<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=""><a href="http://content.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2015/05/sierra-club-statement-misleading-us-trade-representative-environmental-report" class="">http://content.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2015/05/sierra-club-statement-misleading-us-trade-representative-environmental-report</a><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:</span></div><div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Wednesday, May 20, 2015</span></div><div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""></div><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> </span><div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Sierra Club Statement on Misleading U.S. Trade Representative Environmental Report</span></div><div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">New report ignores climate change impacts from trade</span></div><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> </span><div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">WASHINGTON, D.C.</span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> -- This morning, the office of the U.S. Trade Representative released a misleading report on the office’s environmental trade record. BuzzFeed News </span><a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/evanmcsan/obama-administration-begins-aggressive-trade-campaign-deals#.sbVlmmKaok" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none;" 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="">reported</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> this is part of a “high-pressure lobbying campaign by the Obama administration” to gain support for trade deals like the </span><a href="http://www.sierraclub.org/trade/trans-pacific-partnership" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none;" 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="">Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">.</span></div><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> </span><div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">In response, Ilana Solomon, director of the Sierra Club’s Responsible Trade Program released the following statement:</span></div><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> </span><div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">“The office of the United States Trade Representative is grasping at straws with this misleading report. Given the history of U.S. trade deals and leaked draft chapters of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, it’s clear the TPP would harm our air, water, and climate. Let’s be clear -- the environmental chapter of the TPP is still secret. Yet every indication is that it will fall short of actually prohibiting dangerous practices like illegal timber trade and shark finning.</span></div><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> </span><div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">“It’s hard to take a report on the environment seriously when it ignores the most critical environmental issue of our time: the climate crisis. The omissions don’t stop there -- this report ignores how the corporate-friendly investment chapter could wash away any potential benefits of the environment chapter. And to make the ridiculous absurd, this report praises the U.S.-Peru trade pact as a success story even as the U.S. Trade Representative has yet to hold Peru accountable for its blatant violations of the deal’s environment chapter. </span></div><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> </span><div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">“Environmental organizations like the Sierra Club, representing millions of Americans, can give a real report: the TPP is far from a progressive trade deal. It’s time to see the text so we can have a real conversation about the implications of this pact on our environment.”</span></div><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> </span><div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">###</span></div><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> </span><div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">For more information on the TPP and the environment, see </span><a href="http://www.sierraclub.org/compass/2015/05/far-progressive-trade-deal-trans-pacific-partnership-would-harm-our-environment" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none;" 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="">this blog post</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">.</span></div></div></body></html>