may rival that on the continents, which is not yet understood and remains largely
unexplored. The impacts of human activities on the ocean drive a growing urgency for its
exploration before permanent and potentially harmful changes become widespread. Even events that
occur far inland, such as nutrient runoff from agriculture and pollutants and debris carried by storm water, have impacts. The ocean
bears a double burden from the burning of fossil fuels and associated climate change; not only is it warmer, but the additional
carbon dioxide dissolves in the ocean, making it more acidic. Although mariners have traversed the ocean for centuries, exploring its
inky depths is no easy task. Recent technological advances now make possible scientific investigations
only dreamed of 20 years ago. The development of state-of-the-art deep-sea vehicles and a host
of other technologies have opened doors for nding novel life forms, new sources of energy,
pharmaceuticals, and other products, and have promoted a better understanding of the origins
of life, the workings of this planet, and of humanity's past.
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Exploration is key to uncovering the potential of the ocean
National Academy 09 (The National Academy is an independent research institution with advisors on
science, engineering, and medicine for the world. Ocean Exploration < http://oceanleadership.org/wpcontent/uploads/2009/08/Ocean_Exploration.pdf>)
Ocean exploration is at a crossroads. For the rst time in history, human impacts on the
environment are affecting all reaches of the globe. Despite our realization of how
important the ocean and its myriad processes are to understanding coastal
processes and the oceans role in climate change, there remain great challenges to fully
exploring and understanding the ocean. Meanwhile, its living resources are threatened
by habitat loss and overharvesting, the climate of the planet is changing, and the
need for new compounds to cure human diseases and new energy sources is
growing. Cutting-edge technologies and methodologies continue to be developed by the men
and women dedicated to ocean exploration, but the potential of ocean exploration has
only begun to be met. Those who invest now in state-of-the-art undersea vehicles and
infrastructure, in data management and modeling, in transmission networks, and
in the tools of modern marine biotechnology will likely produce discoveries and
breakthroughs to the benefit of humankind and all life on this watery planet we
share
70
1AC Biofuels Advantage (1/9)

Algae biofuels are weak in the energy sector now- they need to be researched and
developed to compete with other sources
Rampton and Zabarenko 2012 (Roberta Rampton and Deborah Zabarenko,
environmental correspondents for Reuters.)(Algae biofuel not sustainable now-U.S. research
council, Reuters, 10/24/12, http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/24/us-usa-biofuelsalgae-idUSBRE89N1Q820121024)
(Reuters) - Biofuels made from algae, promoted by President Barack Obama as a possible way to help wean Americans off
foreign oil, cannot be made now on a large scale without using unsustainable amounts of energy,
water and fertilizer, the U.S. National Research Council reported on Wednesday. "Faced with
today's technology, to scale up any more is going to put really big demands on ... not
only energy input, but water, land and the nutrients you need, like carbon dioxide, nitrate and phosphate," said Jennie HunterCevera, a microbial physiologist who headed the committee that wrote the report. Hunter-Cevera stressed that this is not a
definitive rejection of algal biofuels, but a recognition that they may not be ready to supply even 5 percent, or
approximately 10.3 billion gallons (39 billion liters), of U.S. transportation fuel needs. " Algal biofuels is still a
teenager that needs to be developed and nurtured ," she said by telephone. The National Research
Council is part of the National Academies, a group of private nonprofit institutions that advise government on science, technology
and health policy. Its sustainability assessment was requested by the Department of Energy, which has invested heavily in projects to
develop the alternative fuel. In 2009, the Department of Energy and the Department of Agriculture awarded San Diego-based
Sapphire Energy Inc more than $100 million in grants and loan guarantees to help build a plant in New Mexico that will produce
commercial quantities of algal biofuel. Two other companies received smaller amounts of federal assistance. In February, as gasoline
prices spiraled, Obama said algal biofuels had the potential to cut U.S. foreign oil dependence. He
estimated that U.S. oil imports used for transportation could be cut substantially. The
National Research Council report shows that the government should continue
research on algal biofuel as well as other technologies that reduce oil use , an Energy
outlines the need for continued research and

development to make algal biofuel sustainable and cost-competitive, but it also
highlights the long-term potential of this technology and why it is worth pursuing ," Jen
Department spokeswoman said. "Today's report
Stutsman said in a statement. The council's report noted that future
innovations, and increased production

efficiencies, could enhance the viability of algal biofuels.
71

Despite efforts biofuels have not been fully developed- breakthroughs are key
Pienkos and Darzins 2009 (Philip T. Pienkos and Al Darzins, National Renewable
Energy Laboratory.)("The promise and challenges of microalgal-derived biofuels," Wiley
InterScience, Volume 3 Issue 4 May 28 2009,
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bbb.159/pdf)
Past algal biofuels research efforts The Aquatic Species Program (ASP) funded by the Depart- ment of
Energy (DoE) from 1978 to 1996 represents the most comprehensive research effort to date on
fuels from algae. DoE invested approximately $25 million over an 18-year period to study a variety of aquatic species for use in
renewable energy production, including microalgae, macroalgae, and cattails.2 ASP was successful in demonstrating the feasibility
of algal culture as a source of oil and resulted in important advances in the technology. These advances were made through algal
strain isolation and characterization,2 studies of algal physiology and biochemistry,3"4 genetic engineering,5"6 engineering and
process development, and outdoor demonstration-scale algal mass culture (Fig. 1). Technoeconomic analyses and resource
assessments were important aspects of the program, to guide limited financial resources to the most important scientific and technical barriers. While ASP made significant progress over its 18-year existence, the program was discontinued due to decreasing
federal budgets and because the potential cost of algal oil production was estimated in the $40-$60 per barrel range compared to
$20 per barrel for crude oil in 1995. The program highlighted the need to understand and optimize the biological mechanisms of
algal lipid accumulation and to find creative, cost-effective solutions for culture and process engineering development to isolate
lipids from very dilute biomass suspensions. In 1998, a comprehensive overview of the project was completed.2 In the years
immediately following ASP and until recently, support for algal biofuels research was rather
limited, and as a result little progress was made. In the last few years, however, interest in algae has increased
dramatically, and although federal agencies are beginning to show signs that increased support is imminent, many new groups
have begun to explore this area in academic, industrial (especially small entrepreneurial organ-izations), and national laboratories,
largely funded by private investors and industrial sources. This work is not limited to the USA since significant efforts are now taking
place in Europe, the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand, and many other parts of the world. Benefits of microalgal oil production
Microalgae include a wide variety of photosynthetic micro-organisms capable of fixing C02 from
the atmosphere to produce biomass more efficiently and rapidly than terrestrial plants.
Numerous algal strains have been shown in the laboratory to produce more than 50% of their biomass as lipid " with much of this as
triacylglycerols (TAGs). It must be stated that the methodology for lipid analysis (largely based on solvent extraction and gravimetric
analysis) has not been standardized and so literature values must be approached with a healthy level of skepticism. TAGs are the
anticipated starting material for high energy density fuels such as biodiesel (produced by transesterification of TAGs to yield fatty
acid methyl esters 10), green diesel, green jet fuel, and green gasoline (produced by a combination of hydro- processing and catalytic
cracking to yield alkanes of prede- termined chain lengths).11 Most of the observations of high lipid content come
from algal cultures grown under nutrient (especially nitrogen, phosphorous, or silicon)
limitation. Lipid content varies in both quantity and quality with varied growth conditions.8 While high lipid content can be
obtained under nutrient limitation, this is generally at the expense of reduced biomass productivities. Nevertheless, the
possibility that algae could generate considerably more oil per area than typical oilseed crops
must certainly be evaluated further. The development of biofuels from traditional oil crops and
waste cooking oil/fats cannot realistically meet the demand for transportation fuels. 12 If the entire
2007 US soybean oil yield, representing almost 3 billion gallons produced on 63.6 million acres of farm land (Soy Stats, American
Soybean Association, available at http://www.soystats.com) were converted to biofuel, it would replace only about 4.5% of the total
petroleum diesel (-66 billion gallons). If that much land were used to cultivate algae, the resulting oil
could, even at a conservative projected productivity (lOg m"2 day"1 at 15% TAG), replace approximately
61% of the petroleum diesel used annually (Table 1), as well as capturing approximately 2 billion
tons of C02 in the biomass. C02 capture, however, should not be confused with C02 sequestration since a portion of the
C02 captured and partitioned in the oil will be released when the algal-derived fuel is combusted, and the remaining biomass will
likely be used as a feedstock for a byproduct that will ultimately be converted to C02. Algal capture of C02 for biofuels
applications really amounts to a recycling' of the C02 for at least one additional use prior to be
72

released during burning of the fuel. Under this scenario there is no permanent C02 capture
unless the algal biomass is completely isolated from the environment and stored. Improvements
in either areal productivity or lipid content could significantly reduce the amount of land needed
to produce this much biofuel (Table 1). After removal of the lipid component, the remaining residual biomass (largely
carbohydrate and protein) can also be used for the generation of energy, more liquid or gaseous fuels, or for higher value byproducts (Fig. 2). Algal biofuels also offer the promise of being more sustainable than
bioethanol derived from corn and sugarcane and biodiesel derived from terrestrial oil crops and even possibly more sustainable than cellulosic ethanol. 13 Algae can be
cultivated on otherwise non-productive land that is unsuitable for agriculture. It can also be grown in brackish, saline, and waste
water that has little competing demand, offering the prospect of a biofuel that does not further tax already limited resources. Even
so, a detailed life cycle assessment (LCA) and environmental impact analysis will be necessary to confirm sustainability. Algae
require approximately 2g of C02 for every g biomass generated and thus have a tremendous potential to capture C02 emissions from
powerplant flue gases and other fixed sources. In the future, an algal-based biorefinery could potentially integrate several different
conversion technolo-gies to produce many biofuels including biodiesel, green diesel and green gasoline, aviation fuel (commercial
and military), ethanol, and methane as well as valuable coprod- ucts including oils, protein, and carbohydrates (Fig. 2). In some
ways algal strains with promise for biofuel production are comparable to food crops utilized
prior to the agricultural revolution - they have enormous potential for further
development and improvement. Unlike first-generation biofuels, however, advanced biofuels,
like those derived from algae, are likely to effect a much higher overall reduction in fossil fuel use.
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Efficiency is key- researched and proven viability and sustainability are key to
usage
Jones and Mayfield 2012 (Carla S. Jones, the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology,
University of California San Diego. Stephen P. Mayfield, Division of Biological Sciences,
University of California San Diego.)(Algae biofuels: versatility for the future of bioenergy,
Current Opinion in Biotechnology Volume 23, Issue 3, June 2012, Pages 346351
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0958166911007099)
Versatility of microalgae for economic success The versatility of biofuel production from algae may provide
answers to both the economic hurdles and the lifecycle challenges faced in renewable energy
production. By extracting more than one type of biofuel from algal biomass or an additional
coproduct, the value of the biomass increases while also offering additional offsets to the
environmental impacts. As mentioned above, the combined biorefinery concept can be used to
increase ethanol content from algae following extraction of lipids [20]. This concept can also be
used in combination with biogas and biohydrogen production, either by producing a valuable
product before fermentation or by using the gaseous products of fermentation to power the
process of producing that high value product. In the first scenario, the high value product can include biohydrogen
produced anaerobically just before anaerobic digestion for biogas production [29, 37 and 38]. In the second case, electricity
generated from biogas can be used to offset the energy requirements for anaerobic digestion of microalgae during biogas production,
agriculturally derived biogas can be used to provide a CO2 stream for algae growth and coproduct production, and biogas can be
used to power the cultivation and lipid extraction process for algae biodiesel [36, 39 and 40]. Regardless of the combined biorefinery
concept chosen, the economic viability and environmental sustainability of the
production of algae biofuels will depend on creating a completely optimized and

