[CTC] New report, map: Looming trade deals pose climate roadblocks

Wed Mar 23 08:09:15 PDT 2016

Begin forwarded message:

From: Ben Beachy <ben.beachy at sierraclub.org>
Subject: New report, map: Looming trade deals pose climate roadblocks
Date: March 23, 2016 at 10:51:50 AM EDT
Reply-To: Ben Beachy <ben.beachy at sierraclub.org>

Apologies for cross-postings

Greetings.  Sierra Club has just released a new report <https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/www.sierraclub.org/files/uploads-wysiwig/climate-roadblocks.pdf> revealing that two pending U.S. trade deals pose a major threat -- unprecedented in the history of such pacts -- to U.S. efforts to keep fossil fuels in the ground. 

As you're aware, TransCanada announced <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-beachy/the-corporation-behind-ke_b_8931802.html> in January that it will use NAFTA to ask a tribunal of three private lawyers to order the U.S. government to pay more than $15 billion for rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline.  Today's report details how the TPP and TTIP would more than double the number of fossil fuel corporations that could follow TransCanada’s example and use unaccountable tribunals as a backdoor way to challenge U.S. climate protections. 

For the first time, the two deals would hand this power to some of the world's largest climate polluters -- corporations with investments across the U.S. in fracking, offshore drilling, oil and gas extraction on public lands, and fossil fuel pipelines.  The report quantifies these firms' investments in each of these areas.  No previous trade deal has granted such broad rights to firms with such broad interests in maintaining U.S. fossil fuel dependency.  

We're also releasing an interactive map <http://www.sierraclub.org/trade/mapping-ISDS> that shows the breadth of these fossil fuel investments, revealing some of the local fossil fuel fights that the TPP and TTIP would undermine.  See our press release below for quotes spotlighting a couple of these fights. 

If you'd like to help spread the word about these alarming findings, we'd much appreciate it.  Here's the pertinent info: 
Report: bit.ly/climate-roadblocks <http://bit.ly/climate-roadblocks>
Interactive map: sc.org/trade-map <http://sc.org/trade-map>
Blog post (also below): huff.to/1q25Q5j <http://huff.to/1q25Q5j>
Suggested tweet: Want to keep fossil fuels in the ground? Stop toxic trade deals like #TPP: bit.ly/21H1Naa <http://bit.ly/21H1Naa> #NoTPP
Sharegraphics: Below are a slew of sharegraphics that highlight the report's main findings, with suggested tweets and Facebook posts.  All of the graphics can be found online here <https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0By0fl9PbqzU2U2xRLXZvb3laaWs&usp=drive_web>. 

In the next couple weeks, we'll be doing a phone briefing on the report's findings for those who are interested (stay tuned for details).  In the meantime, feel free to pass on any questions/comments/diatribes.  

Cheers, 
Ben

Ben Beachy
Senior Policy Advisor
Sierra Club's Responsible Trade Program

202-650-6079 <tel:202-650-6079>
www.sierraclub.org/trade <http://www.sierraclub.org/trade>

PRESS RELEASE

Interactive Map, Report: Looming Trade Deals Threaten Efforts to Keep Fossil Fuels in the Ground

Trans-Pacific and Transatlantic Deals Would Empower World’s Largest Polluters
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Contact: 
Dan Byrnes (202) 495-3039 <tel:%28202%29%20495-3039> or daniel.byrnes at sierraclub.org <mailto:daniel.byrnes at sierraclub.org>
Click here to see the report <https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/www.sierraclub.org/files/uploads-wysiwig/climate-roadblocks.pdf>, here to see the map <http://www.sierraclub.org/trade/mapping-isds>
WASHINGTON, D.C. – As presidential candidates add fresh criticism to pending trade deals, today the Sierra Club released a new interactive map and report that reveal that new proposed trade deals would threaten the very climate protections for which groups across the U.S. are fighting. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), if passed by Congress, would newly empower 45 of the world’s 50 largest corporate climate polluters to “sue” governments in private tribunals over policies to keep fossil fuels in the ground.

In January, TransCanada – the company behind the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline that President Obama rejected last November – made clear that this threat is real. The company announced it would use similar rules in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to ask a private tribunal of three lawyers to order the U.S. government to pay more than $15 billion as “compensation” for the pipeline rejection that avoided increased climate disruption.

