<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">Compass (Sierra Club blog): <a href="http://sc.org/aUm9U" class="">http://sc.org/aUm9U</a></div><div class="">Huffington Post: <a href="http://sc.org/cGvkr" class="">http://sc.org/cGvkr</a> </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div class="" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(56, 56, 56); font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><div class=""><div class="">May 15, 2015</div></div></div><div class="" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; clear: left; color: rgb(56, 56, 56); font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><div class=""><div class=""><h2 style="line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px; font-size: 30px; color: rgb(73, 73, 73); font-family: proxima-nova, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; padding-top: 0px;" class="">Far From a ‘Progressive’ Trade Deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership Would Harm our Environment</h2></div></div></div><div class="" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(56, 56, 56); font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><span class="">By</span> <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/other/authors/ilana-solomon" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 158, 224);" class="">Ilana Solomon</a></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(56, 56, 56); font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><div class=""><div class=""><img src="https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/www.sierraclub.org/files/blog/Doors%20jpeg.jpg" width="500" height="461" alt="" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; height: auto;" class=""></div></div></div><div class="" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(56, 56, 56); font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><div class=""><div class=""><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0pt 0px; line-height: 1.38;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0pt 0px; line-height: 1.38;" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Proponents of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) have called the deal “the </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">most progressive trade bill in history.” But given the history of U.S. trade deals, that bar is set exceedingly low. Our past trade deals have led to the offshoring of</span><a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/infographic-free-trade-agreements-have-hurt-american-workers/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 158, 224);" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">hundreds of thousands of American jobs</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">, have </span><a href="http://action.sierraclub.org/site/DocServer/Investor-State-Climate-FINAL.pdf?docID=16661" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 158, 224);" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">allowed corporations to challenge policies designed to protect our air and water in private trade courts</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">, and have </span><a href="http://action.sierraclub.org/site/DocServer/0642_NAFTA_Report_05_web_high.pdf?docID=15301" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 158, 224);" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">degraded our environment</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">. If you dig in even a little bit to what we know about the TPP and the history of past trade deals, it’s clear: the TPP would harm our air, water, and climate.</span></div><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0pt 0px; line-height: 1.38;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0pt 0px; line-height: 1.38;" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Here’s why.</span></div><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0pt 0px; line-height: 1.38;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0pt 0px; line-height: 1.38;" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">1. The environment chapter will not go far enough.</span></div><div style="margin: 0.91071em 0px;" class=""><span id="docs-internal-guid-7a4ed8b7-58cd-699e-bf45-4d62ec40bb90" class=""> </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Proponents of the TPP often talk about the benefits of the pact based exclusively on the environment chapter. However, as House Ways and Means Ranking Democrat Sandy Levin (D-MI) recently</span><a href="http://democrats.waysandmeans.house.gov/sites/democrats.waysandmeans.house.gov/files/LEVIN%20--%20TPA%20--%20A%20Major%20Step%20Back%20on%20TPP%20Negotiations.pdf" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 158, 224);" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">wrote</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">, while the environment chapter will cover a broad range of issues, including shark finning and illegal timber trade, </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">the </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">obligations</span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">—what countries are actually </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">required to do</span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">—are often weak. </span></div><div style="margin: 0.91071em 0px;" class=""> <span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">For example, rather than </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">prohibiting </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">commercial whaling and shark fin trade--major issues in TPP countries like </span><a href="http://www.ifaw.org/united-states/our-work/whales/which-countries-are-still-whaling" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 158, 224);" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Japan </span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">and </span><a href="http://www.wwf.sg/take_action/say_no_to_shark_fin/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 158, 224);" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Singapore</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">--the TPP is likely to include vague and toothless language that stops far short of requiring countries to stop these harmful practices. The deal will also likely fall short of prohibiting trade in illegally taken timber and wildlife and will not even </span><a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/trade-leak-shows-uss-weak-environmental-pitch-groups-say-103678.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 158, 224);" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-style: italic; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">mention</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> the words “climate change.”</span></div><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0pt 0px; line-height: 1.38;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0pt 0px; line-height: 1.38;" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">2. The environment chapter is unlikely to be enforced.</span></div><div style="margin: 0.91071em 0px;" class=""> <span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Here is another reason to be skeptical that the environment chapter will lead to any meaningful protection of land, air, water, and wildlife. The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has never </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">once </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">brought a trade dispute against another country for failing to live up to its environmental obligations in trade deals, even when there is documented evidence of non-compliance with environmental safeguards.</span></div><div style="margin: 0pt 0px; line-height: 1.38;" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Let’s take Peru, for example. The United States-Peru free trade deal included a section </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">aimed at stopping the illegal timber trade between Peru and the United States. </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Think it has worked? Think again.</span></div><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0pt 0px; line-height: 1.38;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0pt 0px; line-height: 1.38;" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Here’s the story. </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">In April 2012, the Environmental Investigation Agency </span><a href="http://eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/The-Laundering-Machine.pdf" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 158, 224);" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">published a multi-year investigative report</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> which documented that at least 112 illegal shipments of cedar and mahogany wood – laundered with fabricated papers and approved by the Peruvian government – arrived in the US between 2008 and 2010.</span><a href="http://eia-global.org/news-media/multi-year-investigation-finds-illegal-wood-from-peruvian-amazon-entering-u" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 158, 224);" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">As EIA noted</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">, these shipments alone accounted for over 35 percent of all trade in these protected species between the U.S. and Peru. </span></div><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0pt 0px; line-height: 1.38;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0pt 0px; line-height: 1.38;" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Just days after the report was released, EIA</span><a href="http://eia-global.org/news-media/us-government-requested-to-use-free-trade-agreement-to-take-action-on-illeg" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 158, 224);" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">formally petitioned</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> the USTR to take action under the U.S.