Op-eds & Editorials

Opinion: Law of the Sea Treaty Protects U.S. Interests

Free Enterprise

July 9, 2012

The Law of the Sea Treaty is an international agreement that governs the rights of and limitations for maritime nations. Entering the agreement would expand U.S. sovereignty, strengthen national security, enhance global competitiveness, and spur job-creating commercial activity. The treaty would be a boon to the U.S. economy by providing American companies with the legal certainty and stability they need to hire and invest. U.S. energy producers would benefit from sovereign rights to seabed resources, including oil and natural gas, up to 600 miles off our coasts. High-tech industries, such as aerospace, defense, and consumer electronics, would benefit from expanded access to massive mineral deposits beneath the ocean floor. And the U.S. telecommunications industry would be better able to lay, repair, and maintain underwater cables beneath the world’s oceans. Moreover, the agreement is essential to national security. It would codify navigation rights for safe passage of U.S.-owned or U.S.-flagged vessels, which transport more than 95% of all goods imported to or exported from America, including essential commodities like oil.

Thomas J. Donohue is President and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Opinion: Don’t let misinformation sink the Law of the Sea treaty

Charleston Post and Courier

July 9, 2012

The wisdom of Reagan’s objections was recognized and Convention parties fixed those objectionable articles. In fact, much earlier in 1982, President Reagan directed that our naval forces operate in conformance with all of navigational provisions of the Convention and advised other countries that if their maritime claims were in conformance with the Convention’s provisions, the U.S. would honor those claims.

Rear Adm. William L. Schachte Jr., a native Charlestoninan and current resident, is a retired former acting judge advocate general of the Navy. While on active duty, he represented the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as the DOD Representative for Ocean Policy Affairs.

Opinion: Conservatives and the Law of the Sea Time Warp

Wall Street Journal

July 8, 2012

All of the Reagan conditions for [the deep seabed mining provisions in "Law of the Sea'] were met in a 1994 renegotiation. …it met all U.S. objectives, including vital navigational provisions for the Navy, especially submerged transit through international straits for our nuclear submarines. The treaty also extends U.S. resource jurisdiction into the oceans in an area larger than the entire land territory of the nation. And it assures access for U.S. deep-seabed mining companies to mid-Pacific mine sites containing over a trillion dollars in strategic minerals. The treaty, favorably reported out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2004 and 2007, was on President Bush's priority list but has never been put to a vote. It is now once again before the Senate, with overwhelming support from military and business leaders, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Petroleum Institute, and the Financial Services Roundtable. The treaty provides property rights for miners in an area of the ocean not under the sovereignty of any nation. Absent U.S. adherence, U.S. firms cannot mine the deep seabed—as they will not have the security of tenure necessary to expend the $2 billion to $3 billion for a deep-seabed mining operation. These operations are of utmost importance for the U.S.—at stake is U.S. access to strategic minerals of copper, nickel, cobalt, manganese and rare earths worth about $1 trillion.

Mr. Moore is the director of the Center for Oceans Law and Policy at the University of Virginia. He served in the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations, including serving as U.S. ambassador for the Law of the Sea.

Opinion: America should sign on to Law of Sea treaty

Denver Post

July 8, 2012

The 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea, an international treaty to which the United States is not a party, holds a key to critical economic and national security interests of the country. ... Although the "extended continental shelf" of the U.S. extends more than 600 miles into the Arctic Ocean off the coast of Alaska and covers an area twice the size of California, the U.S. sits on the sideline while other countries are staking their claims to vast resources. ... The treaty established firm rules for freedom of navigation and overflight, and with the U.S. being the dominant naval power, the convention gives it the advantage "to freely navigate on, over, and under the world's oceans."

Ved P. Nanda is Thompson G. Marsh Professor of Law and director of the International Law Program at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law.

Opinion: Law of the Sea Will Extend U.S. Maritime Dominance

Seapower Magazine

July 1, 2012

In his seminal 1890 treatise, “The Influence of Sea Power Upon History,” Alfred Thayer Mahan laid down the strategy for what turned out to be nearly a century of U.S. maritime dominance. America is blessed with many advantages, and sea power is surely chief among them.The U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, or Law of the Sea Treaty, currently being debated in the U.S. Senate and across the United States, offers a critical opportunity to protect America’s pre-eminent maritime worldwide position. ... The Senate has a historic opportunity to follow the path of sovereign expansion started by Thomas Jefferson, by securing exclusive access to the full U.S. extended continental shelf, which, in the case of Alaska, extends up to 600 miles or more beyond the coast. No act of government would do more to invigorate America’s commercial maritime presence than joining the Law of the Sea Convention, granting U.S. commercial entities exclusive access to the vast undersea resources on our extended continental shelf and obtaining under the treaty leased areas of the international seabeds containing strategic minerals, including rare earths. This combined would unleash an investment boom, new jobs and secure U.S. leadership in strategic subsea mineral recovery for our future.

