[hedgetrimmer]

FYI: Here is a 1998 bulletin on LOST from the American Geological Association:

The American Geophysical Union has sent out the following message to its membership in an effort to encourage Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms (R-NC) to allow the Law of the Sea treaty to complete the ratification process. Ratification has virtually universal support from all interested parties, including environmental groups, the American Petroleum Institute, the oceanographic research community, and the U.S. Navy. Ratification must take place by November 15th or the US loses its place on key governing bodies for treaty implementation. The treaty affects a great number of geoscientists, especially those involved in offshore petroleum exploration, marine minerals development, and marine research. A number of prominent geoscientists were involved in the treaty's development over many years, foremost among them the late Hollis Hedberg, many of whose ideas were incorporated into the final pact, signed in 1982.

http://216.109.117.135/search/cache?p=%22law+of+the+sea+treaty%22+2004&u=www.agiweb.org/legis105/seaalert.html&w=%22law+of+the+sea+treaty%22+2004&d=968F0BC03C&c=482&yc=22103&icp=1

[hedgetrimmer]

103d CONGRESS

2d Session

H. CON. RES. 268
To express the sense of the Congress that the United States should refrain from signing the seabed mining agreement relating to the Law of the Sea Treaty.


IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

July 19, 1994
Mr. FIELDS of Texas submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

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CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
To express the sense of the Congress that the United States should refrain from signing the seabed mining agreement relating to the Law of the Sea Treaty.

Whereas many of the minerals underlying the seabed have strategic and military importance to the United States;

Whereas the Law of the Sea Treaty will come into force on November 16, 1994, having been ratified to date by sixty-one countries, none of which is industrialized;

Whereas a new seabed mining agreement amending the Law of the Sea Treaty will be open for signature on July 29, 1994, and the United States will sign the agreement;

Whereas the Law of the Sea Treaty, even as amended, continues to discriminate against the United States and our industrialized allies, is antithetical to business interests and will discourage United States investment in seabed mining;

Whereas signature of the agreement will bind the United States provisionally to the seabed mining agreement and portions of the Law of the Sea Treaty for up to four years, even absent Senate ratification of the agreement and the Law of the Sea Treaty;

Whereas this provisional application will force the United States to finance 25 percent of the operations of the large bureaucracy created by the Treaty, including the International Seabed Authority, which will eventually support a direct competitor to United States' and private mining interests, and distribute revenues from seabed mining to developing countries and groups of national liberation;

Whereas provisional application will coerce United States seabed miners to participate in the regime by filing mining claims and paying quarter million dollar exploration and exploitation application fees to the International Seabed Authority;

Whereas the plain language of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 prohibits the participation by the United States in an international organization and other international activities for which provision has not been made by any treaty for longer than one year without approval of Congress; and

Whereas possible ultimate failure by the United States to ratify the Law of the Sea Treaty will cause chaos for the United States seabed mining industry: Now, therefore, be it


Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that the United States should refrain from signing the seabed mining agreement relating to the Law of the Sea Treaty.
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H.CON.RES.268 : To express the sense of the Congress that the United States should refrain from signing the seabed mining agreement relating to the Law of the Sea Treaty.
Sponsor: Rep Fields, Jack [TX-8] (introduced 7/19/1994) Cosponsors: 12
Committees: House Foreign Affairs
Latest Major Action: 7/19/1994 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.