US May Begin Effort To Ratify Law of the Sea Treaty

Wednesday in the U.S. Senate there is a committee hearing that may mark the beginning of a new effort to ratify the Law of the Sea treaty. With the Secretaries of Defense and State speaking to the Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday, it appears that the Obama administration is ready to make that push. The Convention was passed by the United Nations in 1982 and ratified by all members but the U.S.. Without ratification, the U.S. is hampered in making jurisdictional claims over the melting Arctic Ocean and its seabed beyond the 200 mile limit.