Cable Layer at the Port of Astoria, Oregon. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Senate Foreign Relations Committee, telecom industry push for treaty's passage by Cyrus Farivar - June 28 2012, 5:00am ADT On Thursday morning, the head of Verizon became the latest telecommunications industry executive to testify on Capitol Hill in support of the Law of the Sea, a major international treaty which was signed in 1982 and ratified by major world powers, including the European Union, China, Japan, Russia, Canada, India, Australia, Mexico and many others. "Given their importance to global networks and the world economy, there must be an appropriate legal framework based upon global cooperation and the rule of law to protect submarine cables," Lowell McAdam told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The United States, along with nearly all countries in the world, has been a signatory to the treaty since 1994, but has not ratified it into law. This year, there has been a renewe