efficient overall utilization that leaves little waste and uses every component of the
algal biomass.
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Exploration of Hydro-thermal vents is key marine microorganisms are
necessary for biofuel breakthroughs
Girguis and Holden 2012 (Peter R. Girguis, John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the
Natural Sciences at Harvard University. James F. Holden, PH.D in oceanography, associate
professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.)(On The Potential for Bioenergy and
Biofuels From Hydrothermal Vent Microbes, Oceanic Center Spreading Processes,
Oceanography March 2012 Edition,
http://www.oeb.harvard.edu/faculty/girguis/pdf/2012OceanographyGirguisHolden.pdf)
Biofuel generation using hydrothermal vent microbial cultures In an effort to reduce dependence on petroleum,
promote economic growth and diversification, and reduce human-induced climate change, the
United States has developed a strategy that includes bio-based energy production focused on the
development of robust, large-scale production of sustainable energy-dense biofuels. As marine
hydro-thermal vents harbor some of the most chemo- and thermo-tolerant micro-organisms known, they have
caught the attention of scientists and industrialists alike for biofuel production.
While generating biofuels from vent microbes is attractive, there are, nonetheless, key issues that need to be addressed prior to
commercial implementation. Here, we briefly discuss the advantages and limitations of such approaches and consider the
commercial relevance of some recently proposed technologies. In general, biofuel production depends on
feedstock availability and costs, proper reactor conditions for biosynthesis, and efficient
sequestration of the biomass or metabolite for biofuel production. The best-known biofuel, corn ethanol,
uses starch derived from corn as feedstock for the production of ethanol via fermentation by yeast. Although the process
and infrastructure for ethanol production is well developed, challenges in maintaining the
supply of feedstock, the limited availability of arable land for production, and the adverse impact
of corn ethanol production on food prices in the developing world have diminished the
practicality of replacing existing liquid fossil fuels with corn ethanol (Singh et al., 2010). Alternatively, it
has been suggested that microorganisms with differing physiological capacities may
provide an opportunity to generate biofuels in a more sustainable, commercially
viable manner (Chou et al, 2008). For example, vent hyperthermophilic microbes that grow optimally at temperatures
above 80C are known to be capable of producing hydrogen from organic matter. Recently, 19 hyperthermophilic deep-sea vent
microbes were found to produce hydrogen using maltose (a breakdown product of starch) and protein as feedstocks (Oslowski et al.,
2011). A closely related hyperthermophile, Pyrococcus furiosus isolated from a geothermally heated beach in the Mediterranean Sea
(Fiala and Stetter, 1986), grew on starch, cellulose, and peptides, with the highest net hydrogen production coming from growth on
starch (Oslowski et al, 2011). Because metabolic rate increases exponentially with temperature, at a rate
that typically doubles with every 9C increase (Tijhuis et al., 1993), biofuel production by a
hyperthermophile growing at 95C could be as much as 250 times higher than the same
metabolic process occurring at room temperature. While hyperthermophiles may be well poised to produce
biofuels at rates greater those previously observed, it is important to note that other factors, including increased energy consumption
by the organism at higher temperatures and the biological regulation of metabolite flux, can influence the rate of biofuel production.
One goal of hyperthermophilic hydrogen production research is to determine whether

hyperthermophiles could produce hydrogen using anaerobic sludge from sewage treatment
plants for either hydrogen biofuel production or on-site combustion for electricity generation.
This approach is attractive because hyperthermophiles can extract organics from sludge and
effluent, producing hydrogen for local electricity generation while simultaneously reducing the
amount of organics in the effluent stream (minimizing the potential for eutrophi- cation downstream) and killing
75

pathogens that may be present. The energy produced on site is distributed via the existing electrical power grid, and, as
a result, feedstock production, transportation logistics, and public energy distribution concerns are minimized because the
infrastructure for sludge-to- energy conversion is largely in place. To our knowledge, however, no data exist on the efficacy of this
approach, though the theoretical considerations outlined above are compelling. While it is implausible that sludge- to-energy
conversion could fully replace fossil fuel use, such approaches are being successfully employed in North America and Europe for
small-scale energy production. In the United Kingdom in 2005, municipal solid waste and biogas for electricity generation yielded
2,500 GWh yr"1, accounting for ~ 15% of all renewable energy (see http:// ec.europa.eu/energy/renewables/
studies/renewables_en.htm). Although it remains to be seen whether hyperthermophile-catalyzed
reactions will exhibit comparable yields, the value of such an approach resides in the promise of
increased efficiency and lower environmental impact. If hyperthermophiles are capable of
generating economically relevant volumes of hydrogen (or electricity from hydrogen), then subsequent
research should focus on addressing the other factors that typically influence commercial
relevance such as scalability and operating costs. From vent productivity to meeting humankinds energy needs
Vast amounts of energy flow through marine biogeochemical cycles, including hydrothermal vents . Research on marine
microbes, in particular, in deep-sea sediment and vents, has offered a small glimpse into
the variety of physiological processes by which these microbes mediate the
transfer of matter and energy from the lithosphere to the biosphere. The
technologies outlined herein provide a modest look at the potential role that microbes may
play in energy production. The future of these particular technologies, like so many alternative energy technologies,
remains uncertain. However, the lessons learned from these pursuits will certainly shed light
on how we may better harness the physiological capacity of microbes to meet our
growing energy demands.
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Fossil fuels are unsustainable- biofuels offset them and are key to creating
effective carbon sinks
Singha et al. 2011 (Anoop Singha, Biofuels Research Group, Environmental Research
Institute, University College Cork. Poonam Singh Nigamb, Faculty of Life and Health Sciences,
University of Ulster. Jerry D. Murphy, iofuels Research Group, Environmental Research
Institute, University College Cork.)(Mechanism and challenges in commercialisation of algal
biofuels, Bioresource Technology, Volume 102, Issue 1, January 2011, Pages 2634
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960852410010382)
2. Importance of algal fuel The use of fossil fuels as energy is now widely accepted as unsustainable due to
depleting resources and also due to the accumulation of GHGs in the environment. Renewable and
carbon neutral biodiesel are necessary for environmental and economic sustainability. Biodiesel
demand is constantly increasing as the reservoir of fossil fuel are depleting. Unfortunately biodiesel produced from
oil crop, waste cooking oil and animal fats are not able to replace fossil fuel. The viability of the first
generation biofuels production is however questionable because of the conflict with food supply. Production of biodiesel
using microalgae biomass appears to be a viable alternative (Khan et al., 2009). The idea of
microalgae utilization as a fuel source is being taken seriously because of the rising price of
petroleum and more significantly, the emerging concern about global warming that is associated with
burning of fossil fuels (Gavrilescu and Chisti, 2005). Recent research initiatives have proven that microalgae
biomass appear to be the one of the promising source of renewable biodiesel
which is capable of meeting the global energy demand and it will also not
compromise production of food, fodder and other products derived from crops.
Microalgae appear to be the only source of biodiesel that has the potential to
completely displace fossil diesel. Unlike other oil crops, microalgae grow extremely rapidly and many are
exceedingly rich in oil. Microalgae commonly double their biomass within 24 h. Biomass doubling times during exponential growth
are commonly as short as 3.5 h (Chisti, 2007). Oil content in microalgae can exceed 80% by weight of dry biomass (Metting, 1996
and Spolaore et al., 2006). Similar to other biomass resources algal biofuel is also a carbon neutral
energy source. There may be opportunities for applying biorefinery-type processes to extract and separate several commercial
products from microalgal biomass. Besides lipids, microalgal biomass offers opportunities for obtaining additional commercial
materials. These include fermentation to obtain ethanol and biogas. It is also possible to produce protein-rich feed for both animal
and human consumption. Poly-unsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are a potential co-product of biodiesel production from microalgae.
PUFAs are alternative to fish oils and other oils rich in omega-3 fatty acids (Bruton et al., 2009). Bulk markets for the co-products
are potentially available. The microalgal oil contain high proportions of long chain fatty acids (i.e., C-20, C-22) with a high degree of
un-saturation (20:5). These very long chain-poly-unsaturated fatty acids are important in aquaculture applications as they improve
the nutritional quality of feed (Packer, 2009). There is much speculation that integrated biorefinery solutions would allow sufficient
scale to enable economic production of fuel from macroalgae. The only industrial product of significance from macroalgae is
hydrocolloids. Extraction of energy from wastestreams is a valid commercial biorefinery concept. If the cost of seaweed permits, a
dual production of ethanol and biogas is also possible. There are many other opportunities for extraction of high-value niche
products from seaweeds. Each would have to be assessed on commercial terms and demonstrate the feasibility for co-production of
energy alongside the higher-value product, with particular attention to whether the scale of operation is appropriate (Bruton et al.,
2009). There has been a great deal of analysis done on the land required to produce microalgae for
biofuels production (Chisti, 2007). Although most of these studies are in the context of using North American saline aquifers,
it is sufficient to say that these analyses suggest that there is certainly more than enough non-arable land suitable for mass algal
cultivation for biofuel production to meet the needs of that country (Packer, 2009). Drawing from these studies it is also probable
that several countries like New Zealand, Canada, etc. have enough land that does not compete with food production that is also close
to industrial CO2 sources to meet the liquid fuel requirements. The ocean has already absorbed nearly half
77

