Economic Potential
The only immediate mining potential is on and immediately offshore of the islands themselves (viz phosphates, sand, gravel, and coral) which would conflict with their protected status per the study. Iron deposits on a few seamounts are also mentioned as an intermediate possibility but no energy resources are identified. The islands have phosphorite and guano resources.
In comparison, the Seward's Folly article, regarding the purchase of Alaska in 1868, has this 1913 reflection from historian Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer regarding what the New York World said on April 1, 1867:
The New York World said that it was a ‘sucked orange.’ It contained nothing of value but furbearing animals, and these had been hunted until they were nearly extinct. Except for the Aleutian Islands and a narrow strip of land extending along the southern coast the country would be not worth taking as a gift…Read more about this topic: Howland And Baker Islands
Famous quotes containing the words economic and/or potential:
“But I would emphasize again that social and economic solutions, as such, will not avail to satisfy the aspirations of the people unless they conform with the traditions of our race, deeply grooved in their sentiments through a century and a half of struggle for ideals of life that are rooted in religion and fed from purely spiritual springs.”
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964)
“While each child is born with his or her own distinct genetic potential for physical, social, emotional and cognitive development, the possibilities for reaching that potential remain tied to early life experiences and the parent-child relationship within the family.”
—Bernice Weissbourd (20th century)