... eller hvordan omgå demokratiet når det ikke fungerer i selskapenes
interesser.
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"Taking Away" our Clean Environment
Sierra Club
Responsible Trade Program
URGENT ACTION ALERT
12/21/00
NAFTA's Seventh Anniversary:
"Taking Away" our Clean Environment
With George W. Bush about to take office, a nasty recent chapter of
American history may be about to repeat itself. The first President
George Bush launched trade talks in 1991 that established the North
American Free Trade Agreement on January 1, 1994. Now George W. promises
to expand NAFTA into a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) that extends
from the Yukon to Tierra del Fuego.
But expanding this NAFTA is a potential disaster for the environment and
for democratic rights. Under the FTAA, citizens could actually be forced
to pay corporate polluters not to pollute our air and water.
NAFTA: Evil Spawn of the Wise Use Movement
Corporate polluters have long sought the right to compensation for
government actions that might cause them any loss of profits. In the
1980s, the Wise Use movement argued that constitutional protections
against the "taking" of property without "just compensation" required
government payments if pollution control laws hurt profits in any way, no
matter how little. If implemented, the Wise Users "property rights"
agenda would have throttled the ability of government to take virtually
any action in the public interest.
Environmentalists repeatedly stopped the "takings" agenda in Congress by
exposing it as nothing but an effort to make citizens pay polluters not to
pollute. We stopped the "takings" agenda under the Reagan administration.
And we stopped the "takings" agenda in Newt Gingrich's "Contract with
America." Environmentalists won the debate until the polluters got smart
and inserted the "takings" agenda into a trade agreement called NAFTA.
Under NAFTA, foreign investors based in Canada, Mexico or the United
States gained a brand new right to sue governments for laws adopted in the
public interest that might cost them some money. The polluters have
wasted no time in using their new legal rights to attack pollution control
laws.
· In 1998, Canada was forced to settle a NAFTA "takings" complaint over an
air pollution control law. Canada rolled back its ban on MMT, a gasoline
additive known to damage the nervous system, and paid $13 million to the
US company that makes MMT.
· Just this year, a NAFTA tribunal ordered Mexico to pay $19 million in
damages to a US company after environmental officials in the state of San
Luis Potosi blocked a planned hazardous waste incinerator that threatened
the region's water supply.
· This fall, a Canadian chemical company sued the United States for $1
billion after California banned a carcinogenic gasoline additive made by
the company that is leaking from gasoline storage tanks and poisoning the
state's drinking water.
Son of NAFTA
The threat to clean air and to safe drinking water could grow under the
proposed FTAA. Companies owned by any western hemisphere trading partner
with investments in the United States could sue the United States over new
pollution control laws, discouraging efforts to protect our environment.
Venezuela-based Citgo could, for instance, sue over new standards that
might tighten controls on pollution from gasoline stations. Alternatively,
US companies could do the same in Latin America. For instance, US mining
corporations hold billions of dollars in rights to mine for gold and other
minerals beneath the Amazon rainforest. Under FTAA "takings" rules, these
companies could sue for compensation if the Brazilian government moves to
protect this precious natural resource or the indigenous people who live
there.
Make Trade Clean, Green, and Fair
Trade could be a force for progress. But current trade rules are too
often used to attack environmental protections and democratic rights in
the name of new property rights for corporate polluters. Instead of trade
agreements that knock down high standards, we need trade policies that
lift standards up to the highest possible level. We need to replace
"free" trade with trade that is clean, green, and fair.
Take Action
As a first step, the reality of the FTAA must be exposed. Yet the
negotiations have so far been secret and no draft text has been
released.
Help us "celebrate" NAFTA's anniversary by placing an article, letter to
the editor, or opinion editoral in a local newspaper. Then fax a copy of
what you publish to the United States Trade Representative, Amb. Charlene
Barshevsky. Use your letters and articles to:
· Educate the public about NAFTA's toxic legacy on its seventh
anniversary;
· Make a call to publicly release the text of the FTAA; and
· Propose how you would make trade clean, green, and fair.
Remember, keep letters to the editor short -- less than 200 words if
possible.
USTR Contact Information:
Email: contactustr@ustr.gov
Fax: (202) 395-4579
Further information:
www.sierraclub.org/trade
www.foe.org
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