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Statement of Debbie Sease, Sierra Club Legislative Director June 19, 2001: My name is Debbie Sease and I am the Legislative Director of the Sierra Club. I am here today representing the 700,000 members of the Sierra Club, to call on Congress to reject the fast track trade negotiating authority legislation introduced by Rep. Crane, the Trade Promotion Authority Act of 2001, HR 2149. The Sierra Club has no quarrel with expanded trade. We recognize that expanded trade can improve living standards and can even provide additional resources to protect the enviroment. Our concern lies with the fact that trade agreements don't merely promote trade; instead, they impose measures on government that weaken their ability to protect the environment and worker rights when those protections threaten corporate profits. Already, under NAFTA and the World Trade Organization, safeguards for endangered sea turtles have been attacked and weakened as barriers to trade. Our borders have been opened to trucks from other countries that do not meet our air pollution or safety standards. And a Canadian chemical company is suing the United States government for nearly $1 billion because California banned the carcinogenic chemical produced by the company. Rather than address the growing tension between trade rules and environmental protection, Rep. Crane's fast track bill would make those tensions worse. Crane's bill would, for instance, give the Bush administration a blank check to expand investor rules that empower global corporations to sue governments into submission if new environmental safeguards interfere with the company's business plans. Instead of "fast track", the Sierra Club supports a "right track" trade policy that would ensure that trade rules cannot undercut hard-won environmental, health, and safety laws; ensure that basic environmental standards, such as toxic release right-to-know provisions, are enforced in the same way as commercial provisions; and ensure full democratic procedures in the development and implementation of new trade agreements. We are delighted to see on this platform many new faces who have joined together in the fight for Global Fairness. The coalition that defeated Fast Track trade legislation twice before is growing. With the power of the grassroots organizations united here today, we will beat fast track for a third, and I hope, last time. As they say in baseball, three strikes and you're out. Then I believe we can come together as equals -- industry, environmentalists, labor, family farmers, people of faith, North and South -- to frame a trade policy that is fair for all, not just for a privileged few. Up to Top HOME | Email Signup | About Us | Contact Us | Terms of Use | © 2008 Sierra Club |
