Our air, water and health are all at stake with the TPP, which is why so many environmental groups have expressed grave concern.

Most noticeable is that the roughly 6,000 pages of TPP text don’t even mention the words “climate change,” much less attempt to address the fact that the TPP would increase climate-disrupting emissions. The deal takes a step back from the environmental protections of all U.S. free-trade agreements since 2007 by failing to require TPP countries to fulfill their obligations in a set of core international environmental treaties.

The TPP’s weak conservation rules won’t do enough to adequately protect marine life and wildlife from harmful practices such as shark finning or illegal logging. But fossil fuel corporations would be empowered to challenge our public health and climate safeguards in unaccountable ISDS tribunals. This corporate power grab has been used in past deals to challenge clean energy initiatives, bans or moratoriums on fracking, and more.

Speaking of fracking, we could see a whole lot more of this dirty and destructive practice in our backyards thanks to the TPP. The pact would require our Department of Energy to automatically approve all exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to all TPP countries—including Japan, the world’s largest LNG importer. This means more fracking, air and water pollution, climate emissions and reliance on fossil fuels—when we should keep those fuels in the ground and fully embrace clean energy.

—Ilana Solomon, Director, Sierra Club’s Responsible Trade Program

Hi everyone, November 16, 2015

I’m writing to invite you and members of your Sierra chapter to participate in a call on the Trans-Pacific Partnership  (TPP) next Monday, November 23 at 4pm PT/ 7pm ET.

As many of you know, the 12 countries who negotiated the TPP agreed on a deal last month after years of secret negotiations.  Then, on November 5, TPP countries released the text to the public for the first time.

Now we are entering a critical stage of the TPP fight. President Obama is planning to sign the trade deal in early 2016, after which Congress will be able to vote on this dangerous trade pact. Hundreds of Sierra Club chapters and volunteers have been working with labor, environment, and human rights allies to educate their communities about the TPP and convince members of Congress to oppose the deal. If you have not been engaged yet, this is THE time to join.

Please join us on a call on November 23 at 4pm PT/ 7pm ET to learn about the TPP, the timeline ahead, and how you can join our movement to stop harmful trade agreements:

Thank you for any help you can give,

——— 
Courtenay Lewis, Responsible Trade Program,
Sierra Club, 202-495-3026 (office)
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Joseph Stiglitz: Under TPP, Polluters Could Sue U.S. for Setting Carbon Emissions Limits

Guest– Joseph Stiglitz is a Nobel Prize-winning economist, Columbia University professor and chief economist for the Roosevelt Institute. His new book is called Rewriting the Rules of the American Economy: An Agenda for Growth and Shared Prosperity.

Nobel Prize-winning economist and Columbia University professor Joseph Stiglitz warns about the dangers of the TPP, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. “We know we’re going to need regulations to restrict the emissions of carbon,” Stiglitz said. “But under these provisions, corporations can sue the government, including the American government, by the way, so it’s all the governments in the TPP can be sued for the loss of profits as a result of the regulations that restrict their ability to emit carbon emissions that lead to global warming.”

TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS:

AMY GOODMAN: Joseph Stiglitz, you just recently wrote a piece, “The Trans-Pacific Partnership Charade: TPP Isn’t about ‘Free’ Trade at All.” Please explain this..

JOSEPH STIGLITZ: Well, it was very much the point that was made in your segment that you had about Indonesia joining. The basic point is that this is a trade agreement that has all kinds of provisions intended to restrict regulations. We carved out one little piece—TPP carved out one little piece that was so, so outrageous that everybody was up in arms, and that was a provision about tobacco. On a provision very similar to this, Uruguay is being sued by Philip Morris, the successor to Philip Morris, because Uruguay passed a regulation, as did Australia, that on the package you have to say that this is bad for your health.

AMY GOODMAN: What we have in the United States.

JOSEPH STIGLITZ: Exactly. It’s a little bit more graphic, because they had the picture of what it did to your lungs. It worked. People started—you know, stopped smoking. Not everybody, but smoking was reduced. Under the provisions of this, TPP-like provision, Philip Morris can sue Uruguay for the loss of their expected profits as result of the regulation. In other words, the view is, they have the right to kill people, and if you want to take away that right, you have to pay them not to kill.

Now, we carved—that provision was carved out, but all the other areas were left in. So they were talking about climate change regulation. We know we’re going to need regulations to restrict the emissions of carbon. But under these provisions, corporations can sue the government, including the American government, by the way, so it’s all the governments in the TPP can be sued for the loss of profits as a result of the regulations that restrict their ability to emit carbon emissions that lead to global warming. If this provision had been in place when we had discovered that asbestos was bad for your health—you know, under the current provisions, asbestos manufacturers have to pay for the damage that they’re doing. They pay billions and billions of dollars. If the TPP had been in place, we would have to pay the asbestos manufacturers for not killing us. It’s outrageous.

AMY GOODMAN: We have to leave it there, but we’re going to continue the conversation right after the show and post it online at democracynow.org. Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize-winning economist, Columbia University professor, chief economist for the Roosevelt Institute. His new book is called Rewriting the Rules of the American Economy: An Agenda for Growth and Shared Prosperity.

Go to: http://www.democracynow.org for Part 2.

Or, we could do our own outside Capito’s office in Charleston. She was the only WV rep to vote for Fast Track, and I think we can assume strong correlation between votes on Fast Track and votes on the pacts it’s meant to facilitate–TPP, TTIP and TISA.