THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume X, Issue # 190, August 3, 2008
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
U.S. ARCTIC OIL MAY BE LOST TO THE UNITED NATIONS
By Alan Caruba
U.S. ARCTIC OIL RESERVES & THE UNITED NATIONS LAW OF THE SEA TREATY: THE LAW OF THE SEA TREATY AS A
DOCUMENT INTENDED TO STEAL WEALTH & NATURAL RESOURCES TO WHICH THE U.S.A. HAS A LEGITIMATE CLAIM --
THE CONSPIRACY OF EXTREME INTERNATIONALISTS, RADICAL ENVIRONMENTALISTS, LEFTIST IDEOLOGUES, &
UNPRINCIPLED POLITICIANS TO GIVE THE UNITED NATIONS CONTROL OF POTENTIAL OIL RESERVES LOCATED OFF THE
ARCTIC COAST OF ALASKA -- THE NEED FOR THE U.S. GOVERNMENT TO TAKE DECISIVE ACTION TO ENSURE THAT
AMERICA HAS ACCESS TO THE VAST PETROLEUM RESERVES OF THE ARCTIC COMMONS
FULL STORY:
“The Arctic may hold 90 billion barrels of oil, more than all the known reserves of Nigeria, Kazakhstan, and Mexico
combined, and enough to supply U.S. demand for 12 years.” One would have thought Joe Carroll’s Bloomberg
News report would have evoked some interest by other media outlets and by the general public. Instead, news of the
U.S. Geological Survey was greeted mostly by a giant collective yawn.
“One third of the undiscovered oil is in Alaskan territory, the agency found….” Considering that the Democratic
Party-controlled Congress adamantly refuses to let drilling occur for the oil known to exist in and off-shore Alaska, it is
not surprising the public has concluded this vast treasure will remain untouched.
Apathy, however, is not a very good response to the prospect of this mother lode of potential new oil. Worse yet, we
stand to lose any of the wealth it will generate, if the U.S. Senate ratifies the United Nations Law of the Sea Treaty,
whose acronym, LOST, could not be more accurate. The Joint Chiefs of Staff have endorsed the treaty, apparently
oblivious to the fact that the mighty U.S. Navy can go anywhere it wants in the world. Even the Bush administration has
marshaled no arguments against the treaty.
This monstrosity of a treaty has been around since the days when the Reagan administration first rejected it.
Full disclosure of the contents of this treaty would have Americans in the streets of Washington, D.C., brandishing
pitchforks. Bernard Oxman, a professor at my alma mater, the University of Miami, describes its text as “amply endowed
with indeterminate principles, mind-numbing cross-references, institutional redundancies, exasperating opacity, and
inelegant drafting.” In other words, it is a document intended to steal the wealth to which the United States has a
legitimate claim.
Douglas Stone, a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy, warns:
“LOST fostered the idea, per se, of international organizations
with increasing transnational jurisdiction. Its bureaucracy will
be nourished by royalties on mineral extraction and provide a
model for similar agencies to assume authority and impose
taxes and to inexorably devour American institutions and
autonomy.”
Can you imagine gifting the United Nations with $50 trillion in Arctic oil taxes? That is what the U.S. Senate will do if it
ratifies LOST.
Frank J. Gaffney Jr., President of the Center, reminds us:
“If Americans have learned anything about the United
Nations over the last 50 years, it is that this ‘world body’
is, at best, riddled with corruption and incompetence. At
worst, its bureaucracies, agencies and members are
overwhelmingly hostile to the United States and other
freedom-loving nations…”
For more than a decade, the United Nations International Seabed Authority (ISA) has never produced a single
commercial minerals harvesting operation, despite having unfettered access to all the world’s great oceans resources.
The United States, however, needs more oil now. In addition to Congress having put vast reserves in Alaska’s ANWR
off-limits, it has done the same for exploration and drilling in 85% of the nation’s continental shelf.
The solution to America’s present oil crisis lies in part in the Arctic Commons and, in particular, the Amerasia-Canada
Basin that holds the promise of huge oil reserves for centuries to come.
A dangerous scramble for the oil and gas reserves between Russia and the West can be avoided and, more to the point,
the U.S. will lose its entire future commercial and energy security by signing onto LOST. Meanwhile, Democratic Party
leaders in both houses of Congress have already rejected President Bush’s July 14, 2008, effort to end a 25-year
moratorium on drilling in most coastal waters.
The Democratic Party-controlled Congress is insane, treasonous, or both. Its presumptive candidate for President, U.S.
Senator Barack Hussein Obama, Jr., wants to repeat former President James Earl Carter’s appalling windfall profits tax on
oil companies. The ultimate result was a nearly 60% reduction in U.S. oil production.
The Bloomberg News report noted:
“The region above the Arctic Circle also holds an estimated
1,669 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, equal to 27 percent of
the world’s known gas reserves, according to the U.S.
Geological Survey report. Contributors to the data included
the Geological Survey of Canada, the U.S. Interior
Department’s Minerals Management Service, the Norwegian
Petroleum Directorate, the Cambridge Arctic Shelf Program,
and researchers in Denmark and Greenland. No Russian
institutions took part in the study.”
At a time when nationalized foreign oil companies control more than 70% of the world’s energy resources, private
enterprise is the only answer to our national energy security. The largest transfer of wealth in history is occurring and it
bodes ill for the United States. We dare not compound this travesty by failing to take steps to ensure access to the
Arctic Commons vast reserves.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Political Environmentalism Versus Human Progress & Prosperity:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
The United Nations, Its Agencies, & U.S. National Interests
International Politics & World Disorder:
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, and Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a
clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly commentary, "Warning Signs," posted
on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center, which is located at
www.anxietycenter.com.
Caruba has a daily blog at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com.
Caruba’s new book, Right Answers: Separating Fact from Fantasy, has been published by Merril Press.
© Alan Caruba 2008
Published with Permission of Alan Caruba
ACaruba@AOL.Com
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity