USA: Sierra Club Comments on Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with EU

Sierra Club submitted comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative concerning the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The TTIP is an expansive trade deal proposed between the U.S. and the European Union, and the Sierra Club is concerned about its potential effects on climate disruption and other environmental and public interest issues that American families and communities will face.

“A trade alliance between the U.S. and the European Union could offer an opportunity to improve safeguards across the Atlantic that protect our air, water and other natural resources,” said Ilana Solomon, Sierra Club trade representative. “However, a transatlantic trade and investment agreement would have devastating consequences if free trade is pursued at the expense of environmental protection and consumer and worker rights.”

The comments include recommendations for the participating nations to:

• Ensure that governments have the flexibility to put in place new climate solutions and strengthen existing ones, including feed-in tariffs, a carbon cap or tax, and clean energy and energy efficiency standards without constraint or without threat of trade litigation.
• Prevent the unchecked export of fracked gas from the U.S. The agreement must retain the ability of the nation’s Department of Energy to review, condition, or if necessary, deny exports of fracked gas from the U.S. to the E.U. countries, so as to protect American families’ best interest from unregulated natural gas development.
• Exclude investor-state dispute settlement, which would elevate foreign corporations to the level of nations and allow them to sue governments in private tribunals over laws and policies that the companies claim disrupt their bottom lines.
• Negotiate with transparency and allow opportunities for meaningful public and Congressional input and participation in trade negotiations.

[mappress]
LNG World News Staff, May 15, 2013