WyBlog

Get Lost, LOST

No, I'm not dissing Lost the TV show, I'm talking about the "other" LOST - the Law of the Sea Treaty. It's coming up for a vote in the Senate this week, having just been voted out of the Foreign Relations Committee. Harry Reid and the Liberals are hoping to fast-track the vote before grass-roots opposition can be mobilized. They're not going to repeat the "mistake" they made on the immigration reform bill and allow for an extended debate on LOST.

The Law of the Sea Treaty has pretty much flown under the radar for most people. Treaties in general, excepting for a few like the Kyoto Protocol, rarely impinge on the national consciousness. But, once ratified by the Senate, treaties become the law of the land, no different from any bill signed into law by the President. Most treaties deal with the arcane ephemera of diplomatic relations between nations. Once in a while though, a treaty is negotiated that could have a tremendous impact on the lives of ordinary American citizens. Kyoto and NAFTA are two such examples. LOST is another.

The Law of the Sea Treaty will subject the United States to the jurisdiction of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), an offshoot of the United Nations. The ISA requires all mining and maritime companies from its member countries to pay a $500,000 "application fee" and a $1 million "annual fee" in order to obtain permits for their projects. It would have the sole power to establish regulations governing fishing, drilling, or mining operations on the high seas. The treaty also grants it the authority to levy taxes on those activities at a rate of up to 7% of their profits. For the first time, a UN agency would have the power to directly tax American citizens. That's been the penultimate desire of every UN functionary since the day they opened their doors.

The ISA is organized along the same lines as the UN General Assembly - one country, one vote. And like the UN General Assembly, a bunch of pissant little countries could gang up on the US to thwart our interests. Since it controls all undersea activities, they could prevent us from exploring for new oil or gas deposits. Even worse, the ISA has the authority to regulate navigation on, and under, the high seas. They could declare "nuclear free zones" (like several countries have already done with their own territorial waters) which would then deny US Navy ships and submarines the ability to freely transit the oceans. LOST also imposes strict controls on the use of military aircraft and the movement of military cargo. It's a saber-rattling tinpot dictator's dream, and our Navy's nightmare.

We cannot surrender our national sovereignty to a bunch of UN bureaucrats. We cannot allow a UN agency to impose taxes on American citizens. We cannot allow countries like Iran and North Korea to influence regulations that affect the US Navy. It will only take 34 Senators voting "nay" to scuttle LOST. Jim DeMint, Mitch McConnell, Jon Kyl, David Vitter, Daniel Inhofe, and Trent Lott are leading the charge. Fred Thompson has spoken out against it (so have Rudy Guiliani, John McCain, and Mike Huckabee). LOST must be defeated.

Posted at 15:29 by Chris Wysocki   []   Comments | Archived | Perm Link |   |   Tweet