Senator John Warner is former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Secretary of the Navy, and Retired Adm. James Watkins is former chief of naval operations and Secretary of Energy and current co-chair of the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative.

Editorial: The Law of the Sea

Tampa Tribune

June 11, 2012

... A recent article in The Wall Street Journal by Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, James Baker III, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, all former secretaries of state for Republican presidents, makes a compelling argument the [Law of the Sea Treaty] would enhance the nation's security and economic interests. ... The U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports the agreement, recognizing it could be a boon to American enterprises. Years ago, the proposed agreement included a provision forcing the transfer of deep-seabed mining technology to all parties, something President Ronald Reagan rightly opposed. But the proposed mandate was eliminated in 1994. America's military supports the proposal because it would replace vague international law with clear borders. Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently told Congress that sticking with customary law "plays into the hands of foreign states that, over time, want to bend customary law to restrict movement on the oceans. "And, it puts our warships and aircraft 'on point' to constantly challenge claims." In addition, the Law of the Sea would bring much-needed oversight to overfishing in international waters. Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama support the agreement, but so do Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.

Editorial: Law of the Sea Treaty: Economic, Security Boon

Lakeland Ledger

June 9, 2012

(Reprint of Sarasota Herald-Tribune editorial)

... Last week, five former secretaries of state -- Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, James Baker III, Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice -- endorsed the Law of the Sea and urged the U.S. Senate to approve the treaty. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, they said the Law of the Sea will be "a boon to our national security and economic interests." U.S. participation in the treaty, they added, "will codify our maritime rights and give us new tools to advance national interests." American conservatives are generally skeptical of international treaties, so the support from the secretaries is informative and welcome. What's more, the treaty has bipartisan backing: The Law of the Sea has been supported by ex-presidents Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush; President Barack Obama is actively supporting the treaty, which is the subject of hearings in the Senate. In the private sector, the range of supporters is astounding. Among the proponents: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a leading union organization, the AFL-CIO; most major oil companies and the Ocean Conservancy; the Pew Charitable Trust and a long list of former military leaders. ... It's past time for the Senate to vote on the treaty and for senators to give their consent.

Opinion: Sea treaty supports American interests

Bradenton Herald

June 6, 2012

By approving the treaty, to which 161 nations are already party, the Senate would secure exclusive American access to the full U.S. extended continental shelf. … Other nations are in the process of claiming resources off their own coasts, but American industry and investors cannot pursue our opportunities without the needed international recognition of America's legal rights to exploit seabed resources that treaty ratification would provide. Further, the United States would gain a permanent seat - and a permanent veto - on the international body that regulates access to ocean mineral resources in international waters. We need our government actively involved in this body to defend U.S. claims and interests. Failure to approve the Law of the Sea Treaty would pose a strategic commercial and security disadvantage for the nation. Senate approval would also assure U.S. armed forces the legal right to move through and over the world's oceans (including hot spots like the South China Sea and the Strait of Hormuz), and give the United States access to an internationally recognized system for resolving commercial disputes in foreign waters while protecting America's exclusive right to address military disputes directly and on its own terms. … Ratification would give America a firmer hand in dealing with the risks of Cuba's proposed effort to drill for oil off the coast of Florida, Iran's threats to peaceful commercial and military transit through the Strait of Hormuz, and possible threats to commercial shipping and military transport through critical straits and chokepoints throughout the world. … Today's Senate has the constitutional obligation to deliver the next great expansion of U.S. sovereign rights. For America's national interests, we ask them to give advice and consent to the Law of the Sea Treaty.

John Warner is a former secretary of the Navy and former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee; Thomas J. Donohue is president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Editorial: Ratify sea treaty

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

June 1, 2012

Editorial: Law of the Sea Convention must be ratified

Boston Globe

May 31, 2012

…[U]nrest in the South China Sea, a larger maritime presence in the melting Arctic, and threats over the Strait of Hormuz all affect our economic, political, and national-security interests. …[T]he US Chamber of Commerce, the oil and gas industry, and military leaders…recognize the need for a stable governance system over shared waters, and the United States’ interest in helping shape those rules. Even Sarah Palin supported [the Law of the Sea Treaty] as governor of Alaska, realizing that without a seat at the table “our rightful claims to hydrocarbons, minerals, and other natural resources could be ignored.” Just as a global fight over access to natural resources and shipping lanes is beginning, the United States is the only Arctic nation that is not party to the [Law of the Sea] convention.

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