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Across the country, citizens are mobilizing to take trade off the "fast track" and move it onto a "right track" that protects our environment and working families. Please join our campaign to defeat Fast Track.
More ways to help:
Dirty Water: The High Price of "Free Trade" Today trade agreements promote international commerce by undercutting high environmental, health and safety standards -- what trade specialists call "non-tariff trade barriers." Consider California's experience under NAFTA. Several years ago, Gov. Gray Davis decided to phase out the gasoline additive MTBE, a suspected carcinogen. MTBE was leaking from tanks at gasoline stations into ground water and wells. Many homeowners first learned about MTBE when the water that poured from their faucets began to smell and taste like turpentine. In response to the MTBE phase-out, the Methanex Corporation, a Canadian company that makes the methanol that goes into MTBE, used a little-know NAFTA provision to sue the United States government for nearly $1 billion. Methanex charged that California's MTBE phase-out had hurt the company's business prospects. Originally, NAFTA's investor rules were justified as necessary to protect foreign investors from the seizure of their assets by host governments. In practice, the rules expose virtually all domestic laws -- including pollution controls, smart growth programs, and work place safety rules -- to challenge as NAFTA violations. The MTBE case is just the latest in a growing string of trade challenges to environmental, health and safety protection. For instance:
Now President Bush wants fast track authority to expand NAFTA throughout the Western Hemisphere, establishing the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). A leaked draft text of the FTAA shows that it will contain rules like those in NAFTA empowering foreign investors to file suit over environmental, health, and safety laws. Under the FTAA, US mining companies with holdings in the Amazon will be able to sue Brazil for tightening protections for the rainforest or for the indigenous people who live there. From Fast Track to Right Track Under "fast track," Congress limits its ability to influence trade policy by agreeing that it won't amend trade deals negotiated by the President. But hundreds of corporate lobbyists still have plenty of access to US trade negotiators through closed-door trade advisory committees. By limiting normal democratic procedures, fast track paves the way for trade deals that undercut our environmental, health, and safety laws. Congress already rejected fast track in 1997 and 1998 over labor and environmental concerns. The Sierra Club believes that Congress must reject fast track once more, clearing the way for alternative "right track" trade negotiating authority. Right track would:
Sample Post Card to Congressional Representative (Use this example, or download a pdf file with four pre-formatted, front-and-back postcards ready to print.)
Sample Letter to the Editor Dear Editor: I am deeply concerned that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) gave international companies risky new powers to sue governments for implementing environmental, health, and safety laws. The companies say our laws interfere with business. But these corporate lawsuits could undercut our hard-won environmental protections and cost taxpayers billions. Our elected officials did the right thing in [name of your state] by passing a new law to protect our [water, air, wildlife, forests, town]. By giving global companies new powers to sue, NAFTA puts our [water, air, wildlife, forests, town] at risk again. Rather than fix the problem, President Bush wants "fast track" authority to expand NAFTA to the rest of the Western Hemisphere. I urge Rep. [insert your representative's name here] to vote against fast track. Instead, we need a "right track" trade policy to make trade clean, green, and fair. Sincerely, [your name here] Protect State Environmental Sovereignty From Trade Treaty Threat June 14, 2001The Oregon State legislature recently passed Senate Joint Memorial #2-2 which calls on the US House and Senate to empower select committees in each chamber to study proposed and recently approved trade agreements to determine the extent of impacts on state sovereignty. Even better, the Oregon state legislature urges these select committees to hold hearings on trade agreements throughout the United States, creating a fantastic organizing opportunity. The Oregon resolution follows a growing public outcry concerning provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that permit foreign corporations to file suit over local, state, or federal laws that might interfere with their business plans. For instance, a Canadian company recently sued the United States for nearly $1 billion because California is attempting to phase out a hazardous gasoline additive that is polluting the state's drinking water. Get Involved! Place the Oregon resolution before members of your state legislature and/or City or County government and ask them to adopt a similar resolution. We would, however, recommend that any such resolutions call for hearings before the U.S. Congress acts on President Bush's request for fast track trade negotiating authority. Senate Joint Memorial #2-2 To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled: We, your memorialists, the Seventy-first Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent as follows: Whereas, within the United States federal system, the states are the units of government closest to and most representative of the people of the United States; and Whereas, the elected officials of the states are able to understand the needs and problems of their constituents and to develop laws and regulations that fit local circumstances within their states and regions; and Whereas, said trade agreements appear to conflict with and could invalidate already existing as well as future state laws relating to economic development in urban and rural communities, agriculture and food safety, taxation, land use control, natural resource conservation, access to courts, labor and human rights, business licenses, competition policy, and consumer protection; and Whereas, foreign corporations and foreign investors are already using provisions in these agreements to challenge existing laws in several states; and Whereas, under current State Point of Contact procedures of the United States Trade Representative, members of state legislatures are not directly involved in formulating or overseeing provisions in trade agreements which impact their lawmaking authority; now, therefore, Be It Resolved by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon: That the leaders of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives are respectfully urged to empower select committees in each chamber to study proposed and recently approved international trade agreements to determine the extent to which provisions in these agreements may conflict with traditional state sovereignty; and That these select committees be directed to hold hearings throughout the United States to discuss their findings with, and take testimony from, local and state elected officials and citizens, and to determine the impact of these agreements on local communities and local government; and be it further Resolved, That a copy of this memorial shall be sent to the Senate Majority Leader, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and to each member of the Oregon Congressional Delegation. Fast Track Archives White Paper on Environmentally Responsible Trade Negotiating Authority April 26, 1999 Letter from Carl Pope, Executive Director of Sierra Club to U.S. House of Representatives opposing Fast Track Authorization, September 25, 1998 IN THE NEWS: Fast Track Monday Morning Punditry November 1997 Letter from Carl Pope, Executive Director of Sierra Club to U.S. House of Representatives opposing Fast Track Authorization, November 6, 1997 Up to Top HOME | Email Signup | About Us | Contact Us | Terms of Use |
