586
Opinion of the Court
to accept Alaska's position, the Federal Government's interests in submerged lands outside the State's zone of control would conceivably become hostage to a State's plans to add artificial additions to its coastline. And if Alaska's reading of the applicable law were followed to its logical extreme, the United States would be powerless to protect its interests in submerged lands if a State were to build an artificial addition to the coastline for the sole purpose of gaining sovereignty over submerged lands within the United States' zone, so long as the project did not affect navigability or cause pollution. Alaska points us to nothing in the SLA or to its legislative history that mandates such a result.8
It is important to note that neither the SLA itself, nor any of its legislative history, addresses the question of how artificial additions to the coastline affect the 3-mile limit, as we observed in United States v. California, 381 U. S. 139, 176, and n. 50 (1965). In that case, however, we did hold that international law recognized the seaward expansion of sovereignty through artificial additions to the coastline. Id., at 177. But we also stated that "the Special Master recognized that the United States, through its control over navigable waters, had power to protect its interests from encroachment by unwarranted artificial structures, and that the effect of any future changes could thus be the subject of agreement between the parties." Id., at 176. Alaska suggests that this language should not be read to vest power in the Secretary to condition permits on sovereignty disclaimers because the Special Master's report cited by the Court was written
8 Indeed, the SLA also excepts from its operation "any rights the United States has in lands presently and actually occupied by the United States under claim of right." 43 U. S. C. § 1313(a). Furthermore, as to the lands granted to the States, the SLA provides that "[t]he United States retains all its navigational servitude and rights in and powers of regulation and control of said lands and navigable waters for the constitutional purposes of commerce, navigation, national defense, and international affairs." § 1314(a).
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