President Bush urged the Senate Tuesday to act on the 1982 United Nations Law of the Sea Convention during this session of Congress and won swift backing from two influential Republican senators.

In a statement issued by the White House, Bush said joining the accord “will serve the national security interests of the United States, including the maritime mobility of our armed forces worldwide.”

Republican Sens. Richard G. Lugar of Indiana and Ted Stevens of Alaska echoed Bush’s call for ratification of the accord (Treaty Doc 103-39), which the Foreign Relations Committee approved unanimously in February 2004, under Lugar’s chairmanship.

The Bush administration supported the treaty, but the accord never reached the Senate floor due to opposition from conservatives concerned it would surrender U.S. sovereignty.

Current Foreign Relations Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware said last week that the only way action would occur on the treaty this Congress would be if the administration pressed for it.

The international pact, which took effect in 1994 after ratification by 60 countries, set up a legal system to govern all uses of the oceans, including navigation, research, pollution and seabed mining.

Some conservatives have said the treaty would impede U.S. efforts to protect national security.

Bush said in his statement that participation in the treaty would secure U.S. sovereign rights over extensive marine areas, including valuable natural resources.

“Accession will promote U.S. interests in the environmental health of the oceans,” the statement said. “And it will give the United States a seat at the table when the rights that are vital to our interests are debated and interpreted.”

In response, Lugar, now ranking Republican of Foreign Relations, said the new Senate leadership should work with Bush “to take an overdue step toward stronger national security by ratifying this treaty.”

In an “essay,” Lugar said the United States had been “a free rider” on the treaty for too long, and by embracing it could “help counter the prejudices that America is an unreliable partner or a threat to world order.”

Stevens, a senior Republican on the Senate Appropriations and Commerce committees and whose state has the longest coastline, has long backed the treaty.

He supported Bush’s call Tuesday for action, saying, “Two-thirds of our nation’s Outer Continental Shelf is located off Alaska, and if we ratify this accord, the United States could lay claim to a substantial area north and east of the Bering Strait.”

Bush also said in his statement Tuesday that he had instructed the U.S. delegation to the International Maritime Organization to submit a proposal for international measures to enhance protection of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, an area including the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

Bush issued a proclamation last June establishing the monument, a 1,200-mile stretch of coral islands, seamounts, banks and shoals that are home to some 7,000 marine species.

He said the United States will propose that the IMO designate the entire area as a particularly sensitive sea area, alerting mariners to exercise caution.

“This proposal, like the Convention on the Law of the Sea, will help protect the maritime environment while preserving the navigational freedoms essential to the security and economy of every nation,” the statement said.

• White House release, May 15

• CQ Green Sheets, May 10

• CQ Green Sheets, Dec. 22, 2004

• CQ Green Sheets, Feb. 26, 2004

• CQ Green Sheets, Oct. 13, 2003