ACTION ALERT

Oppose the Law of the
Sea Treaty (LOST)

Thursday, October 11, 2007

By Wendy Wright

Your action is needed now to protect our national sovereignty! Please call/e-mail your Senators, and urge them to oppose the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST).

The Senate may soon try to ratify LOST. This treaty, negotiated in the 1970's and rejected by President Reagan, should clearly remain lost or buried deep in our sea bed.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joe Biden (D-Delaware) is chomping at the bit to get this treaty ratified, and his efforts are supported by President Bush and the Navy. The Foreign Operations Committee has already held two hearings on this catastrophic treaty that will cede U.S. sovereignty.

By ratifying LOST, the U.S. would give up its sovereignty in exchange for begging hostile, unelected international officials for permission to use its own resources. The treaty establishes a governing authority called the International Seabed Authority (the "Authority") which has the power to tax countries for using their own property.

LOST threatens our national sovereignty by subjecting our military and U.S. businesses to mandatory international dispute resolution by others who may be motivated by anti-American agendas. The decisions made by the "Authority" would be final and devoid of any appeals process. Although LOST allows a party to exempt itself from disputes concerning "military activities," the treaty does not define those activities, and it is uncertain whether our decision to exempt ourselves from such dispute resolutions would be honored by other nations ? particularly in light of the fact that any supposedly exempt "military activity" can be framed as an "environmental activity" by those hostile to the United States.

This treaty would also require U.S. companies to transfer strategic technologies to Third World countries, some of them declared or potential enemies of the U.S. America's technological superiority in business and military innovation would be utterly compromised. This provision would strip businesses of their natural and constitutionally protected right to private property. Furthermore, there are enough security issues to deal with currently without voluntarily handing over military secrets to countries which seek to harm us.

Tell your Senators now that LOST should remain lost and not be ratified. This treaty is dangerous! It not only gives away American resources but undermines our national security.

Action Items:

1. Urge your Senators to oppose LOST. (Phone: 202-224-3121 and e-mail: )

2. Call Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell at 202-224-3135. Ask him to do whatever he can to keep LOST from a vote in the Senate.

Sincerely,

Wendy Wright
President

NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For further information please refer to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

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