of the anthropogenic CO2 generated since the industrial revolution and the
absorption of CO2 has an induced effect on the water acidity, which is negatively
affecting marine life including microalgae (Riebesell et al., 2007). However, it has also been suggested that
increased levels of CO2 on the atmosphere might actually stimulate the biological
pump involving growth of some algal species for the transport of carbon to longterm deep ocean storage (Arrigo, 2007 and Riebesell et al., 2007). The LOHAFEX (LOHA is Hindi for iron, F stands
for Fertilization EXperiment) an Indo-German iron fertilization experiment in the Southwest Atlantic Sector of the Southern Ocean
conducted for rapid growth of the minute, unicellular algae that not only provide the food, sustaining all oceanic life, but also play a
key role in regulating concentrations of the CO2 in the atmosphere. The development of such algal bloom on its
environment and the fate of the carbon sinking out of it to the deep ocean might play a crucial
role in popularization of algal biofuels.
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That mitigates warming- only the plan can offset other fuel sources
Muhs et al. 2009 (A Summary of Opportunities, Challenges, and Research Needs: Algae
Biofuels & Carbon Recycling, May 2009, Utah State University,
http://www.utah.gov/ustar/documents/63.pdf)
IV. The Promise of Algae Energy Systems Aquatic (algae) energy systems have the unique
potential to address all five of the interdependent challenges facing the United States
today. They can domestically-produce renewable transportation fuels and recycle carbon and do
so in a way that is potentially affordable, environmentally-sustainable, and does not interfere
with food supplies. Although there is no single answer to reduce atmospheric carbon levels or
end our dependence on foreign oil, aquatic- based algae energy systems represent a possible partial
solution to both challenges. Growing algae , the most productive of all photosynthetic life, and converting it into
plastics, fuels, and or secondary feedstocks, could significantly help mitigate greenhouse gas
emissions, reduce energy price shocks, reclaim wastewater, conserve fresh water
(in some scenarios), lower food prices, reduce the transfer of U.S. wealth to other nations,
and spur regional economic development (Figure 5). Because of its high lipid (i.e., oil) content, affinity for
(and tolerance of) high concentrations of C02, and photosynthetic efficiency, algae cultivation results in higher arcal yields and
liquid fuels with a higher energy density than alternatives, see Table 1 and Figure 6, respectively. For example, Figure 7 shows the
extent to which soybeans are planted each year across the United States. If all the soybeans grown and harvested in the U.S. each
year were converted into biodiesel, the resultant fuel supply would accommodate less than 10% of our annual diesel fuel
consumption. Conversely, if an area roughly equating to 1/10th the land area of Utah were developed into algae energy systems,
algae could supply all of America's diesel fuel needs. Thus, algae are an ideal feedstock for replacing petroleum-
based diesel and jet-fuel, which have a combined U.S. market approaching 100 billion gallons
per year. Likewise, because algae cultivation systems do not need fertile soil or rainfall, they can be sited virtually anywhere that
five fundamental inputs (Fig-ure 8) are present or can be transported. Since some algae and cyanobacteria species have a high
affinity for C02, siting algae energy systems near centralized C02 emitters is a very attractive option. Research has
demonstrated that algal yields can be improved dramatically using enhanced concentrations of
CO2.
Runaway warming leads to extinction
Pfeiffer 2004 (Dale Allen, Geologist, Global Climate Change & Peak Oil, The Wilderness
Publications, Online)
The possibility of runaway global warming is not as distant a threat as we may wish. It is a threat
which worries some of the greatest minds living among us today . Stephen Hawking, physicist, best selling author of
A Brief History of Time, and claimant of the Cambridge University post once occupied by Sir Isaac Newton (the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics), has been quoted
as saying, "I am afraid the atmosphere might get hotter and hotter until it will be like Venus with
boiling sulfuric acid."1 The renowned physicist was joined by other notables such as former President Jimmy Carter, former news anchor Walter Cronkite, and
former astronaut and Senator John Glenn in drafting a letter to urge President Bush to develop a plan to reduce US emissions of greenhouse gases.2 Former British
Environmental Minister Michael Meacher is also worried about the survival of the human race
due to global warming.
79
2AC Biofuels Advantage Warming Solvency (1/3)

Algae can capture CO2 and reduce current CO2 in the air- its net better than other
land plants and has far more capabilities, but more incentives allow its
advancement
Sayre 2010 (Richard Sayre, director of the Enterprise Institute for Renewable Fuels, at the Donald Danforth Plant Science
Center, in St. Louis, Missouri.)(Microalgae: The Potential for Carbon Capture, BioScience (2010) 60 (9): 722-727
http://bioscience.oxfordjournals.org/content/60/9/722.full)
Microalgal biofuel systems Recently, there has been substantial interest and investment in
the development of microalgae to produce biofuels. Advantages of microalgae-based biofuels are
greater production yields and available land area (compared with terrestrial crops); algae's ability to
capture CO2 as bicarbonate in ponds, reducing atmospheric CO2 emissions; and reduced
competition for land, particularly arable land used for food production (figure 1). Algae are estimated to
produce two- to tenfold more biomass per unit land area than the best terrestrial systems (Chisti 2008, Packer 2009, Pienkos and
Darzins 2009, Mata et al. 2010, Stephens et al. 2010, Weyer et al. 2010). There are several reasons for the greater biomass yields of
algae versus land plants. Generally, algae have higher photosynthetic efficiency than land plants because
of greater abilities to capture light and convert it to usable chemical energy (Melis 2009, Weyer et al.
2010). Under ideal growth conditions algae direct most of their energy into cell division (6- to 12-hour cycle), allowing for rapid
biomass accumulation. Also, unlike plants, unicellular algae do not partition large amounts of biomass into supportive structures
such as stems and roots that are energetically expensive to produce and often difficult to harvest and process for biofuel production.
In addition, algae have carbon-concentrating mechanisms that suppress photorespiration (Spalding 2008, Jansson and Northen
2010). With algae, all the biomass can be harvested at any time of the year, rather than seasonally.
In contrast, only a portion of the total biomass of terrestrial crops (corn cob, soybean seed) is
harvested once a year. When algae are grown under stressful conditions (e.g., low nitrogen) or in the presence of
supplemental reductants (sugar, glycerol), the metabolism of some species is redirected toward the production and accumulation of
energy-dense storage compounds such as lipids. Many unicellular algae are facultatively capable of producing up to 60% of neutral
lipids (triacylglycerol [TAG]) per gram of dry weight, making them one of the most efficient biofuel production systems known
(Sheehan et al. 1998, Weyer et al. 2010). Significantly, algal biofuel production systems can be tightly controlled and optimized.
Temperature, pH, and nutrient and CO2 concentrations can be monitored and optimized for maximum biomass and oil yields. In
addition, it may be possible to control light quantity and quality (wavelength) by altering pond depth or using frequency-shifting
fluorophores to increase photosynthetically active radiation, respectively. This level of environmental control is difficult to achieve
with land plants that have fixed plant architectures in soil open environments. The major constraints facing biofuel production from
algae can be divided into biomass production, harvesting, and extraction systems, and are the subject of directed research
investment from the public and private sectors (box 1). Various estimates indicate that potential oil and biomass yields from algae
ponds range from 20,000 to 60,500 liters per hectare per year (2000 to 6000 gallons per acre per year) and 50,000 to 15,000
kilograms per hectare per year (140 to 420 tons per acre per year), respectively (Weyer et al. 2010). Optimization of light
harvesting efficiency and enhanced metabolic flux leading to increased oil or biomass
accumulation promise to boost the efficiency of biomass and oil production from algae at least
two- to threefold (Wang et al. 2009, Stephens et al. 2010). These advancementscoupled with more
energy-efficient algal harvesting and oil extraction technologies, coproduction of incomegenerating commodities including methane from the anaerobic digestion of delipidated
biomass, and residual biomass for animal feeds will collectively reduce the cost of
microalgal oil production and potentially bring algal biofuel economics to parity
with petroleum (Stephens et al. 2010).
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Studies prove that algae lowers U.S GHG emission compared to other fuels
Liu et al. 2013 (Xiaowei Liua, Benjamin Saydahb, Pragnya Erankia, Lisa M. Colosia, B. Greg Mitchellc, James Rhodesd,
Andres F. Clarensa. Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Virginia,Sapphire Energy, Inc., Scripps Institute of
Oceanography and Embori Group.)(Pilot-scale data provide enhanced estimates of the life cycle energy and emissions profile of
algae biofuels produced via hydrothermal liquefaction, Bioresource Technology, Volume 148, November 2013, Pages 163171)
3. Results and discussion The energy return on investment (EROI) and GHG emissions for producing diesel and gasoline from algae
using HTL are presented in Fig 2a and b, respectively. The results are benchmarked against both biofuels
(conventional ethanol, cellulosic ethanol, and biodiesel) and petroleum-derived fuels. The
results show that currently deployed algae-to-energy production processes using HTL (i.e., pilotscale scenario) have energy burdens and GHG emission profiles that are comparable to or better
than conventional biofuels, cellulosic ethanol and soybean biodiesel. The GHG emissions for HTL-derived
algae fuels are also lower than other existing algae-to-energy processes based on transesterification as captured in the Meta-Model
of Algae Bio-Energy Life Cycles (MABEL), a recent meta-analysis of previously published LCA studies pertaining to
transesterification-based algae biodiesel production (Liu et al., 2012). The data for the biofuels were obtained from a variety of
published meta-analyses and the estimates for petroleum-derived fuels were obtained from GREET. Energy burdens in Fig. 2 are
expressed in terms of EROI because it can distill complex and integrated energy production systems into one measure of the
thermodynamic yield of an energy production process. Any EROI value greater than one (indicated by the horizontal dotted line in
Fig. 2) suggests that the process will generate more energy than is invested. Petroleum-derived fuels once exhibited EROI values on
the order of 100, but as petroleum reserves have become depleted and reservoirs are exploited in more remote locations, EROI has
dropped from 100 to roughly 45 for both gasoline and diesel (Guilfor et al., 2011). The results of this modeling effort show that
the EROI of current pilot-scale HTL processes is approximately 1, but that over time, EROI could increase to between 2.5 and 3.0.
EROI has a few important limitations as a metric, primarily in that it does not prioritize useful energy and it ignores market factors
that would make some energy outputs (e.g., liquid fuels) more desirable than others (e.g., CH4). Nevertheless, it represents a
valuable first estimate of the viability of different fuel production pathways relative to conventional benchmarks. For all fuels,
lower life cycle greenhouse gas emissions are desirable and the values closest to
zero are most desirable. The low-sulfur petroleum diesel appears quite attractive from an EROI
perspective but it emits considerably more GHGs (94.3 g CO2e/MJ) than all the algae scenarios modeled
here. This has important implications for developing climate policy objectives via low
carbon fuel standards. Notably, the soybean biodiesel estimate here, which was adapted from Hill et al. (2006), does not
incorporate indirect land use effects, which are increasingly regarded as important factors influencing the carbon accounting of
conventional biofuels. These effects were also not considered for algae because its cultivation has not been carried out long enough
to produce representative agricultural economic data. It is expected that algaes indirect land use carbon impacts will be much
smaller than those of other crops because algae can be cultivated on marginal land. Even though all the algae scenarios
have GHG emission profiles that are lower than many terrestrial-derived biofuels, the industry
still has significant opportunity to improve, particularly with respect to EROI. Such improvements are
anticipated since well-controlled laboratory conditions cannot typically be scaled up easily to pilot conditions and algae are not yet
produced in large enough quantities to benefit from efficiencies of scale. These results underscore the difficulty of extrapolating
future full-scale life cycle burdens from current bench-scale or pilot-scale parameter values. More notably, the full-scale
scenario suggests that the improvements in efficiency that the industry foresees in
the coming years would go a long way toward closing the gap between the
maximally efficient processing (as captured in the laboratory scenario) and the current
state-of-the-art in the field. Interestingly, using currently available HTL processes (represented by pilot-scale
scenario) to make gasoline from algae has a considerably lower GHG footprint and a better EROI relative to conventional ethanol
made from corn on a per MJ basis. This is important because corn-based ethanol is widely deployed in the United States and these
data suggest that a shift to algae-derived gasoline could have immediate climate benefits even using existing technologies. In
81

addition, given the technological
improvements that the industry anticipates will occur, the

