College Republican Federation of Virginia

This week, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled to vote on a 30 year old relic of a treaty the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST), which was first rejected by Congress over 20 years ago. Reagan himself refused to sign it because, as he rightly pointed out it would be an unacceptable transfer of U.S. sovereignty to another UN bureaucracy.

Predictably, NGOs of the Left, the U.S. State Department, and international civil servants, an unholy triumvirate that Hudson Institute scholar John Fonte has labeled “transnational progressives” (or as the National Review says: Tranzis), have banded together to support this outdated clunker of a treaty.

Originally negotiated in the 1950’s, LOST was intended to establish some sort of international codification of State’s rights to maritime commerce; which at the time meant commercial fishing grounds that extended beyond the customary 12 nautical mile limit. Sadly, over time and due in no small part to the Tranzis, LOST has mutated into an independent international governing board with the Orwellian moniker “The Authority” and, of all things the ability to collect taxes not only from member countries, but from private firms who would be doing business in international waters.

Sadly, the Bush Administration has supported the passage of LOST, arguing erroneously that it would aid the Navy in its non-proliferation efforts and safeguard U.S. oil exploration efforts in the newly opened Arctic. The Administration’s arguments are ridiculous and cowardly. LOST would do nothing to aid the Navy’s non-proliferation efforts, since under current international law the Navy already has a right to intercept suspect ships and transport their illicit cargo. The freedom of the seas is a centuries-old international principle that all nations respect and an international authority, least of all one with taxation powers, is not needed to ensure it.

Secondly, as a sovereign nation, the U.S. already enjoys exclusive economic rights to mineral (read: oil) deposits off our shores and we certainly don’t need any international commission, based in Jamaica of all places, to help us enforce our sovereignty. The Administration is making an astonishing mistake in believing that any international body will rule in the U.S.’s favor, especially given its history dealing with the UN over Iraq and with the WTO over Canadian lumber. In case you don’t remember, the U.S. lost both of those cases and the UN continues to fumble and stumble over some of our most pressing international security concerns (Iran anyone?).

Handing over U.S. sovereignty to a body where great seafaring nations like Jordan, Mongolia (a member of the UN Whaling Commission), and Nepal would have a say over U.S. economic activities is appalling both in its stupidity and its naivete. What is even more frightening is that LOST would subject not only the U.S. government but American businesses to mandatory taxation for EVERY SINGLE project that is proposed outside of 12 nautical miles.

This codfish of a treaty should have been scuttled long ago. It is high time we tell both OUR President and THEIR Congress that it’s time to sink the S.S. LOST once and for all.