Today’s report shows for the first time that the TPP and TTIP would more than double the number of fossil fuel corporations that could follow TransCanada’s example and use unaccountable tribunals as a backdoor way to challenge U.S. policies that keep fossil fuels in the ground. The map reveals that the firms that would gain this power are fracking, drilling for oil offshore, extracting gas on public lands, and operating fossil fuel pipelines across 36 U.S. states, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Arctic. This finding bolsters a recent request <https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/www.sierraclub.org/files/uploads-wysiwig/transcanada-trade-letter.pdf> from 40 leading environmental organizations for Congress to reject the TPP in response to TransCanada’s NAFTA threat.

“These trade deals would empower some of the world’s largest polluters – including those fracking on our public lands and drilling off our shores – to use unaccountable tribunals to defend a model of fossil fuel dependency that spells climate crisis,” said Ben Beachy, author of today’s report and senior policy advisor for the Sierra Club’s Responsible Trade Program. “To keep fossil fuels in the ground, we cannot afford the new roadblocks posed by the TPP and TTIP.”

“The Trans-Pacific and Trans-Atlantic trade deals would hand more power to the very corporations that we are fighting as we work to protect our water, health, and climate from fracking in Pennsylvania,” said Joanne Kilgour, director of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Sierra Club.

“It’s incredible that these trade deals would allow a tribunal of three private lawyers to order U.S. taxpayers to pay oil and gas corporations if we succeed in keeping their drills off our public lands in states like Colorado,” said Jim Alexee, director of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Sierra Club.

Among other findings, the report, “Climate Roadblocks: Looming Trade Deals Threaten Efforts to Keep Fossil Fuels in the Ground <https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/www.sierraclub.org/files/uploads-wysiwig/climate-roadblocks.pdf>,” reveals how the TPP and TTIP would newly enable challenges to U.S. climate protections in private tribunals from these corporations:

The eight largest private greenhouse gas emitters outside of the U.S.;

More fracking firms than under all 56 existing U.S. trade and investment pacts combined;

Oil and gas corporations that control more than 10 million acres’ worth of U.S. offshore drilling leases (which equates to one out of every three leased acres);

Oil and gas corporations that control 85 percent of leased area in U.S. Arctic waters;

Corporations with leases for oil and gas extraction on over 720,000 acres of U.S. public lands; and

Corporations that own tens of thousands of miles’ worth of U.S. fossil fuel pipelines, crossing at least 29 states in nearly every region of the country.

Click here to see the report <https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/www.sierraclub.org/files/uploads-wysiwig/climate-roadblocks.pdf>, here to see the map <http://www.sierraclub.org/trade/mapping-isds>
###

BLOG POST

THE HUFFINGTON POST BLOG
Want To Keep Fossil Fuels In The Ground? Stop These Trade Deals
 03/23/2016 09:56 am ET
Ben Beachy
 <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-beachy>Senior Policy Advisor, Responsible Trade Program, Sierra Club
 <http://twitter.com/Ben_Beachy>
For the full scoop, click here for a new report <http://bit.ly/climate-roadblocks>, and here for an interactive map <https://www.sierraclub.org/trade/mapping-isds>.

Did you know that two looming trade deals, if passed by Congress, would newly empower 45 of the world’s 50 largest corporate climate polluters to “sue” governments in private tribunals over policies that keep fossil fuels in the ground?

Or that these two deals would give this new power to corporations currently fracking on our public lands, drilling for oil off our shores, and operating dirty pipelines across the country, undermining fights against fossil fuels from coast to coast?

These are among the alarming findings of a new report <http://bit.ly/climate-roadblocks> and interactive map <https://www.sierraclub.org/trade/mapping-isds>, released today, that reveal the climate roadblocks posed by the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) - the controversial pending trade pact between the U.S. and 11 Pacific Rim countries - and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) - a broad pact under negotiation between the U.S. and the European Union.

In January, TransCanada - the company behind the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline that President Obama rejected last November - made clear that this trade deal threat is real <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-beachy/the-corporation-behind-ke_b_8931802.html>. The company announced it would use the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to ask a private tribunal of three lawyers to order the U.S. government to pay more than $15 billion as “compensation” for the pipeline rejection that avoided increased climate disruption.