benefits of algae-derived gasoline will likely improve. This is in contrast to the cornethanol industry, which
relies almost entirely on proven technologies. The breakdown of energy use and GHG emissions by step within the supply chain is
presented in Fig. 3. As shown in Fig. 2, the highest impacts are observed consistently for the pilot-scale scenario. Within the supply
chain production chain for all three processes, the HTL conversion process is a significant driver of energy use and there are
certainly opportunities to improve heat recapture and efficiency in this step that will have important impacts on the overall energy
balance for the production process. The burdens of extracting the biocrude from the raffinate stream are relatively minor though
these are sensitive to the choice of solvent (e.g., toluene or hexane). Also integral to the process supply chain are efforts to improve
the efficiency of pumping and mixing as well as the biomass dewatering step. These are being explored actively by the industry
though it is likely that significant improvements in these areas will be limited, and even in full-scale systems these processes will
represent an important source of the burdens in the supply chain. Much of the life cycle burden associated with all scenarios comes
from the production of nutrients, which occurs upstream of the algae-to-energy facility. Nutrients are a perennial challenge to largescale algae bioenergy deployment, and this result puts into context the underlying physical and chemical bottlenecks associated with
deploying algae biofuels (Clarens et al., 2011). Current efforts to recycle nutrients within the plant are not efficient (12.5 3%), and
this has an important impact on the overall burdens of the HTL value chain. The nitrogen to carbon ratio in raffinate stream out of
HTL unit is not suitable for efficient anaerobic digestion (Frank et al., 2013). Gasification is a technically feasible but energy
intensive option for treating the raffinate and enhancing nutrient recycle. It also requires hydrogen, which would necessitate a
natural gas source. It was assumed here that the raffinate could be diluted in the growth ponds and used to offset the demand for
fertilizer. Since algae bioenergy producers have little control over how fertilizers are produced upstream, the emphasis must be on
maximizing nutrient use efficiency to minimize this significant element of the life cycle burden. Similarly, CO2 supply is an
important upstream burden that is influencing the overall life cycle. Algae cultivation facilities
could significantly improve their overall GHG footprint if they could switch from using
industrial CO2 (i.e., produced via natural gas scrubbing or from dedicated wells) to newer CO2 capture
technologies (e.g., capture from the air (Lackner et al., 2011) or as a byproduct of other industrial processes). The
technology and infrastructure (e.g., pipelines) needed to create this carbon dioxide supply chain
at the scale and in the locations where it could meet the demands of algae cultivation still needs
to be developed, even though there are efforts in the private sector to build this infrastructure. In parts of the US and Europe,
this infrastructure is being deployed for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and other carbon utilization and storage applications. In the
Netherlands CO2 is currently being collected and transported via pipeline to large industrial greenhouses where it is used to enhance
plant growth. Downstream processing of the algae biocrude could also have important impacts on
the overall energy and GHG profiles of algae derived biofuels produced via HTL. Processing in a
conventional refinery represents the second largest source of burdens besides upstream nutrients and CO2. Again here, algae
bioenergy producers will have limited influence in terms of process improvement, but when compared to petroleum-
derived fuels, algal biocrude can offer several advantages due to its elemental composition, low
sulfur content, and relative lack of heavy metals. Consequently, atmospheric distillation, desulfurization and
heteroatom removal processes can be avoided when upgrading algae biocrude from HTL. Efforts to pre-treat or otherwise upgrade
the fuel and integrate it into the refinery while simultaneously preserving the energy content of the fuel should be a top priority for
refineries incorporating biocrude for the first time.
82
2AC Biofuels Advantage Oil Scenario (1/5)

Algae biofuels solve fuel demand- further breakthroughs are necessary for
successful cultivation to solve dependency
Enderle 2013 (Timo Enderle, Biotech Consultancy and a Life Science Marketing Agency.)
(Sea Water Could Hold Key to Fuel Demands, Algae Observer, University of Aberdeen, 2/5/13,
http://www.algaeobserver.com/sea-water-key-to-fuel-demands)
The answer to societys fuel demands could literally be all around us according to Aberdeen
scientists in fact it makes up two thirds of the planets surface. An international research team led by the University of
Aberdeen is hoping to make biofuels out of microscopic algae found in the worlds oceans and seas.
Currently biofuels are created from crops and land-based vegetation something project coordinator Dr.
Oliver Ebenhoeh, from the University of Aberdeens Institute of Complex Systems and Mathematical Biology, says is not
sustainable. He said: We need to find efficient ways of supplying our energy demand in a
way that doesnt compete for valuable resources like arable land or fresh water. We cant
just put corn in your cars gas tank because its being used to feed millions already it wont be sustainable. This is one of the key
motivations to look into marine microalgae. Cultivating algae using water that cant be used for irrigation,
like salt water or brackish water, makes sense because its so vast its all around us and theres no
competition to use the land to grow other things. The AccliPhot project is due to run for four years and is backed
by 4million of EU funding and involves 12 partners from across the continent. Today First Minister Alex Salmond praised the
initiative. He said: Scotland is leading the way in the energy sector, with our world class oil and gas industry now allied to a vibrant
renewables sector that is harnessing the power of our boundless wind and water resources to bring jobs and investment to our
country and ensure we can power our nation on a sustainable basis. The AccliPhot project could herald another exciting
development in Scotlands energy story with the team at the University of Aberdeen using cutting-edge techniques to support the
development of a sustainable biofuel from microscopic algae. In many ways, these researchers are ideally placed to undertake this
work, being based in a city that has a magnificent heritage in the offshore industry. I would like to extend my best wishes to the team
for this exciting project and I look forward to hearing the results. The team will try to understand more fully how plants and
microalgae respond to changes in light and other conditions and use that information to make new products. Whilst the main
focus is on biofuels the study could also yield breakthroughs in antibiotics, nutritional
supplements or even produce chemical compounds used in the cosmetics industry. Dr Ebenhoeh
added: Were hoping to understand the principles that guide these changes to environments and then see if this can be scaled up to
industry scale. If that is successful then the applications are enormous because then you can really look into targeted
pharmaceuticals or precursors for the chemical industry. Micro algae eat nothing but carbon dioxide, light and
some minerals. Cells of microalgae typically measure between a few to several hundred micrometers across and can be grown
in vast numbers in giant 10,000 litre water tanks called photo-bioreactors. So if they can be successfully
cultivated to make biofuels they could contribute hugely to the planets energy
consumption
83

Biofuel development stops exposure to security threats- reducing dependency is
necessary
Bosselman 11 (Fred P. Bosselman, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law.)(Green Diesel:
Finding a Place for Algae Oil, Scholarly Commons at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, 1/1/11,
http://scholarship.kentlaw.iit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1093&context=fac_schol)
C. Potential Additional Stimuli to Algae Oil Development Investors in algae research and development have
long-term expectations. Few people are predicting that algae will be a significant source of motor fuel in the next few
years. A 2009 Accenture study opines that commercialization of fuel from algae is not expected for another tenyears . However,
investors are also aware that any number of things could happen within a shorter time frame
that would speed up the timetable. For example, the remarkable volatility of oil prices in the first
decade of the twenty-first century is fresh in everyone's mind. 51 The price of diesel fuel and gasoline goes up
and down with the price of crude oil. Because crude oil's price per barrel has ranged from near $14 a barrel
to around $140 per barrel, oil companies investing in algae see their investments as a
hedge against future price increases. The military's interest in alternate fuels is stimulated not only by price but by
Both the Air Force and Navy have never been comfortable relying on
fossil fuels that come from countries whose relations with the United States have
at times been strained. They see the development of biofuels as one way to
counter a serious security threat in case of major international conflicts. 53 Research and
availability.52
development breakthroughs could focus attention on a narrower range of potentially low-cost options. As Accenture pointed out in
its 2009 report, if one or more low-cost options prove to be viable, the industry will be likely to consolidate more rapidly and reach
quicker agreement on common standards and methods.54
84

Dependence causes US-Sino SLOC conflict- escalates to war
Glaser 11 (Charles, Professor of Political Science and International Relations Elliot School of International Affairs The
George Washington University , Reframing Energy Security: How Oil Dependence Influences U.S. National Security,
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CF8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F
%2Fdepts.washington.edu%2Fpolsadvc%2FBlog%2520Links%2FGlaser_-_EnergySecurity-AUGUST2011.docx&ei=Wf0qUPXYGIrc9ASht4GYDQ&usg=AFQjCNHTus7nNaD7coupoSU7c3LGSu7tg&sig2=Xt_iWePfWtNRvDmeYR1Hlw&cad=rja, August 2011,)
Energy dependence might be most dangerous if it brings the United States into conflict with
another major power. A key path along which this could occur is an energy-driven security
dilemma between China and the United States. As noted above, U.S. oil supplies are not vulnerable
to interruption by China, but Chinas are vulnerable to the U.S. navy . Consequently, China faces this
type of security dilemma, which has the potential to generate a variety of peacetime and crisis
dangers. China began importing oil in the early 1990s and its imports have grown significantly since then.
Chinese oil consumption doubled from 1995-2005 and is expected to double again by 2020.
During this period Chinese domestic production is expected to remain flat; the amount of oil that it imports will
grow rapidly, making up somewhere between 60 and 80 percent of Chinese demand. The vast majority of this imported oil
more than 85% will cross the Indian Ocean and pass through the Strait of Malacca. The problem that China faces is
that its sea lanes of communication for transporting this oil are dominated by the U.S. navy.
Chinese experts are well aware of the potential implications of this vulnerability . The following
statement by a Chinese scholar succinctly captures the situation: China cannot have control over development
goals without corresponding control over the resources to fuel the econom y. The simple fact is that
China does not possess that control. More than half of U.S. oil imports are shipped via
the sea lanes. The crucial difference is that China is almost helpless to protect its overseas oil import
routes. This is an Achilles heel to contemporary China, as it has forced China to entrust its fate
(stable markets and access to resources) to others. Therefore, it is imperative that China, as a nation, pay attention to its
maritime security and the means to defend its interests through sea power (a critical capability in which China currently lags
behind). In fact, the key danger facing China is likely not during peacetime, but instead during a severe
crisis or war. Another Chinese scholar observes, In the scenario of war across the Taiwan Straits, there is no guarantee that the
United States would not enlist the assistance of its principal ally in northeast Asia (Japan) and other lesser allies (Singapore, the
Philippines, and South Korea) to participate in another oil blockade against China. Although China has been modernizing its navy
for a couple of decades, it not only remains quite far from having the ability to challenge U.S. control of the SLOCs from the Persian
Gulf to the Strait of Malacca, but the programs it could build in the medium term (10-15 years) would still leave this mission beyond
reach. The near-term focus and top priorities for Chinas naval modernization have been
improving its ability to blockade Taiwan, and to deny and deter U.S. intervention in a Taiwan
conflict. Beyond these top priorities, acquiring the ability to protect its SLOCs to the Persian Gulf is among the rationales for
Chinas naval modernization. However, apparently Chinas leaders are still deciding whether to devote massive resources to this
mission. There is the possibility that China could start to challenge U.S. dominance in the Indian
Ocean by developing a string of land-based capabilities from which it could both launch attacks
and base naval forces; China has started to develop the type of base structure required for these
capabilities. In addition, China could try to weaken U.S. naval dominance by deploying sea-based
assets that threaten, but do not match, U.S. forcesfor example, a large attack submarine force .
85

In any event, well before
Chinas navy can reach effectively into the Indian Ocean, its efforts to
protect Taiwan and its territorial claims in the East China and South China Seas will pose a
threat to U.S. allies, including Japan. The extent of U.S. concern about Chinas growing naval
capabilities will depend on future Chinese decisions about how much to invest in protecting its
SLOCs, as well as the overall state of U.S.-China relations . Assuming that the United States retains its
commitment to security and stability in Northeast Asia, some increased U.S. insecurity seems likely even if China does not make a
large commitment to protecting its Indian Ocean SLOCs. On the other hand, a major Chinese investment in this
mission will generate greater U.S. insecurity and likely larger U.S. reactions. The United States
will question whether Chinas investment reflects purely defensive motives or instead a desire to
expand its influence throughout Asia and the Middle East, and will adjust it assessment of
Chinas motives accordingly . Arguably, this type of concern is already taking hold. In recent congressional testimony, the
U.S. admiral who heads Pacific Command noted that Chinas interest in a peaceful and stable environment that will support the
countrys development goals is difficult to reconcile with the evolving military capabilities that appear designed to challenge U.S.
freedom of action in the region or exercise aggression or coercion of its neighbors, including U.S. treaty allies and partners. The
result could be a negative political spiral in which military actions and reactions lead both the
United States and China to conclude the other is more likely to be a greedy hostile state.
Especially in combination with other possible strains in U.S.-China relations, a shift toward more
negative assessments of each others motives could increase the probability of crisis and war.
Most obviously, China will see the United States posing a larger threat to its goal of unification with
Taiwan, which could further harden Chinas policies, including its deployment of anti-access
capabilities for preventing U.S. intervention in a China-Taiwan conflict. At the same time, the United
States could become more determined to protect Taiwan, among other reasons because the
importance of preserving its credibility for defending allies would grow with its assessment of
Chinas greed and because control of Taiwan would increase Chinese military capabilities, not
only by extending its geographical reach, but also by freeing up its military forces for other
missions. Consequently, although Chinas oil dependence drives this security dilemma, the increased probability of conflict would
be over issues not directly related to oil.
86

