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At Cancun Summit, Bush Administration Advocates New Trade Rules that Put Communities at Risk September 8, 2003 "The Bush Administration is putting the health and safety of our communities at risk by negotiating new international trade rules that make it much harder to protect our clean air, clean water, and public land," said Daniel Seligman, Sierra Club’s Senior Trade Fellow. "There’s a better way. We can make trade safe, clean and fair if our negotiators uphold environmental safeguards and agree to cut the subsidies for global agribusiness." Daniel Seligman is the former Sierra Club Senior Trade Program Director, and represented the Club at the WTO meeting in Cancun. Please e-mail responsible.trade@sierraclub.org to reach new Trade Director Margrete Strand. New "investor" and "services" rules under negotiation under the WTO threaten the ability of local, state and federal governments to protect the environment. Under Bush administration proposals, the services agreements could slash environmental safeguards for such risky industries as mining, logging, and factory farming. Under proposed new investor rules, the home countries of foreign companies in the United States would gain new powers to sue taxpayers for cash damages if environmental laws or other safeguards affect their profits. Environmental Protections at Risk States could be penalized for limiting the number of fishing licenses granted in coastal waters, the amount of waste dumped into a landfill, the amount of timber that can be logged from public lands, or the amount of water extracted from an aquifer. Even limits on energy production in wilderness areas could be challenged as illegal restrictions on "market access." Clean Water at Risk Should Methanex prevail, the federal government would have to force California to reverse its ban or pay damages. Similar lawsuits are expected to grow if investor provisions are included in the WTO. Under the services rules on "domestic regulation," our laws cannot be "more burdensome than necessary" to a foreign service supplier. This sweeping provision could unravel a wide range of protective laws and programs. For example, foreign water companies such as France's Vivendi/Veolia are already moving into U.S. markets to operate water systems. If local authorities then decide to improve water quality, cutting into profits, the foreign company could than ask its home government to challenge the new standards before the WTO. Clean Air at Risk Instead of services and investor rules now under negotiations, we need trade rules that protect the environment, uphold the authority of federal, state and local governments, and strengthen communities while promoting commerce. New rules shouldn’t give greater rights to foreign investors than US. Citizens have under U.S. law. Cuts in production subsidies for global agribusiness would reduce the crop surpluses that harm family farmers the world over and allow government to redirect funds toward sustainable agriculture, rural development, and conservation.
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