Today’s report shows for the first time that the TPP and TTIP would more than double <http://bit.ly/climate-roadblocks> the number of fossil fuel corporations that could follow TransCanada’s example and use unaccountable tribunals as a backdoor way to challenge U.S. policies that keep fossil fuels in the ground.

Like NAFTA, the TPP and TTIP would empower foreign corporations to take on the U.S. government in tribunals not accountable to any domestic legal system, in which lawyers - mostly corporate attorneys <http://www.unisg.ch/appconfig/errorpages/500?aspxerrorpath=/~/media/internet/content/dateien/unisg/schools/seps/political%20science/pwdresearchseminarwaibelare%20arbitrators%20political20150506.pdf> - act as “judges.” There, the corporations could use the trade pacts’ broad foreign investor rights <http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2697555> to demand compensation for U.S. fossil fuel restrictions that they saw as “arbitrary” or contrary to their “expectations” of a stable business environment.

Law firms specializing in this “investor-state dispute settlement” (ISDS) system are now explicitly advising corporations, including fossil fuel firms, to see ISDS as a“tool” to “prevent“ unwanted policie <http://www.steptoe.com/publications-9867.html>s, as threats of costly ISDS cases can chill policy proposals <http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2700238>.

The TPP and TTIP would be the first pacts to allow the world’s largest polluters - including all of the eight largest private greenhouse gas emitters outside of the U.S. - to wield this “tool” against U.S. climate policies. That includes BHP Billiton - one of the U.S.’s largest foreign investors in fracking, Shell - the U.S.’s largest holder of federal leases for oil and gas drilling on public lands and waters, and BP - the U.S.’s largest energy investor, with fossil fuel investments across 46 states.

No previous trade deal has given such broad rights to corporations with such broad interests in maintaining U.S. fossil fuel dependency. By handing ISDS rights to these and more than 100 other foreign fossil fuel firms <http://bit.ly/climate-roadblocks>, the TPP and TTIP would pose a major threat - unprecedented in the history of such pacts - to U.S. efforts to keep fossil fuels in the ground. Here are a few examples.

A “Right” to Frack? 
Communities and environmental organizations are pushing to ban the dangerous <http://www.psehealthyenergy.org/data/Database_Analysis_2015.6_.16_.pdf>practice of gas and oil fracking in states from California <http://californiansagainstfracking.org/member-organizations/> to Pennsylvania <http://www.paagainstfracking.org/members/> toColorado <http://coloradansagainstfracking.us/?page_id=2>. But the TPP and TTIP would allow corporations fracking in these three states <https://www.sierraclub.org/trade/mapping-isds>, plus nine others, to use ISDS to try to prevent, or gain compensation for, any new fracking restrictions.

Indeed, the two deals would grant ISDS rights to more foreign fracking firms <http://bit.ly/climate-roadblocks> than all 56 existing U.S. trade and investment pacts combined.

This is not a hypothetical concern. Lone Pine, a gas company in Delaware, is currently using NAFTA to launch an ISDS case against Canada for a fracking moratorium <http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/ilana-solomon/lone-pine-sues-canada-over-fracking_b_4032696.html> in Quebec, claiming that the moratorium revoked its “valuable right to mine for oil and gas under the St. Lawrence River.”

A Lifeline for Offshore Drilling?
To avoid a repeat of BP’s disastrous 2010 oil spill and Shell’s ill-fated attempts to drill in the Arctic, coastal communities and activists are calling for a halt to all new offshore drilling <http://obamaclimatelegacy.us/> and a cancellation <http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/elist/eListRead/obama_administration_blocking_new_oil_drilling_in_the_arctic/> of existing Arctic drilling leases.

But the TPP and TTIP would newly empower oil and gas corporations with more than 10 million acres’ worth of U.S. offshore drilling leases <http://bit.ly/climate-roadblocks> - including BP and Shell - to use ISDS threats to resist momentum against offshore drilling. These firms control one out of every three acres off the U.S. coastline <https://www.sierraclub.org/trade/mapping-isds> that is covered by an active drilling lease. In the Arctic, they control 85 percent of the leased area.