Extinction
Strait Times 2k (Ching, Senior Writer at the Strait Times, No one gains in a war over Taiwan, June 25th, Lexis
THE high-intensity scenario postulates a
cross-strait war escalating into a full-scale war

between the US and China. If Washington were to conclude that splitting China would better serve its national
interests, then a full-scale war becomes unavoidable. Conflict on such a scale would
embroil other countries far and near and -horror of horrors -raise the
possibility of a nuclear war. Beijing has already told the US and Japan privately that it considers any country
providing bases and logistics support to any US forces attacking China as belligerent parties open to its retaliation. In the region,
this means South Korea, Japan, the Philippines and, to a lesser extent, Singapore . . If
China were to retaliate,

east Asia will be set on fire. And the conflagration may not end there as opportunistic powers
elsewhere may try to overturn the existing world order. With the US distracted,
Russia may seek to redefine Europe's political landscape. The balance of power in the Middle East
may be similarly upset by the likes of Iraq. In south Asia, hostilities between India and Pakistan, each armed with its
own nuclear arsenal, could enter a new and dangerous phase Will a full-scale Sino-US war lead to a nuclear war?
According to General Matthew Ridgeway, commander of the US Eighth Army which fought against the Chinese in the Korean
War, the US had at the time thought of using nuclear weapons against China to save the US from military defeat. In his book The
Korean War, a personal account of the military and political aspects of the conflict and its implications on future US foreign
policy, Gen Ridgeway said that US was confronted with two choices in Korea -truce or a broadened war, which could have led to
the use of nuclear weapons. If the US had to resort to nuclear weaponry to defeat China long before the latter acquired a similar
capability,
there is little hope of winning a war against China , 50 years later, short of
using nuclear weapons. The US estimates that China possesses about 20 nuclear warheads that can destroy major
American cities. Beijing also seems prepared to go for the nuclear option . A Chinese military
officer disclosed recently that Beijing was considering a review of its "non first use" principle regarding nuclear weapons. MajorGeneral Pan Zhangqiang, president of the military-funded Institute for Strategic Studies, told a gathering at the Woodrow
Wilson International Centre for Scholars in Washington that although the government still abided by that principle, there were
strong pressures from the military to drop it. He said military leaders considered the use of nuclear weapons mandatory if the
country risked dismemberment as a result of foreign intervention. Gen Ridgeway said that should that come to pass, we
would see the destruction of civilization.
87
***DEEP OCEAN NEGATIVE***
88
1NC Pharmaceutical Frontline (1/5)

Pharmaceutical industry is recovering- cost-cutting, downsizing, new products,
and emerging markets- prefer predictive evidence
Dutt 2014 (Arpita Dutt, writer for Zacks, industry stock research engine, March 26, 2014. Pharma and Biotech Stock Outlook
March 2014. http://www.zacks.com/commentary/31869/pharma-biotech-stock-outlook---march-2014)
The pharmaceutical sector has been slowly but steadily recovering from the impact of the patent cliff being faced
by several companies over the past few years. The
worst of the patent cliff is over and the NYSE ARCA Pharmaceutical
Index (^DRG) is up 21.4% over the last year. So far in 2014, the index is up 6.9%. Several companies which had been
struggling to post growth in the face of genericization over the past few years are now on the recovery path. New
products should start contributing significantly to results, and increased pipeline visibility and
appropriate utilization of cash should increase confidence in the sector . Products that lost exclusivity
recently include Eli Lillys (LLY) Cymbalta and Evista.AstraZenecas (AZN) Nexium could also start facing generics from May 2014
in the U.S. where sales were $2.1 billion in 2013. Collaborations, Acquisitions and Restructuring The pharma sector witnessed major
merger and acquisitions (M&A) activity over the last couple of years. Going forward, we expect small bolt-on acquisitions to
continue. In-licensing activities and collaborations for the development of pipeline candidates have also increased significantly.
Several pharma companies are focusing on in-licensing mid-to-late stage pipeline candidates that
look promising, instead of developing a product from scratch, which involves a lot of funds and time. Small biotech
companies are open to in-licensing activities and collaborations. Most of these companies find it challenging
to raise cash, thereby making it difficult for them to survive and continue with the development of promising pipeline candidates.
Therefore, it makes sense for them to seek deals with pharma companies that are sitting on huge piles of cash. We recommend
biotech stocks that have attractive pipeline candidates or technology that can be used for the development of novel therapeutics.
Therapeutic areas which could see a lot of in-licensing activity include immuno-oncology, oncology, central nervous system
disorders, diabetes and immunology/inflammation. The hepatitis C virus (HCV) market is also attracting a lot of attention. Some
recent acquisitions/deals include Shires (SHPG) acquisition of ViroPharma,Salixs (SLXP - Analyst Report) acquisition of Santarus
as well as the acquisition of Optimer Pharmaceuticals and Trius Therapeutics by Cubist Pharmaceuticals(CBST) and that of Elan by
Perrigo Company (PRGO - Analyst Report). A major acquisition agreement was announced recently -- that of Forest Labs (FRX)
byActavis (ACT). This deal shows the intention of generic companies to establish a strong position in the branded market. Another
significant deal was the one signed between Celgene (CELG) and OncoMed Pharmaceuticals (OMED - Snapshot Report) for the joint
development and commercialization of up to six anti-cancer stem cell candidates from OncoMed's biologics pipeline. Another trend
that we are seeing in recent months is the divestment of non-core business segments. Pfizer (PFE - Analyst Report) sold its Capsugel
unit and its Nutrition business in Aug 2011 and Nov 2012, respectively. Pfizer then spun off its animal health business into a new
company, Zoetis (ZTS - Analyst Report). Meanwhile, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) divested certain non-core brands from its Consumer
Healthcare segment. In Aug 2011, AstraZeneca sold its Astra Tech business to DENTSPLY (XRAY - Analyst Report). The
monetization of non-core assets will allow the pharma/biotech companies to focus on their areas of expertise. Abbott Labs (ABT)
split into two separate publicly traded companies; while one company deals in diversified medical products, the other, AbbVie
(ABBV), is focusing on research-based pharmaceuticals. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) is also looking to divest its ortho-clinical
diagnostics business. Vertex (VRTX - Snapshot Report) monetized its Incivo-related royalties; the company can use the cash
generated from this deal for its cystic fibrosis program. Restructuring activities are also gaining momentum as
large pharma companies are looking to cut costs and streamline their operations . Most of these
companies are re-evaluating their pipelines and discontinuing programs which do not have a favorable risk-benefit profile. Some of
the companies that announced restructuring plans include Merck (MRK),Novartis (NVS - Snapshot Report), Eli Lilly, Shire and
Sanofi (SNY - Analyst Report). Destination Ireland Of late, several companies have been looking towards Ireland for acquisitions.
The latest company to join the Irish club is Horizon Pharma (HZNP) which is doing a reverse merger with Dublin-based Vidara. Tax
benefits are a major attraction for such deals. Other such recent acquisitions include that of Warner Chilcott by Actavis and Elan by
Perrigo. Emerging Markets and Biosimilars Another trend seen in the pharmaceutical sector is a focus on
emerging markets. Companies like Mylan (MYL - Analyst Report), Pfizer, Merck, Eli Lilly, Glaxo and Sanofi are all looking to
expand their presence in India, China, Brazil and other emerging markets. Until recently, most of the commercialization efforts were
focused on the U.S. -- the largest pharmaceutical market -- along with Europe and Japan. Emerging markets are slowly and
steadily gaining
more importance, and several companies are now shifting their focus to these areas. However, while
higher demand for medicines, government initiatives for healthcare, new patient population and increasing use of
89

Continued No Text Deleted
generics should help drive demand, we point out that emerging markets are also not immune to genericization. Moreover,
investigations into bribery charges in China could put a lid on near-term growth. Meanwhile, growth in Europe will continue to be
pressurized by austerity and cost-containment measures. We are also seeing several companies entering into deals for the
development of biosimilars, generic versions of biologics. Companies like Merck, Amgen, Biogen(BIIB) and Actavis are all targeting
the highly lucrative biosimilars market. 4Q Earnings All companies falling under the Medical sector have reported fourth quarter
and full year 2013 results. While earnings-beat and revenue-beat ratios (percentage of companies coming out with positive
surprises) were pretty impressive, growth ratios were modest. Fourth quarter results were characterized by currency headwinds as
well as the impact of generics. Fourth quarter 2013 earnings "beat ratio" was 74.0% while the revenue "beat ratio" was 76.0%. Total
earnings for this sector were up 1.1%, compared to 0.2% recorded in the third quarter of 2013. Total revenues moved up 5.3% in the
quarter versus 5.8% growth in the third quarter of 2013. Looking at the consensus earnings expectations for the first quarter,
earnings are expected to decline 3.3%. Tough challenges for some companies, negative currency movement and a few patent
expirees will affect first quarter growth. However, growth should pick up from the second quarter for which 1.6% earnings growth is
expected. Overall, 2014 earnings are expected to grow 6.5%. For a detailed look at the earnings outlook for the Medical and other
sectors, please check our Zacks Earnings Trendsreport. Focus on New Products 2013 saw the FDA approving 27 novel medicines,
about one-third (33%) of which were identified by the FDA as First-in-Class, meaning they use a new and unique mechanism of
action for treating a medical condition. These include drugs like Invokana (type II diabetes), Kadcyla (HER2-positive late-stage
breast cancer), Sovaldi (an interferon-free oral treatment for some patients with chronic hepatitis C) and Mekinist (metastatic
melanoma). Yet another one-third of the approved drugs fall under the rare or orphan disease category that affects 200,000 or
fewer Americans. These include Imbruvica (mantle cell lymphoma), Gazyva (chronic lymphocytic leukemia), Kynamro (homozygous
familial hypercholesterolemia) and Adempas and Opsumit (both for pulmonary arterial hypertension). Three of the approved drugs
Gazyva, Imbruvica and Sovaldi had breakthrough therapy designation. Breakthrough status, a new designation that became
effective after Jul 9, 2012, is designed to cut short the development time of promising new treatments. Some important products
approved in 2013 include: Drugs like Tecfidera, Sovaldi and Imbruvica represent strong commercial potential. So far in 2014, drugs
that have gained approval include AstraZenecas Myalept (complications of leptin deficiency) and Farxiga (type II diabetes), Chelsea
Therapeutics (CHTP) Northera (to treat neurogenic orthostatic hypotension),BioMarins (BMRN) Vimizim (Morquio A syndrome)
and Vanda Pharmas Hetlioz (non-24- hour sleep-wake disorder). Upcoming events include FDA advisory panel review of the
regulatory application forMannKinds (MNKD) experimental diabetes treatment, Afrezza. April should be an active month with the
agency expected to deliver a response on the approvability of several experimental drugs including Afrezza, Glaxos Eperzan (type II
diabetes) and Arzerra (CLL). Zacks Industry Rank Within the Zacks Industry classification, pharma and biotech are broadly grouped
into the Medical sector (one of 16 Zacks sectors) and further sub-divided into four industries at the expanded level: large-cap
pharma, med-biomed/gene, med-drugs and med-generic drugs. We rank all the 260-plus industries in the 16 Zacks sectors based on
the earnings outlook and fundamental strength of the constituent companies in each industry. To learn more, visit: About Zacks
Industry Rank. As a point of reference, the outlook for industries with Zacks Industry Rank #88 and lower is Positive, between #89
and #176 is Neutral and #177 and higher is Negative. The Zacks Industry Rank for large-cap pharma is #225, med-biomed/gene is
#69, med-drugs is #84, while the med-generic drugs is #8. Analyzing the Zacks Industry Rank for different medical segments, it is
obvious that the outlook is Positive for med-drugs, med-biomed/gene and med-generic drugs and Negative for large-cap pharma
stocks. OPPORTUNITIES While several companies will continue to face challenges like EU austerity measures and genericization,
the pharma industry is out of the worst of its genericization phase. Many companies which had faced
generic headwinds in the last couple of years should continue
to see a sustained improvement in results this year.

