chairman, through determined diplomacy including by secretru, the united states has been able to see all the laws. after careful review the bush administration says the amended convention serves u.s. military, economic and environmental interests. we concluded that important u.s. objectives especially our goals to exploit the valuable resources on our exthe ended contin continental shelf and participate in the convention's decision making bodies could not be made through these means. mr. chairman, a members of the committee, thank you for this opportunity to appear today. >> thank you. >> thank you for inviting me to testify this afternoon regarding u.s. opposition to enclose is based on idealology. allow you to ensure you my concerns are not based in methodology without regard for facts or evidence. to the extent the treaty and skeptics base their opposition on ideology over the advancement of narrow commercial interests and over a misplaced desire to please the international community. joining would affect our national sovereignty in several ways. it would obligate the united state