A License to Pollute Public Lands?
To limit climate-disrupting emissions, more than 400 environmental organizations <https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2015/fossil-fuels-09-14-2015.html>,leading members of Congress <https://www.merkley.senate.gov/news/video/keep-it-in-the-ground-combatting-climate-change-by-keeping-fossil-fuels-in-the-ground>, and both Democratic presidential candidates <http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/268397-clinton-banning-fossil-fuels-on-public-land-a-done-deal> have called for restrictions on oil and gas extraction on U.S. public lands. But the TPP and TTIP would move in the opposite direction.

The deals would give ISDS rights to corporations with leases for oil and gas drilling on over 720,000 acres of U.S. public lands <https://www.sierraclub.org/trade/mapping-isds>. Fossil fuel corporations from Australia to Spain would gain the ability to threaten to bring costly ISDS cases if the U.S. government barred the renewal of their leases.

A Tool to Defend Dirty Pipelines? 
TransCanada has made clear that the ISDS threat looms large for efforts to block fossil fuel pipelines that risk spills and climate emissions. The TPP and TTIP would newly grant ISDS rights to corporations that own tens of thousands of miles’ <http://bit.ly/climate-roadblocks> worth of dirty pipelines in at least 29 states <https://www.sierraclub.org/trade/mapping-isds>.

If given access to ISDS, these firms would gain a new way to counter opposition to their pipeline expansion plans, which include a controversial 800-mile gas pipeline across Alaska <http://ak-lng.com/> and a project that would pump more fracked gas through the Northeast <http://www.wbur.org/2016/02/02/acushnet-pipeline-expansion>.

The fight for climate progress already faces enough obstacles without the additional roadblocks imposed by the TPP and TTIP. Replacing these anachronistic deals with a new climate-friendly model of trade is an essential component of the growing effort to keep fossil fuels in the ground.

Follow Ben Beachy on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Ben_Beachy <http://www.twitter.com/Ben_Beachy>
SHAREGRAPHICS
Twitter
Toxic trade deals threaten our fight to #keepitintheground. Learn more: bit.ly/21H1Naa <http://bit.ly/21H1Naa> #NoTPP

NEWS: New report lays out the alarming dangers of trade pacts like the #TPP bit.ly/21H1Naa <http://bit.ly/21H1Naa>  #NoTPP

Check out @sierraclub’s new report to find out how toxic trade deals threaten our water bit.ly/21H1Naa <http://bit.ly/21H1Naa>  #NoTPP

New @sierraclub report highlights the terrifying reality of toxic trade deals bit.ly/21H1Naa <http://bit.ly/21H1Naa>  #NoTPP

WARNING: Toxic trade, like #TPP, has consequences for our air, water, & public lands: bit.ly/21H1Naa <http://bit.ly/21H1Naa>  #NoTPP

WARNING: Toxic trade has consequences. Alarming new report lays out the dangers bit.ly/21H1Naa <http://bit.ly/21H1Naa>  #NoTPP

Facebook

Image 1:

WARNING: Toxic trade has consequences. Trade pacts like the Trans-Pacific Partnership enable big polluters to attack fracking restrictions.
Our alarming new report lays out the dangers ⇒ bit.ly/21H1Naa <http://bit.ly/21H1Naa>
Tell Congress to reject toxic trade ⇒  http://sc.org/StopTPP <http://sc.org/StopTPP>
Image 3:

WARNING: Toxic trade has consequences. Trade pacts like the Trans-Pacific Partnership could mean more offshore drilling. 
Our alarming new report lays out the dangers ⇒  bit.ly/21H1Naa <http://bit.ly/21H1Naa>
Tell Congress to reject toxic trade ⇒  http://sc.org/StopTPP <http://sc.org/StopTPP>
Image 4:

WARNING: Toxic trade has consequences. Trade pacts like the Trans-Pacific Partnership threaten our public lands.
Our alarming new report lays out the dangers ⇒ bit.ly/21H1Naa <http://bit.ly/21H1Naa>
Tell Congress to reject toxic trade ⇒  http://sc.org/StopTPP <http://sc.org/StopTPP>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.citizenstrade.org/pipermail/ctcfield-citizenstrade.org/attachments/20160323/2db4c442/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: r-w9YmTM_NqaTp1IW7Y9sXmkeAAPxEPFEg5dzFqQulZzKGsjrWDNZSlYZjosaZ83vBYYg15rJ3dPhtMzqvYBvZwaL89TpXiuyIwtNE0on1EU7AoU5Owhlkgv8gdJFgcyL9i3UiZu.png
Type: image/png
Size: 61321 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.citizenstrade.org/pipermail/ctcfield-citizenstrade.org/attachments/20160323/2db4c442/attachment-0009.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: w91aYMq-lXAVongNPU9D1uHpl5XCqcsZpsEURRyv_hBEozvFFhZvsGWia_5UQLnD8dCKrkWvceef7yJ6SQTFg2fGlYtv0ETsWOq57Z5CQC85L3ev7vUuITN3Yaj5fLsxhpSutf6s.png
Type: image/png
Size: 816197 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.citizenstrade.org/pipermail/ctcfield-citizenstrade.org/attachments/20160323/2db4c442/attachment-0010.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: W1smu_OstYzMHD2hyEvalTQeODJAxkfFBIh9xHrfGv-nWHPkAYia05yIuVgHNuihvHgTlqlUaPMeQSb5JZKmtIUzhl-wv5zM4Z4NpdkBE-D2nXtPumNQz6SNzbj7H8kpKU7m3M_N.png
Type: image/png
Size: 64336 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.citizenstrade.org/pipermail/ctcfield-citizenstrade.org/attachments/20160323/2db4c442/attachment-0011.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: kRnFUzfP4tWb94Eof9V6N8UAyg4uPitYws6OBOxCGAiaW4WiIRx5nbaXFSrAzTr5SVRbOw28gtABbDl5cv6KIV5TriXms8v6MBEdmrlaco3vyJ9_KG9g7GLmSUAiiWT2TZee57bw.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1001444 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.citizenstrade.org/pipermail/ctcfield-citizenstrade.org/attachments/20160323/2db4c442/attachment-0012.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Ed9_Y9k1JG6JnJGZlcrAA_wXviJ4fdWJoxW9dv30nz6SyNmlUed52BXXLMHQR4VToWLH-d19r90uaJRiI-uekhJ6kHh-_Ju-PB_DcJnc5vTGRtswwt3mZ412L-8vHTHQGhgYOEuE.png
Type: image/png
Size: 74639 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.citizenstrade.org/pipermail/ctcfield-citizenstrade.org/attachments/20160323/2db4c442/attachment-0013.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: FIcYLzrYS21g7hxwuvhaKH5JKEDJvIQrwjkpnp38b2IUasnauhUn6dH7mo6vBD4lOIXtyXbqnI8GEAEEW_kvxFeZF20I1YdILl9OzuoxiS49h-JaTGlLzD1YfNqd2uTDI9I0Unjl.png
Type: image/png
Size: 64336 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.citizenstrade.org/pipermail/ctcfield-citizenstrade.org/attachments/20160323/2db4c442/attachment-0014.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: OFQjOKwxe_dNMWaaeFPQ-d8KpudRfHtgpwhnm6g_oEBcFyF7LuBLPJxhr5e8IEAIpOA8B8KVVUU9ad6XTmpoorBj8f7lRbe6ByPMHUe3Md4ZMjuj7L_C92vIAB8IcQjb7O0OQU2b.png
Type: image/png
Size: 879593 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.citizenstrade.org/pipermail/ctcfield-citizenstrade.org/attachments/20160323/2db4c442/attachment-0015.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Orq0t4yfksaW_acf64iOiKNs00jNNyxR7N1wUAMkqEsN1Y9vJ99s9WPjil1aSV9sI8L3ZBkHxp5-nWbCTyC6eaiaVFzP3VV54CDTMK6xw-SILFN8LlgiOTdjRJHDeNHl8AneQfln.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1001444 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.citizenstrade.org/pipermail/ctcfield-citizenstrade.org/attachments/20160323/2db4c442/attachment-0016.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: tzdo6qI9CDv3ilkpTjai0lVaOXc0uS6aN7d9KbjQ0jMAApgmwJHoCwXjjCgXrRY2eg0WxX47h9TJgldtEXKTOUt0ylnxXnMZwaawuf1MbKZ6XA7iMJRwDALUE1r-yzsd6enVB8-t.png
Type: image/png
Size: 74639 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.citizenstrade.org/pipermail/ctcfield-citizenstrade.org/attachments/20160323/2db4c442/attachment-0017.png>