Cost-cutting, downsizing, streamlining of the pipeline, growth in emerging markets and new
product launches should support growth. Among pharma stocks, Shire, a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stock, looks
well-positioned for growth with the company expanding its product portfolio and pipeline through the acquisition of ViroPharma.
Horizon Pharma, a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock, also seems on the right path with the company announcing its plans to acquire
Ireland-based Vidara. In the biotech space, we are positive on Biogen. Tecfidera, the companys recently launched oral multiple
sclerosis drug, is off to a strong start with the product delivering sales of $876 million (as of Dec 31, 2013) since its launch in early
April 2013. While Tecfidera has gained the top spot in the oral multiple sclerosis market in the U.S., Avonex and Tysabri should
continue contributing significantly to sales. Tecfidera gained EU approval recently. Biogen is also progressing with its hemophilia
pipeline. We are also positive on Amgen (AMGN). Amgen should be able to deliver on its long-term strategy based on expansion in
key markets, launch of new manufacturing technologies, and pipeline development. Enbrel should continue performing well.
Amgens late-stage pipeline is also moving along. While Amgen is a Zacks Rank #2 stock, Biogen is a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock.
Gilead, a Zacks Rank #1 stock, continues to do well in the HIV segment and has a potential blockbuster in its portfolio in the form of
HCV treatment, Sovaldi. Among generic companies, Actavis looks well-positioned. Actavis is slowly and steadily building its position
in the branded market through acquisitions (Actavis Group, Warner Chilcott and the upcoming acquisition of Forest). With fewer
major patent expiries slated to occur in the next few years, we are encouraged by Actavis focus on building its branded and
biosimilars pipeline. The company carries a Zacks Rank #2.
90

Pharmaceutical industry resilient
Americas Pharma 2008 (Americas Pharma, pharmaceutical research group, 2008. Pharmaceuticals Remain Resilient
In Economic Crisis, 11-1, Lexis)
It has been the BMI Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare team's long-held view that the
pharmaceutical industry should

remain resilient to a financial crisis. This belief remains underpinned by wider investor sentiment.
Even including the challenged health insurance sector, the S&P Health Care Index is seeing smaller loses than other industries. The
Health Care Index fell by 31% over the year to October 10. Putting this in context, telecoms stocks are down 46%, energy stocks are
down 44% and financial stocks are down 50%. While the economic crisis has now widened beyond its credit crunch catalyst, the
ability to raise finance remains at the root of the problems faced by the global economy. In this regard, the pharmaceutical industry
also remains in good shape. Drugmakers have reputations for sitting on war chests of cash , making
them less reliant on equity markets for finance. Yet, even those that do need to go to the markets for capital are
finding a relatively warm reception - with the inelastic demand for pharmaceuticals meaning that the industry functions relatively
independently of the wider economy.
91

Recent biotech advances take out the need for the aff- diseases are being cured and
medicine is being developed at an exponential rate
Market Watch 2013 (Market Watch, segment of the Wall Street Journal that reports on recent trend in the economy,
November 7, 2013. The global revolution in biotechnology and the impact of regenerative Medicine.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-global-revolution-in-biotechnology-and-the-impact-of-regenerative-medicine-2013-11-07)
Nov 07, 2013 (ACCESSWIRE via COMTEX) -- "This is the golden age of science ." That's what Mike Milken,
chairman of the Milken Institute, told CNBC's Kelly Evans on Monday during an interview with Milken and National Institute of
Health director Francis Collins at the 5th Annual Partnering for Cures convention at the Grand Hyatt in Manhattan. Francis Collins
referenced healthcare as being in an evolutionary period and noted that steps need to be taken for the United States
to maintain a world leadership position. "When you look at the rest of the world, they have read America's playbook and have seen
how success happened and they are trying to become what we used to be," commented Collins. In our view, a cornerstone in a
robust U.S. (and global) biotechnology ecosystem is regenerative medicine and many of the next
generation treatments that cell-based therapeutics has to offer. The rapidly growing field as an adjunctive or
front line treatment embodies a new wave of therapies to meet countless areas of great unmet medical
need where legacy, small molecule-based drugs are showing limited impact, or facing extreme challenges. This impact is
being recognized globally - a good example is Japan, which has embraced the potential of regenerative medicine and
is actively seeking to establish itself as a global leader in the area. It has earmarked regenerative medicine specifically,
announcing $3.2 billion in funding for programs to advance the area , using pluripotent stem cells and
other approaches. In the annual "Meeting on the Mesa," a three-day convention of world leaders and investors in regenerative
medicine held in La Hoya, California last month, Dr. Gil Van Bokkelen, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Athersys, Inc.
ATHX -2.80% touched not only on the initiatives of Japan, and global potential of the field of regenerative medicine, but also the
unique potential of Athersys'MultiStem(R) technology. Interested investors can watch the entire video interview on YouTube
here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO6rd3fWgKc Dr. Van Bokkelen noted that MultiStem is being developed as an "off the
shelf" medicine, or in technical terms an "allogeneic" stem cell therapy that can be manufactured on a large scale,
stored for years in frozen form, and administered without tissue matching or immune suppressive drugs. Athersys is developing the
technology for several indication areas, including some that are recognized by analysts and pundits as having
breakthrough potential. Current clinical programs include, ischemic stroke, acute myocardial infarction, preventing
Graph versus Host Disease (GvHD) and treating Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) in patients where other medicines have proven
ineffective. This latter program is part of an ongoing international Phase II trial in partnership with Pfizer, Inc. PFE -0.12% for
treatment-refractory inflammatory bowel disease, with results expected in early 2014. New treatments for a condition like IBD,
focusing on patients where other therapies have proven ineffective, could validate the potential of regenerative medicines to reverse
the course of an advanced disease, at a time when treatment expenses skyrocket and quality of life deteriorates dramatically. In fact,
a hallmark feature of regenerative medicine is its apparent utility in addressing areas of substantial unmet medical need, where the
cost burden is high. Success from ongoing or planned MultiStem trials, especially for an area like ischemic stroke, could provide a
powerful catalyst for Athersys shares.Top-line results from the IBD trial are expected in the first quarter of 2014, with results from
the stroke clinical trial expected several months later. As noted by Dr. Van Bokkelen's presentation, MultiStem has great potential as
a novel therapeutic approach for conditions where current standards of care are essentially non-existent or ineffective. One of the
reasons for this is the multimodal activity of MultiStem, which addresses key shortcomings of traditional drugs or technologies that
typically focus on a single mechanism of action. He notes that cells are different because they are capable of promoting healing in
several ways, such as by expressing factors that reduce inflammatory damage, protect and preserve tissue that is at risk following an
injury, promote formation of new blood vessels in regions of inadequate blood supply, and by stimulating recovery in other ways.
Recent deal activity also suggests growing acceptance of regenerative medicine technologies, including the Cytori Therapeutics, Inc.
CYTX -0.89% partnership to commercialize technology in Australia and Asia, and the recent Mesoblast, Inc. (asx:MSB) acquisition
of the rights to the Osiris Therapeutics, Inc. OSIR -0.57% Prochymal franchise. With new regulatory initiatives in Japan and other
countries poised to speed development options for companies focused on clinical development of new medicines, it seems that
regenerative medicine is now beyond its flash point. The tremendous potential is now being recognized in
multiple areas around the world, including in some corners of Wall Street.
92

No extinction diseases favor limited lethality and medicine will check
Posner 2004 (Richard Posner, Judge at the US Court of Appeals, Catastrophe: Risk and Response, p. 22-24)
Yet the fact that Homo sapiens has managed to survive every disease to assail it in the 200,000 years
or so of its existence is a source of genuine comfort, at least if the focus is on extinction events. There have been
enormously destructive plagues, such as the Black Death, smallpox, and now AIDS, but none has come close
to destroying the entire human race. There is a biological reason. Natural selection favors germs
of limited lethality; they are fitter in an evolutionary sense because their genes are more likely to be spread if the germs do
not kill their hosts too quickly. The AIDS virus is an example of a lethal virus, wholly natural, that by lying dormant yet infectious in
its host for years maximizes its spread. Yet there is no danger that AIDS will destroy the entire human race. The likelihood of
a natural pandemic that would cause the extinction of the human race is probably even less today than in
the past (except in prehistoric times, when people lived in small, scattered bands, which would have limited the spread of
disease), despite wider human contacts that make it more difficult to localize an infectious disease. The reason is
improvements in medical science. But the comfort is a small one. Pandemics can still impose enormous losses and resist
prevention and cure: the lesson of the AIDS pandemic. And there is always a lust time.
Burn out stops disease

Lederberg 1999 (Joshua Lederberg, Professor of Genetics at Stanford University School of Medicine, Epidemic The World
of Infectious Disease, p. 13)
The toll of the fourteenth-century plague, the "Black Death," was closer to one third. If the bugs' potential to develop adaptations
that could kill us off were the whole story, we would not be here. However, with very rare exceptions, our microbial adversaries
have a shared interest in our survival. Almost any pathogen comes to a dead end when we die; it first
has to communicate itself to another host in order to survive. So historically, the really severe hostpathogen interactions have resulted in a wipeout of both host and pathogen. We humans are still here because,
so far, the pathogens that have attacked us have willy-nilly had an interest in our survival. This is a very delicate balance,
and it is easily disturbed, often in the wake of large-scale ecological upsets.
93
2NC Pharmaceutical Uniqueness (1/3)

