A new NAFTA on the TPP model would lead to less regulation of Big Ag’s environmentally harmful factory farming practices resulting in worse air and water pollution, inhumane treatment of animals, deforestation, and massive use of environmentally-hazardous pesticides, chemical fertilizers and fossil fuels.
When we compare the evils of Trump’s new trade deal against reality of our current economy, the American people should be extremely concerned about the future of our environment.
On October 14, 2016, an Australian–Canadian mining company OceanaGold/Pacific Rim (Pac Rim) lost a $301 million dollar suit against the people of El Salvador before a tribunal associated with the World Bank. Pac Rim alleged that El Salvador violated investor rights when it was not able to open a dangerous cyanide-leach gold mine at the basin of the Lempa River. The story of the Pac Rim case is disturbing. As a result of public…
Today, October 7, 2016 the United States and the European Union conclude week-long negotiations on the foundering Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership in New York City. At this latest negotiating round, held behind closed doors, civil society representatives were even denied an opportunity to make presentations at a stakeholder’s event, contrary to past practices. TTIP negotiating documents are classified as government secrets, even as several hundred corporate lobbyists who are “cleared advisors” to the U.S.…
Today, June 29, Friends of the Earth, Sierra Club, Food and Water Watch and other environmental advocates delivered more than 500,000 petitions to Congress demanding the rejection of a Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal that promises to ramp up fossil fuel exports, accelerate climate change and encourage deregulation of environmental safeguards across the board.
Among other anti-environment provisions, the Trans Pacific Partnership would offer thousands of new foreign firms virtually the same broad…
Late last week, the tar sands pipeline company TransCanada officially filed suit against the United States under the North American Free Trade Agreement investment chapter, claiming $15 billion in damages in compensation for President Obama’s decision to block construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. This follows on their threat last January when TransCanada filed a “notice of intent” to file the claim with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes at the…