Law of the Sea Treaty Threatens our Sovereignty

Senate Democrats are not wasting another crisis. They are using the China naval confrontation to resurrect the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST). This treaty turns over U.S. jurisdiction of the coasts and waterways over to the United Nations.

The treaty has been around since the 1970s and has not received enough support in the Senate until now. Senator John Kerry is pushing this along with Hillary Clinton to have it ratified.

On Fox News, “LOST and Found: Senate Moves Toward Ratification of U.N.'s 'Law of the Sea Treaty” has the two statements below that should concern the U.S.

“LOST apportions "Exclusive Economic Zones" that stretch 200 miles from a country's coast and establishes the International Seabed Authority to administer the communal territory farther out. The treaty's proponents say it clears up a murky legal area that has prevented companies from taking advantage of the deep seas' wealth.

But critics say clauses built into the treaty could directly harm American interests. They say it could force the U.S. to comply with unspecified environmental codes, and that the treaty gives environmental activists the legal standing to sue over river pollution and shut down industry, simply because rivers feed into the sea.”

We lose control of these areas to the U.N. and some bureaucracy in Germany. So, in essence, a factory in St. Louis can be sued for pollution it produces that may be released into the Mississippi River. What does this do to oil drilling? What about businesses in Pittsburg, Minneapolis, or any business on any waterway in the U.S.?

This treaty is a direct threat to our sovereignty and our lawful use of American waterways and coasts. This is another misconceived policy of the Democrats that has innumerous unintended consequences that would harm the U.S. in countless ways.