Pharmaceutical industry is growing in the squo- new medicines, govt. subsidies,
new R&D, and new markets
SelectUSA 2014 (SelectUSA, domestic based market analyst group, May 23, 2014. The Pharmaceutical and Biotech
industries in the United States. http://selectusa.commerce.gov/industry-snapshots/pharmaceutical-and-biotech-industries-unitedstates)
The United States is the worlds largest market for pharmaceuticals and the world leader in
biopharmaceutical research. According to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA), U.S.
firms conduct the majority of the worlds research and development in pharmaceuticals and hold
the intellectual property rights on most new medicines. The biopharmaceutical pipeline also has over 5,000 new
medicines currently in development around the world with approximately 3,400 compounds currently being studied in
the United States - more than in any other region around the world. More than 810,000 people work in the
biopharmaceutical industry in the United States as of 2012, and the industry supports a total of
nearly 3.4 million jobs across the U.S. economy, including jobs directly in biopharmaceutical companies, jobs with
vendor companies in the broad biopharmaceutical supply chain, and jobs created by the economic activity of the biopharmaceutical
industry workforce. The biopharmaceutical sector is one of the most research and development (R&D)-intensive in the United
States, with companies investing more than 10 times the amount of R&D per employee than all manufacturing industries overall.
The markets for biologics, over-the-counter (OTC) medicines, and generics show the most potential for
growth and have become increasingly competitive. Biologics account for a quarter of all new drugs in clinical trials
or awaiting U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval. OTC market growth will be driven by a growing aging population and
consumer trend to self-medication, and the conversion of drugs from prescription to non-prescription or OTC status. The U.S.
market is the worlds largest free-pricing market for pharmaceuticals and has a favorable patent and regulatory environment.
Product success is largely based on competition in product quality, safety and efficacy and price. U.S. government support
of biomedical research, along with its unparalleled scientific and research base and innovative
biotechnology sector, make the U.S. market the preferred home for growth in the
pharmaceutical industry.
94

Pharmaceutical companies are recovering- growth rates are up and will sustain
Business Line 2014 (The Hindu Business Line, latest news on India and international business and finance, January 5,
2014. Pharma cos likely to post 15% profit growth in Q3. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/pharmacos-likely-to-post-15-profit-growth-in-q3/article5541288.ece
Pharmaceutical companies are expected to post core profit growth of over 15 per cent year-on-
year for the quarter ended December 2013. We expect core profit growth of over 15 per cent y-o-y across the pharmaceutical
sector in Q3 FY14. The US launches and currency benefit will be the key growth drivers , Kotak
Institutional Equities said in its report. While the domestic growth stays subdued, the US launches remain
strong, it said. It expects the US generic launches to be the key growth driver, offsetting weak
growth in India. Improving US product mix and currency remain key margin drivers for Indian generics, according to the report.
The currency benefit is likely to sustain. In the current quarter, the Indian rupee has appreciated by 1 per cent
sequentially on a quarter-end basis. Hence, we expect marginal impact due to translation impact of net balance-sheet items and
MTM losses on foreign currency hedges, said Kotak Equities research analyst Krishna Prasad. Among the leading pharma players,
Sun Pharma and Dr Reddys will lead the sector, while Lupin US generics growth is expected to remain strong, it said, adding that
Kotak expects a stable growth for Glenmark and remains conservative on recovery in Cipla and Cadila in the third quarter of 2013-14
fiscal (Q3 FY14), the report said. We expect core profit growth of over 15 per cent y-o-y across the sector except Cipla. Sun Pharma
and Dr Reddys will lead the pack with 45 per cent and 33 per cent y-o-y net profit growth, respectively. In both cases, we expect
US generics to be the primary growth driver along with currency, Prasad said. For Lupin, we estimate 13 per cent y-o-y growth in
EBITDA, while a PAT growth of 26 per cent is driven by lower tax rate. We expect strong margin expansion for Dr Reddys (360 bps
y-o-y) driven by US launches, the Kotak report said. A gradual recovery is expected for Cadila and Cipla, it said, adding
that it does not factor in significant improvement in operational performance for the current quarter. We estimate sharp recovery in
core EBITDA margin for Ranbaxy at 9 per cent driven by lower remediation expense. We expect stable earnings performance for
Glenmark with 19 per cent y-o-y growth in core net profit, the report said. For Lupin, the strong growth in US generics is partially
offset by muted performance in India/Japan leading to a marginal decline (40 bps) in EBITDA margin, Prasad said.
95

Pharma sector growing now- exports, new products, and investor confidence
Kabtta 2013 (Kiran Kabtta, Market News reporter, Novermber 28, 2013. Pharma sector: Export gains, domestic bounceback augur well. http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-11-28/news/44547025_1_sun-pharma-indian-companiesdomestic-market)
Drug makers posted healthy results in the quarter to September due to their strong performance in the
United States largely because of rupee depreciation. High realisations from exports more than compensated
for the subdued performance in the domestic market, where trade-related disruptions and price revisions after
the implementation of the new drug pricing policy took their toll on the pharmaceutical companies. Most companies
reported over 25% growth in their US business compared with the year-ago period. Increased sales from
exclusive product launches, besides the favourable currency movement, boosted the performance of several firms.
Sun Pharma, Lupin, Dr Reddy's Labs, Cadila Healthcare and Aurobindo Pharma posted gains in their US business during the threemonth period. In the domestic market, however, most companies remained confined to single-digit growth. Multinational
companies such as GSK Pharma, Pfizer and Novartis, which earn a dominant share of their revenues from the Indian market, were
the biggest losers on this count while Indian companies such as Sun Pharma and Glenmark stood out as outperformers with strong
double-digit growth. Companies in contract research and manufacturing services have been facing challenges, including pricing
pressure, increased raw material prices and slowdown in business. Even so, Divi's Labs and Dishman Pharma managed to post
betterthan-expected results. The outlook for the sector continues to be positive. Export realisations
are expected to improve as the rupee is hovering around the same level. In the domestic market, the worst seems to be over with the
settlement of margin-related issues between companies and the drug distributors. Growth in the domestic market is
also expected to bounce back to double-digit levels. Sun Pharma is expected to continue to be the industry
outperformer, followed by companies such as Lupin and Dr Reddy's Labs. These companies have strong product
pipelines and sound base business in their key markets. Despite the positive outlook, stretching stock valuations
have led to correction in stocks of leading pharma companies such as Sun Pharma, Cipla and Lupin over the past month.
Investors seem to be booking short-term profits in these defensive stocks even as pharma companies are expected to continue
on a growth trajectory.
96
1NC Biofuels Frontline (1/4)

Throwing money at algae biofuels failswont be viable for decades
Russek, 2010 (Gabriela Russek, India Carbon Outlook writer, Algae Biofuels: Possibilities, Uncertainties, India
Carbon Outlook, 01/19/2010, http://india.carbon-outlook.com/content/algae-biofuels-exciting-possibilities-uncertain-future)
These benefits are so significant that governments, investors, and scientists still support investing in R&D, even though research
thus far been fraught with disappointments. Decades of scientific study have gone into algae
biofuels, including Japanese and US government projects, and privately funded

research. The United States Government funded research into the fuel from 1978-1996 , in the
DOE Aquatic Species Project, but ended the project to focus limited budgets on bioethanol.[13] Despite over
30 years of research, there is still no commercially viable large-scale production of
algae biofuel.[14] As fossil fuel prices rise, investment in the technology has been renewed. The U.S. Government is resuming
funding.[15] Major investors are partnering with algae tech companies, including an investment of $600 million by Exxon Mobil
into Synthetic Genomics, and a similar partnership between Bill Gates Cascade Investments and Sapphire Energys algae research.
[16] The many new of enthusiastic start-up algae fuel companies (one article mentioned more than 60) are making wildly optimistic
predictions about the volumes of algae biofuel that could be produced at competitive prices in the near future. However, the
technology is very far from commercially viable, and several of these companies have
shut down in the face of financial realities .[17] Experts are cautiously optimistic, but few are
willing to predict how soon the technology could be commercially viable. They are also unsure exactly
how efficient it will be in terms of land required, production costs, and carbon abatement. "(t)his research is driven by the conviction
that economies of scale, improvement in yields and output are achievable, explains Raffaello Garofalo, executive director of the
European Algae Biomass Association (EABA), but adds, "It would not be responsible to give you dates."[18] It is not a
solution for the near-term future; a presenter at the Algae Biofuel summit, Bill Barclay, said the lowestimate claims of 2-4 years are unrealistic[19], and decades-long algae fuel researcher John Benemann is betting on
10-15.[20]
97

Too many obstacles that plans research cant overcome
LTM, 2008 (Low-Tech Magazine, Leave the algae alone, Low-Tech Magazine, 04/08/2008,
http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2008/04/algae-fuel-biof.html)
All this sounds very good, but algae also need a few things, most notably: a
lot of sunshine and massive amounts

of water. To grow algae, you also need phosphorus (besides other minerals), an element that is very much needed by agriculture.
Most algae are grown in brackish or salt water. That sounds as if water is no issue, since our planet has not
a shortage of salt water. However, just like solar energy plants, algae plants are best located in very
sunny regions, like deserts. But, in deserts, and in very sunny places in general, there is not much
water to find. Thats not a problem for solar plants, because they dont need it. But, how are you going to get seawater to your
desert algae plant? Check the websites of all these companies: not a word about it. There are not that many possibilities.
You can transport seawater to the desert, but that's going to cost you an awful lot of energy,
probably more than what can be produced by the algae . You can also take freshwater from
more nearby regions or underground aquifers and turn it into artificial seawater. But, you promised that algal fuel
would not compete with food production. A third option is to put your algae plant next to the sea. Now, there are
places which are both close to the sea and have lots of sun. But chances are slim that they are as
cheap and abandoned like deserts are. Most likely, they are already filled up with tourists and
hotels, to name one possibility. So you might be forced to look for a less sunny place close to the sea
which inevitably means that your energy efficiency is going down . Which again raises the question: will the
algae deliver more fuel than is needed to make them?
Algae biofuels hurt the environmentreleases more GHG emissions & threatens
water resources
Rampton & Zabarenko, 2012 (Roberta Rampton and Deborah Zabarenko- environmental correspondents
for Reuters, Algae biofuel not sustainable now-U.S. research council , Reuters, 10/24/2014,
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/10/24/us-usa-biofuels-algae-idUKBRE89N1Q820121024)
It said a main reason to use alternative fuels for transportation is to cut climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions created by
burning fossil fuel. But estimates of greenhouse emissions from algal biofuels cover a wide range, with some
suggesting that over their life cycle, the fuels release more climate-warming gas than
petroleum, it said. The product now made in small quantities by Sapphire uses algae, sunlight and carbon dioxide as
feedstocks to make fuel that is not dependent on food crops or farmland. The company calls it "green crude." Tim Zenk, a Sapphire
vice president, said the company has worked for five years on the sustainability issues examined in the report. "The NRC has
acknowledged something that the industry has known about in its infancy and began to address immediately," he said. He said
Sapphire recycles water and uses land that is not suitable for agriculture at its New Mexico site, where it hopes to make 100 barrels
of algal biofuel a day by 2014. The U.S. Navy used algal biofuel along with fuel made from cooking oil waste as part of its "Green
Fleet" military exercises demonstration this summer, drawing fire from Republican lawmakers for its nearly $27 per gallon cost. The
council study also said it was unclear whether producing that much biofuel from algae would actually
lead to reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The report shows the strategy is too risky, said Friends of the
Earth, an environmental group. "Algae production poses a double-edged threat to our water
resources, already strained by the drought," Michal Rosenoer, a biofuels campaigner with the group, said
in a statement.
98

