As the Republican candidates assemble the planks of the platforms they hope will differentiate them from the herd - and bring them the votes of the outdoor community, they're finding an old treaty may become one of the big tests for conservative voters.

It's the Law of the Sea convention, a collection of rules governing ocean navigation and seabed mining. Officially, it's the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, for opponents, the shorthand reference makes the acronym they say explains what it means to United States sovereignty: LOST.

It was negotiated between 1973 and 1982, stalled when President Reagan raised concerns in 1982; then revived under President Bush (the elder) and sent on to the Senate by President Clinton. President Bush (the current) has pushed for ratification based on the position it would preserve navigational freedoms for the Navy.

Opponents, however, worry the tribunal created to judge disputes could trample on U.S. rights - and give this "new governing body" taxing authority as it could take a percentage of revenue from oil, as or other exploration outside of a nation's territorial waters.

Those opponents say, based on these concerns, they will work to defeat it if the Democrats bring it to the Senate floor. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) says the treaty is becoming an issue because it speaks to issues that concern Republicans. "I think it's pretty clear this will be a strong issue," Sessions says.

Not all Republicans, however, oppose the treaty. Senator Richard G. Lugar, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is a supporter. One candidate who would just as soon it not reach to a vote anytime soon is Arizona Senator John McCain. He was one of the treaty's key backers in 1998.

In the meantime, other primary candidates are clearly opposed to the convention.

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee calls it "one of the defining issues of our time" and has blasted it as a threat to United States freedom. Former Senator Fred Thompson and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney have also said they have reservations about the convention. A Romney spokesman says he has concerns because of the granting of more power to "unaccountable international institutions." Thompson is even further, saying flatly he opposes it because it "threatens U.S. sovereignty and gives a United Nations organization far too-much authority over U.S. interests in international waters."

Under the Treaty, a 12-mile territorial sea limit and a 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) established. This sets a definitive limit on the oceanic area over which a country may claim jurisdiction. However, innocent passage--including non-wartime activities of military ships--is protected. Currently, these boundaries, and the precedent of safe passage, are protected under multiple independent treaties, as well as traditional international maritime law.

Critics say it looks harmless on the surface, but is in no way designed to prevent the kind of rampant abuse and corruption for which the United Nations and its organizations are known - and it could be used as a back-door means to regulate domestic interests. For example, they point out, the authority to set production controls for ocean mining, drilling and fishing, regulation of ocean exploration, and permitting. Disputes, they say would be resolved in it's own new "court" - without recourse from signers.

Further, the new agency will collect fees from private companies engaged in oceanic exploration - and would have the authority to use those fees to compete with the private companies in exploration. If the United States ratified the treaty, it would have no veto power over its activities as it does in the United Nations Security Council.

One of the common points of opposition all opponents rally around is the fact that ratification of this treaty would finally give the United Nations something it has sought since its founding - an ability to redistribute the wealth of the world - meaning the United States - to other less "fortunate" countries.

We'll keep you posted.

--Jim Shepherd