The Law of the Sea is a Bum Deal

The Law of the Sea, a treaty the United States is being urged to sign, adds nothing the U.S. doesn’t already have and diminishes U.S. sovereignty.

The treaty codifies freedom of navigation, ocean overflights, and rights to passage through territorial waters and international straits. But through long-standing legal principles, international laws, and persistent naval operations, the United States already has these rights.

The U.S. enjoys full sovereignty over its continental shelf and can claim clear title to all the oil & gas and mineral resources that lie under the shelf. The royalties collected by the government from the exploitation of these resources need not be shared with any other nation.

But if the United States approves the Law of the Sea Treaty, it would be required to send a portion of the royalties to the International Seabed Authority in Kingston, Jamaica, which would distribute it, without U.S. input, to nations of the “developing world.”  

We’re talking hundreds of billions of dollars - an invitation to graft. Some of this boodle would go to corrupt dictatorships and state sponsors of terrorism.

Never mind the treaty; the best guarantee of U.S. rights on the high seas is a strong navy.