-Peru trade deal and investigate and verify the legal origin of shipments from at least two Peruvian companies and to audit dozens more. The Sierra Club and other environmental, labor, and industry partners</span><a href="http://action.sierraclub.org/site/DocServer/NGO_sign-on_Forest_Sector_Governance_Final.pdf?docID=17583" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 158, 224);" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> sent a letter to the USTR </span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">joining the call for action. </span></div><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0pt 0px; line-height: 1.38;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0pt 0px; line-height: 1.38;" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">The result? Not much of anything.The USTR never used the tools available in the trade pact to hold Peru accountable for violating the agreement. Instead, it put together a </span><a href="https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/press-releases/2013/january/us-peru-action-plan-forest-sector-governance" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 158, 224);" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">five-point action plan</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> which simply reiterated obligations that Peru undertook in the trade deal—obligations which Peru consistently failed to implement. In other words, Peru’s punishment for violating the trade deal was having the deal they signed read back to them. That’s not even a slap on the wrists -- it’s a whisper in the ear.</span></div><div style="margin: 0.91071em 0px;" class=""> <span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">To date, </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">no one has been held accountable for these violations of the U.S.-Peru trade deal and </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">no enforcement action has been taken.</span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> As a result, illegal logging and associated trade continues to threaten communities and our environment. As the</span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/19/world/americas/corruption-in-peru-aids-cutting-of-rain-forest.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 158, 224);" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-style: italic; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">New York Times</span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> reported in late 2013</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">, “But large quantities of timber, including increasingly rare types like mahogany, continue to flow out [of Peru], much of it ultimately heading to the United States for products like hardwood flooring and decking sold by American retailers.”</span></div><div style="margin: 0pt 0px; line-height: 1.38;" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">So the story here is clear. Having obligations on paper is one thing, but without enforcement, those obligations are meaningless. It’s hard to believe the proponents of the TPP who say the deal will raise up environmental standards if even the clearest of violations of environmental rules in past trade deals continue to go unpunished.</span></div><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0pt 0px; line-height: 1.38;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0pt 0px; line-height: 1.38;" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">3. New Rights to Big Polluters, More Fossil Fuel Exports</span></div><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0pt 0px; line-height: 1.38;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0pt 0px; line-height: 1.38;" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Here is the last key point. Any </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">potential</span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> benefits of the environment chapter would be overwhelmed by other dangerous provisions of the deal. For example, corporations including ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Occidental have used rules in the investment chapters of trade pacts and bilateral investment treaties to bring more than </span><a href="http://action.sierraclub.org/site/DocServer/Investor-State-Climate-FINAL.pdf?docID=16661" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 158, 224);" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">600 investor-state cases</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> against nearly 100 governments. More and more, these cases are directly challenging policies designed to protect our air, water, and climate </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">including </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/ilana-solomon/lone-pine-sues-canada-over-fracking_b_4032696.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 158, 224);" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">a moratorium on fracking in Quebec</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">,</span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ilana-solomon/clean-energy-trade-rules_b_2442080.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 158, 224);" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">a nuclear energy phase-out</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> and </span><a href="http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2009/background_vattenfall_vs_germany.pdf" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 158, 224);" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">new coal-fired power plant standards</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> in Germany, and requirement for </span><a href="http://www.citizen.org/documents/renco-la-oroya-memo.pdf" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 158, 224);" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">a pollution clean-up</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> in Peru. And corporations are winning. In March 2015, </span><a href="http://action.sierraclub.org/site/DocServer/0999_Trade_Bilcon_Factsheet_04_low.pdf?docID=17481" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 158, 224);" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">a NAFTA tribunal found that Canada violated NAFTA’s investment rules</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> because of an environmental impact assessment </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">that led Canada to reject a U.S. company’s controversial mining project from moving forward in an important cultural and ecological area in Nova Scotia.</span></div><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0pt 0px; line-height: 1.38;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0pt 0px; line-height: 1.38;" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">The TPP would expand this harmful system of corporate privilege, offering broad new rights to thousands of corporations, including major polluters, when we should be reigning in the power of the fossil fuel industry to combat the climate crisis. </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation from Japan and BHP Billiton Limited from Australia, both with significant investments in coal, oil, and gas in the United States, are just two of the </span><a href="http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=4083" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 158, 224);" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">9,000 subsidiaries of companies</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> that would be newly empowered to challenge U.S. climate and energy policies as a result of the TPP. (</span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">And, more than </span><a href="http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=4083" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 158, 224);" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">19,000 subsidiaries</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> based in the United States would be newly empowered to challenge the laws and policies of the other 11 countries in the pact.)</span></div><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0pt 0px; line-height: 1.38;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0pt 0px; line-height: 1.38;" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">And there’s more. The TPP would also </span><a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/www.sierraclub.org/files/trade_downloads_raw-deal-report.pdf" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 158, 224);" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">require the U.S. Department of Energy</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> to automatically approve exports of liquefied natural gas to countries in the agreement which includes Japan, the world’s biggest natural gas importer. The TPP, therefore, would pave the way to more natural gas exports, more fracking, and more climate-disrupting emissions.</span></div><div style="margin: 0.91071em 0px;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.38;" class="">Does this sound like a progressive trade deal? Hardly. The Trans-Pacific Partnership is shaping up to be all risk and no reward for our families, our economy, and our planet. It’s time to create a new model of trade that puts communities and the environment above corporate profits.</span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.38;" class=""><br class=""></span></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>