Don't Let the UN Take Over Everything Over, On, In, and Under the Oceans

Since 1982 when then-president Ronald Reagan refused to sign the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, better known as the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST), it has been kept on a legislative backburner awaiting a ratification vote in the U.S. Senate. Suddenly in early May, both Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Leon Panetta, Secretary of Defense, both announced that they were in favor of getting LOST ratified this year. According to some pundits, Kerry would have already scheduled hearings on LOST, but postponed them to avoid hurting the chances of key LOST supporter, Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), in his primary face-off with tea-party-backed Richard Mourdock on May 8. It turns out that Lugar lost anyway. (Scroll down to view a short video of Dick Morris warning about LOST.)

So, now that Lugar's primary election is over, Kerry says he will work hard to find the right time for holding hearings and a ratification vote this year. At this point, it's hard to predict when a ratification vote might occur. We have to expect it could occur as early as June and as late as a lame-duck session after the elections in November.

Most of the opposition to LOST is based on opposition to its creation of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), which has been established to administer the natural resources of the seabeds and ocean floor. If the United States ratifies LOST, American entrepreneurs who mine the ocean floor would be required to pay substantial royalties to and share technology with the ISA, thus providing a revenue stream for an arm of the UN.

However, there is a much better reason to reject ratification.

Read this statement from an official UN document, "25th Anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea," Oct. 17, 2007:

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea ... is perhaps one of the most significant but less recognized 20th century accomplishments in the arena of international law.... Its scope is vast: it covers all ocean space, with all its uses, including navigation and overflight; all uses of all its resources, living and non-living, on the high seas, on the ocean floor and beneath, on the continental shelf and in the territorial seas; the protection of the marine environment; and basic law and order.... The Convention is widely recognised by the international community as the legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and the seas must be carried out. ("25th Anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea," Oct. 17, 2007; emphasis added.)

Notice that this UN document, which was posted by the UN's Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, reveals that the UN’s understanding of LOST is that it gives the UN authority over everything, over, on, in, and under the oceans and seas of the world. That includes both military and economic uses. That’s why it is so important that the U.S. Senate does not ratify LOST.

And, remember under the UN division that administers LOST, our nation wouldn't have veto power like we do in the UN Security Council. We'd have just one vote among 163 votes.

Yes, 162 nations have already ratified LOST, and yes, the United States has already been implementing nearly every chapter of the Law of the Sea Treaty since it went into force in 1994 when 60 nations had ratified it. However, U.S. ratification would provide that final stamp of legitimacy for the UN’s power grab over the oceans and seas and constitute a major step into world government.

Therefore, we must hold the line.

Let your Senators know that they must not ratify LOST.