Ocean research center already begun- it would be the result of the plan
Gewin, 2013 (Virginia Gewin, a science journalist covering environmental issues from food security to acidifying
oceans, Los Angeles unveils plans for ocean-research centre, Nature News, 06/21/2013, http://www.nature.com/news/losangeles-unveils-plans-for-ocean-research-centre-1.13250)
California has no shortage of high-profile marine research institutes from the Scripps Institution of
Oceanography in La Jolla in the south, to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute farther north, in Moss Landing. But backers of a
plan to convert a 100-year-old dock in the Port of Los Angeles into a US$500-million research
centre and business park called AltaSea say that there is still an untapped niche in ocean science a facility focused on
making Los Angeles and other coastal cities sustainable by helping them to adapt to climate change, to become more energy efficient and to reduce
marine pollution. The 11-hectare facility will be developed by a publicprivate collaboration of the Port of Los Angeles, a family foundation and several
California universities. The
centre will house labs with circulating seawater, offices, lecture halls, classrooms
and a visitor centre, according to construction plans unveiled on 17 June by port officials. The collaboration also hopes to build the world's
largest seawater wave tank to study wave damage to coastal infrastructure. "The idea is to create a hybrid institute around the fundamental challenges
inherent to coastal cities," says Anthony Michaels, chief scientist at Pegasus Capital Advisors, an investment firm in El Segundo, California, who
championed the AltaSea proposal during his tenure as director of the Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Southern
California in Los Angeles. AltaSea's first tenant will be the Southern California Marine Institute (SCMI), a research alliance of 11 major universities in
the region including eight California State University campuses, the University of Southern California and Occidental College, both in Los Angeles,
and the University of California, Los Angeles. "This
will be a green, world-class research centre in an area where

we are seeing the greatest urban-ocean problems, from runoff to climate change ," says biologist Daniel
Pondella, the SCMI's director and a professor at Occidental College. AltaSea's location on an industrial urban waterfront will help the 19-year-old
alliance to continue its work on harmful algal blooms, the restoration of near-shore reefs damaged by nutrient runoff, and other signs of human impact
on the world's oceans. Finding funds Geraldine Knatz, the Port of Los Angeles's executive director and a former marine scientist calls the project a
game changer that could help revitalize the San Pedro neighborhood that AltaSea will call home. Fifty years ago, more than 100,000 people streamed
to the port each day; today, that figure has shrunk to just 16,000. But first, AltaSea's backers will have to continue trawling for cash. They have raised
just $57 million of the estimated $155 million that they will need to pay for the project's first phase, which they hope to complete in 2018. The Port of
Los Angeles is contributing $32 million to upgrade the dock and the Annenberg Foundation in Los Angeles has donated $25 million to kick-start
construction. A second phase of development, including construction of the wave tank, would bring the project's total cost to an estimated $500 million
over 20 years. Michaels
says that he isn't worried about raising the extra money. He envisions AltaSea as a hotbed of
research for companies working on aquaculture, algal biofuels, marine sensors and urban
agriculture, and not just as a home for academic scientists. "We're taking a gamble on the real
faith that a facility this unique will create genuine value by bringing everyone together ," he says.
Despite tight federal and state research funding, even would-be competitors such as the Center for Oceans and Human Health at the Scripps
Institution of Oceanography view AltaSea as a welcome addition. "Studying
the interactions between the ocean

and human health is an emerging area of science ," says Bradley Moore, director of the Scripps centre, which
was established last year with a $6-million joint grant from the US National Science Foundation in Arlington, Virginia, and the National Institutes of
Health in Bethesda, Maryland. "If AltaSea can put more resources towards helping find solutions, that's great."
99

US natural gas boom crowds out algal biofuels
SIO, 04/08/2014 (Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Scripps, UCSD algae biofuel programs rated top in US by
DOE, Biodiesel Magazine, 04/08/2014, http://www.biodieselmagazine.com/articles/46097/scripps-ucsd-algae-biofuel-programsrated-top-in-us-by-doe)
The algae biofuel industry has grown significantly since CAB-Comm was founded in 2008 (it was then called the
San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology, SD-CAB), expanding
from scientific to commercial interests. Its

development is spurred in part by a desire to wean American dependence on foreign oil , but another
motivation to develop algae biofuel is that it has the potential to cut carbon dioxide emissions in half, because the algae sequester
carbon as they grow and partially offset the carbon released when the biofuel is burned. Cost is the main factor
holding algae biofuel back, as its currently two to three times more expensive than fossil fuels ,
even when produced by the largest and most efficient operations. There are some indications that algae
biofuel will be cost-competitive with fossil fuels within five years, but investment in large-scale production isnt
likely to happen until then. The recent boom in Americas natural gas production
enabled by fracking could further dampen investor interest and slow the
development of algae biofuels.
100
2NC Biofuels Fail (1/2)

Major roadblocks halt algal biofuels
Buchele, 2012 (Mose Buchele, State Impact writer, The Downside of Using Algae as a Biofuel, State Impact,
12/17/2012, http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2012/12/17/the-downside-of-using-algae-as-a-biofuel/)
This year, people ranging from the President of the United States to this humble reporter, have spoken of algaes potential in
creating a carbon neutral biofuel. A recent study from the University of Texas showed how the tiny organisms could create 500 times
more energy than they take to grow. And the promise of the slimy green stuff is made even more enticing by the fact that it consumes
carbon dioxide, sewage, and fertilizer run-off. It could, theoretically, clean the planet even as becomes a new source of fuel. Now
comes the downside. A report by the National Academies of Science has identified major road blocks to the
widespread development of algal biofuel. Chief among them is water use, says Paul Zimba Director for the
Center of Coastal Studies at Texas A&M Corpus Christi. Zimba took part in the study. He says as much as 3000 liters of
water are required to produce a single liter of fuel when algae growers use open pond systems in arid
environments. There are commercial operations, open pond system operations in the southwest primarily, Zimba told StateImpact
Texas. He says theres a general feeling that water loss from those systems is too much to allow the development
of large scale systems hundreds of acres along this line. Water availability was just one of the challenges
to widespread algae cultivation outlined in the report. Others include finding space for large growing
operations, and competition for fertilizer. There will be a competitive demand for fertilizers that
could affect food production in terms of being competitive cost-wise for their fertilizer products, he
said.
Releases more CO2 emissions than other biofuels
Lewis & Peterson, 2013 (Jonathan Lewis- Senior Counsel - Climate Policy & Cameron Peterson- climate policy, THE
STATUS OF ALGAL BIOFUEL DEVELOPMENT, Clean Air Task Force, 07/15/2013, http://www.catf.us/resources/whitepapers/files/201307-CATF
%20Status%20of%20Algal%20Biofuels.pdf)
Lifecycle analyses (LCAs) of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions emitted in the production of algal biofuels
are less than encouraging as well. They tend to range significantly, depending on the study, but can be an order of
magnitude greater than those from other sources. One review of twenty-four LCAs of algal biofuel
produced in open raceway ponds found that the process emitted between 0.1 and 4.4 kg CO2e/kg of algae
whereas the high end of emissions given for biofuels produced by corn, soybeans, and camelina
was 0.4, 0.5, and 0.3 kg CO2e/kg, respectively (Handler et al., 2012, p.89). While only three of the twenty-four LCAs
resulted in emissions of more than 1 kg CO2e/kg of algae, the results demonstrate the potentially negative
environmental impacts due to fossil energy, freshwater, and fertilizer use in algae cultivation . For
instance, the LCA study that exhibited emissions of 4.4 kg CO2e/kg of algae assumed the addition of potassium nitrate, deemed by
Handler et al. (2012) as the the worst-performing N fertilizer in all three of our chosen environmental metrics (p. 90). This
assumption, among many others, generated lifecycle emissions of more than twice those of any other study that Handler et al.
analyzed.
101
2NC Biofuels Fail (2/2)

Benefits exaggerated
Hall & Benemann, 2011 (Charles A. S. Hall is at the College of Environmental Science and Forestry, State
University of New York, and John R. Benemann is with Benemann Associates, Walnut Creek, California, Oil from Algae?,
BioScience, 10/11/2011, http://bioscience.oxfordjournals.org/content/61/10/741.full)
What is the reality? First, no oil or other biofuel from algal photosynthesis is currently produced in
commercial quantities or even at the pilot or prepilot scales. At most, a few gallons of samples
seem to have been made. (Fermentation processes, such as those of Solazyme and Martek, which convert sugars or starches
to oil, are an exception, but these are in a fundamentally different category from the autotrophic processes using carbon dioxide and
solar energy that are our focus here.) Second, many projections for algal oil production are
exaggerated. Some even exceed thermodynamic limits, and most ignore practical realities. Even
achieving 20,000 liters per ha per year of oil would require a major research and development effort, and 40,000 liters per
ha per year would appear to be a likely practical long-term maximum for the United States .
102

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National Speech & Debate Association

Policy Debate 2014-2015 Starter File 11/30/14

2AC REM Adv Resource Wars (1/2)............................................................................. 45

1NC Biofuels Frontline (2/4).......................................................................................... 98

***AUTONOMOUS UNDERWATER VEHICLES AFFIRMATIVE***

1AC Environmental Monitoring Adv (1/10)

need to be informed by good science . Exploration of this frontier

1AC Environmental Monitoring Adv (2/10)

Methane can also act as a potential modifier of the

1AC Environmental Monitoring Adv (3/10)

1AC Environmental Monitoring Adv (4/10)

These missions demonstrated that the Spray Glider is a capable,

1AC Environmental Monitoring Adv (5/10)

1AC Environmental Monitoring Adv (6/10)

stinging jellyfish that

1AC Environmental Monitoring Adv (7/10)

Cooling failure triggers nuclear meltdowns

communications could be lost worldwide. Restoration may be delayed or even impossible in a

1AC Environmental Monitoring Adv (8/10)

1AC Environmental Monitoring Adv (9/10)

1AC Environmental Monitoring Adv (10/10)

1AC Rare Earth Minerals Adv (1/9)

fancy electronic gadgetslike our Smartphones and laptopsdepend

several hundred years worth of

1AC Rare Earth Minerals Adv (2/9)

1AC Rare Earth Minerals Adv (3/9)

1AC Rare Earth Minerals Adv (4/9)

1AC Rare Earth Minerals Adv (5/9)

1AC Rare Earth Minerals Adv (6/9)

The United States' military

efforts to promote stability and its broader

1AC Rare Earth Minerals Adv (7/9)

catalytic warfare, where, for example, a U.S. ally such

denial assets coupled with growing

power projection capabilities and thus

Space is increasingly a contested domain where U.S. dominance is no

ASAT weapons, EMP, and jamming.

Cyber attacks can spread

USAF has a vital role to play in the U.S. response to international

, with its inherent characteristics of speed,

range, and flexibility, airpower has forever changed

1AC Rare Earth Minerals Adv (8/9)

world contains flashpoints for state-to-state conflict. This includes

proliferation of more lethal capabilities,

A nuclear Iran that engages in or supports terrorist operations in a more

1AC Rare Earth Minerals Adv (9/9)

1AC Disease Research Adv (1/6)

1AC Disease Research Adv (2/6)

1AC Disease Research Adv (3/6)

1AC Disease Research Adv (4/6)

: Humanity faces a new

Dr. Arjun Srinivasan, associate director at the Centers for

1AC Disease Research Adv (5/6)

1AC Disease Research Adv (6/6)

regulatory approvals, a thoughtful intellectual property system, and the ability to

1AC Solvency (1/3)

1AC Solvency 2/3)

reauthorize the Hydrographic Services Improvement Act, H.R. 1399, introduced by

1AC Solvency (3/3)

2AC Environment Adv Biodiversity Impact

A biodiverse landscape, intact forests, clean water and air

2AC Environment Adv Environment Impact

2AC Environment Adv Methane Internal Links (1/3)

Studying cold vents key to climate research

AUTONOMOUS UNDERWATER VEHICLES AFFIRMATIVE

DEEP OCEAN AFFIRMATIVE