U.N. Birthday Highlights Threat to U.S. Sovereignty by New Treaty

Washington, D.C., October 23, 2007—With United Nations Day celebrations coming up on October 24, Senate Democrats are leading an effort to pass the Law of the Sea Treaty, which would cede massive powers to a new U.N. bureaucracy.

"The Law of the Sea Treaty would assert United Nations control over all ocean resources and channel all mining and development through a vast new U.N.-created bureaucracy," explained Fred L. Smith, Jr., president of the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

"NGO environmental groups would use provisions in the treaty to force Kyoto-type climate change regulations on the U.S., all without a single vote in Congress," Smith added. "Ratification of LOST will almost certainly lead to judicially-implemented restrictions on CO2 emissions."

Despite the implications of ratification, the Senate has held only two hearings on these important issues, both by the pro-treaty Foreign Relations Committee.

"If our lawmakers are determined to push through this disastrous treaty, they should at least vet it before committees responsible for national security, economic oversight, environment, agriculture, commerce, and the military," said Smith.

For more information on the Law of the Sea Treaty, please see the recent study by CEI Bastiat Scholar Doug Bandow, The Law of the Sea Treaty: Impeding American Entrepreneurship and Investment.Also see earlier testimony by Fred Smith.