Senator Coons inspired by Pearl Harbor survivor

MILFORD — To mark the 71st anniversary of the day our nation was attacked at Pearl Harbor, Senator Coons spent the afternoon of December 7th visiting the Delaware Veterans Home in Milford. 

While he was there, Chris was deeply moved by the harrowing story of Thomas Morris, a World War II veteran who survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  Now over 90 years old, Mr. Morris shared his inspirational story of courage and determination from December 7, 1941.

Originally from Cecil County, Maryland, Mr. Morris joined the Navy and was serving aboard the USS California on the day Pearl Harbor was bombed.  After a torpedo hit his ship, he rushed to rescue his fellow service members and fetch ammo. While he was below deck, a second strike blew him back 100 feet and burned him across his body.

After making it onto one of the last lifeboats and finding his way to shore, Mr. Morris was told by a triage doctor at the Honolulu aid station that there was no way to save his life. The doctor ordered him wrapped in gauze to make him more comfortable, and urged him to prepare for death. The next morning, the astonished doctor found that Mr. Morris was in fact, very much alive – and ready to get back in the fight.

Mr. Morris spent two full months recovering from his injuries, motivated by his desire to fight for his country at a time it needed him. He made a remarkable recovery and immediately joined the crew of a destroyer, where he worked his way up to the rank of gunner’s mate, third class. After fighting honorably, eventually, skin damage caused by his burns required him to return home to his family farm.

“Extraordinary stories of courage from our military veterans are key threads in the rich fabric of our nation’s history,” Chris said.  “Mr. Morris’ story was touching and inspirational, and I am deeply honored to have had the opportunity to hear him describe that terrifying day aboard the USS California first-hand.  His lasting legacy of service and sacrifice will continue to inspire Americans for generations to come.”

The Delaware Veterans Home provides long-term care services to Delaware veterans and it is the only facility of its kind in the state.

Law of the Sea treaty vital to U.S. interests

One hundred and sixty-two countries have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea — a treaty designed to provide international guidelines for use of the world’s oceans — but in the 30 years since it was first negotiated, the United States has refused, putting the country’s long-term national and economic security at risk.

That was the focus of a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing last week, which featured testimony from Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Martin Dempsey Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. 

“When I was brand-new to the Senate,” Senator Coons said at the hearing, “one of the earlier meetings I took with was with the then outgoing Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Gary Roughead.  And when I asked him, what is the single most important thing we can do to help the Navy over the next decade, he said, without hesitation, ratify the Law of the Sea treaty.” 

Chris also addressed some of the resistance to the Convention’s passage, noting the debate is largely dated.

“I understand some of the concerns raised by members of this committee,” he said. “There were some flaws and some issues in this treaty when first negotiated in '82.  Many of them were hammered out, resolved by '94, by amendments, certainly by the time this was previously considered several times by this committee during your service here, Senator, now Secretary.” 

“I believe it is well past the time when the questions and concerns raised here today were compelling.”

Asked by Senator Coons about the potential risk assumed by the U.S. by refusing to ratify the Convention, General Dempsey said that the “failure to ratify puts us at some greater risk of conflict.”

Secretary Panetta also agreed that failure to ratify the Convention could pose an increased risk of confrontation.

“The risk is this,” Panetta explained. “If we face a situation that involves navigational rights, if we are not a party to this treaty and can't deal with it at the table, then we have to deal with it at sea with our naval power.  And once that happens, we clearly increase the risk of confrontation.”

Panetta added that so many U.S. allies have already signed on to the convention and they cannot understand why the U.S. has not yet ratified the convention. 

“Sure, they know we are a strong naval power,” Panetta said. “They know that we can exert ourselves military wherever we want to.  But they also know that, in today's world, they are dealing at the table trying to negotiate resolutions to conflicts in a rules-based manner.  That is the way to deal with issues like that.”

Finally, Chris asked Secretary Clinton how failing to ratify the convention would pose challenges to the State Department in their efforts to protect vital U.S. interests in the Arctic’s Northwest Passage.

Clinton noted that “one of the reasons there has been such strong bipartisan support coming from Alaska over the last decades is because they are truly on the front lines.”

“We know there are natural resources that are likely to be exploitable if we have the opportunity to do so,” Clinton said.

“Being able to demarcate our continental shelf and our extended continental shelf is seen in Alaska as a missed opportunity and a strategic disadvantage that is increasingly going to make us vulnerable as the waters and the weather warms,” Clinton said.

“There are going to be ships from all over the world exploring, exploiting, fishing, taking advantage of what rightly should be American sovereign territory.”

The United States is currently the only Arctic nation that has not ratified the convention.

Senator Coons offers support to President’s plan for boosting biofuels industry

Senator Coons today praised President Obama’s announcement of a partnership between the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Energy and Navy to invest up to $510 million over the next three years to produce advanced drop-in aviation and marine biofuels to power military and commercial transportation.

“If we’re going to shake our nation’s dependence on foreign oil, we’ve got to support emerging alternative energy sources like biofuels,” Senator Coons said. “We hear a lot about the enormous potential biofuels have not only for diversifying our energy consumption but for creating jobs across the country, so it’s important that our actions match our rhetoric and that our government leads the way. But it’s just as important that the private sector keep pace, which is why this creative plan is important.”

The plan, which you can download as a PDF here, calls for the Department of Energy to invest in the technology necessary for producing biofuels, while the Department of Agriculture takes steps to ensure that biofuel production doesn't harm the food supply. The Navy will use the new biofuels in its fleet.

You can read more about the announcement here in Politico.