Have you heard anything about the Law of the Sea Treaty? If not, you should take the time to educate yourself. Here are a few news stories and videos about the U.N. move to dominate 70% of the Earth’s surface.
The Law of the Sea Treaty
The Law of the Sea Treaty (“Treaty”) was conceived in 1982 by the United Nations (U.N.) as a method for governing activities on, over, and beneath the ocean’s surface. It focuses primarily on navigational and transit issues. The Treaty also contains provisions on the regulation of deep-sea mining and the redistribution of wealth to underdeveloped countries–as well as sections regarding marine trade, pollution, research, and dispute resolution. The Bush Administration has expressed interest in joining the International Seabed Authority and has urged the U.S. Senate to ratify the Treaty. However, many of former President Ronald Reagan’s original objections to the Treaty–while modified–still hold true today, and many of the possible national security advantages are already in place.
U.S. Senate Should Reject the Law of the Sea Treaty
LOST is arguably the most wide ranging expansion of transnational institution building since the original UN system was established after World War II. It is meant to govern activities on, over, and beneath the ocean’s surface, which covers 70 percent of the planet. Though its primarily focus is supposedly navigational and transit issues, with proponents claiming it is merely codifying traditional practices, LOST also contains provisions on the regulation of deep-sea mining and the redistribution of ocean wealth to underdeveloped countries. It also has sections regarding marine trade, pollution (including land-based pollution that can affect the ocean), maritime research, and, of course, its own dispute resolution system – complete with foreign judges – that usurps national sovereignty.
Under the Treaty, a 12-mile territorial sea limit and a 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) are established. The EEZ greatly extends national claims to the seabed and the waters above. The EEZ’s are supposed to be limited to the exploitation of resources, without restricting the right of “innocent passage†of ships and aircraft through the area. This transit right includes non-wartime activities of military ships, a major concern of the United States as the world’s leading naval power. However, evolution towards greater national maritime control in the EEZ is likely.
Senate Could Vote Soon on Return of U.N. Sea Treaty Reagan Opposed
The treaty’s pollution-control measures require that signatories “address ‘all sources of pollution of the marine environment … including those from land-based sources, from or through the atmosphere, or by dumping,’†the Heritage scholars wrote. “Signatories are also required to ‘adopt laws and regulations to prevent, reduce and control pollution of the marine environment from or through the atmosphere …’ (Article 212).â€
Regulating the atmosphere and “land-based sources†could lead only in one direction, said policy analyst Myron Ebell.
“[R]atification of LOST will almost certainly lead to judicially-implemented restrictions on CO2 emissions,†warned Ebell, director of energy and global warming policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
Reagan and the Law of the Sea
In a radio address titled “Ocean Mining” on Oct. 10, 1978, Mr. Reagan applauded the idea that “no nat[ional] interest of ours could justify handing sovereign control of two-thirds of the earth’s surface over to the Third World.” He added, “No one has ruled out the idea of a [Law of the Sea] treaty — one which makes sense — but after long years of fruitless negotiating, it became apparent that the underdeveloped nations who now control the General Assembly were looking for a free ride at our expense — again.”
