The Law of the Sea Treaty should be sunk, 4-26-09

By Ben Lerner
Special to The Examiner | 4/26/09 8:51 PM

Supporters of American ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (aka the Law of the Sea Treaty, or LOST) tend to spout the following mantra:

(1) Ratification of LOST provides critical benefits for America in energy, navigation and other areas;

(2) A list of high-profile personages support LOST, including former presidents from both parties, the Navy, the oil industry and others; and

(3) Critics are "ideologues" who, acting on a purely knee-jerk suspicion of the U.N., have "hijacked" ratification of LOST and are irrationally preventing the U.S. from taking advantage of this no-brainer.

This last point implies that there are no legitimate reasons to be concerned about the enormously complicated treaty. But name-calling aside, there are numerous risks associated with signing up for LOST, and ample reason to question the urgency with which proponents insist that the United States ratify, lest we lose our "seat at the table" in future deliberations involving the world's oceans.

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