<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="">From Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, Public Citizen and IATP…<div class=""><br class=""><div apple-content-edited="true" class="">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; " class=""><div class="">Arthur Stamoulis</div><div class="">Citizens Trade Campaign</div><div class="">(202) 494-8826</div><div class=""><br class=""></div></div></span><div class=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><br class=""></span></div><div class="gmail_quote" style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;"><div class=""><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;" class=""><table bgcolor="#ffffff" border="2" style="width: 650px;" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td class=""><font color="#888888" class=""></font><font color="#888888" class=""></font><font color="#888888" class=""></font><table border="0" cellpadding="5" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td class=""><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;" class="">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;" class="">Monday, May 2, 2016</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;" class="">Contact: Dan Byrnes, <a href="tel:%28202%29%20495-3039" value="+12024953039" target="_blank" class="">(202) 495-3039</a> or <a href="mailto:daniel.byrnes@sierraclub.org" target="_blank" class="">daniel.byrnes@sierraclub.org</a></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><a href="https://content.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2016/05/sierra-club-statement-leaked-transatlantic-trade-deal-text" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none;" class=""><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;" class="">View as webpage</span></a></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;" class="">Sierra Club Statement on Leaked Transatlantic Trade Deal Text</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;" class="">Environmental, climate protections undermined in leaked text</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;" class="">WASHINGTON, D.C.</span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;" class=""> -- Today, Greenpeace Netherlands </span><a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/en/News/2016/TTIPleaks-confidential-TTIP-papers-unveil-US-position/" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none;" class=""><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;" class="">released</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;" class=""> nearly 250 pages of leaked negotiation texts from the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), revealing for the first time the U.S.’s position to undermine environmental and climate protections. The text, which fails to mention the words “climate change,” shows the deal would grant broad rights to corporations to undermine climate policies. The text also indicates</span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> that the U.S. is holding exports of natural gas as a bargaining chip to use to extract further commitments from the EU on services and investment. </span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;" class="">These documents reflect the deal’s text as of last month’s round of TTIP negotiations in New York.</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; font-weight: 700; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;" class="">In response, Ilana Solomon, director of the Sierra Club’s Responsible Trade Program, released the following statement:</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;" class="">“This Transatlantic trade deal is heading in the wrong direction and would put President Obama’s trade policy on the wrong side of history. The U.S. should be leading on climate action, not using trade rules to allow dirty fuel corporations to pollute more. This leak, along with the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, shows the immediate need for a new model of trade that protects working families and healthy communities.”</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;" class="">###</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;" class="">More information:</span></div><ul style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" class=""><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;" class="">Read the Sierra Club’s report on the impacts of investment rules in the TTIP and the Trans-Pacific Partnership on our climate here: </span><a href="http://sc.org/climate-roadblocks" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none;" class=""><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;" class="">sc.org/climate-roadblocks</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;" class=""> </span></div></li><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" class=""><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">“Climate change” is not mentioned once in the 248 pages of text, despite the fact that the text includes rules that would restrict the tools that the U.S. and EU could use to tackle climate change.</span></div></li><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" class=""><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Under the National Treatment terms of the leaked text, the U.S. Department of Energy would be required to automatically approve the export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the EU – the world’s third largest LNG importer. A note accompanying the text, however, indicates that the U.S. is holding exports of natural gas as a bargaining chip to use to extract further commitments from the EU on services and investment. </span></div></li><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" class=""><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Both the U.S. and the EU have proposed “regulatory cooperation” rules that would undermine climate and environmental protections if they are deemed harmful to trans-Atlantic trade or investment. The U.S. has proposed that governments on both sides of the Atlantic should be required to review proposed regulations before enactment to pursue compliance with “international trade and investment obligations.” The EU has proposed similar language. The U.S. additionally proposes that corporations be allowed to “petition” a government for the “repeal of a regulation” on the basis that it “has become more burdensome than necessary to achieve its objective,” given its “impact on trade.”</span></div></li><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" class=""><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">An EU proposal in the leaked text would allow environmental labels and standards to be deemed “technical barriers to trade.” This could threaten labels designed to protect our environment, such as energy efficiency or climate footprint labels.</span></div></li><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" class=""><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">The text includes trade rules that have been used against “buy-local” policies that create local clean energy jobs and support clean energy entrepreneurs. At least 23 U.S. states have such programs. The EU has already </span><a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/www.sierraclub.org/files/Ontario-FIT-Briefing-Paper-Final.pdf" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none;" class=""><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">successfully challenged</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> such programs at the WTO based on rules that TTIP would replicate, providing an additional forum for such challenges. </span></div></li></ul><br class=""><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;" class="">About the Sierra Club</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;" class="">The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 2.4 million members and supporters. In addition to helping people from all backgrounds explore nature and our outdoor heritage, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit <a href="http://www.sierraclub.org" target="_blank" class="">www.sierraclub.org</a>.</span></div></td></tr><tr class=""><td class=""><table bgcolor="#efefef" border="0" cellpadding="5" style="width: 640px;" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td class=""><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="border-top-width: 8px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(239, 239, 239);" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td align="center" class=""><table align="center" bgcolor="#efefef" border="0" cellpadding="5" width="100%" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td class=""><div style="width: 612px; text-align: center;" class=""><a href="https://www.facebook.com/sierraclub" target="_blank" class=""><img alt="Like us on Facebook." border="0" height="19" src="http://image.emails.sierraclub.org/lib/fe8a1372756c0c7a70/m/1/nat-newsletter-facebook.jpg" width="171" class=""></a><a href="http://action.sierraclub.org/site/PageServer?pagename=TakeAction&s_src=613ZSCZZ01&s_subsrc=button&utm_medium=email&utm_source=insider&utm_campaign=newsletter" target="_blank" class=""><img alt="Take action with the Sierra Club." border="0" height="19" src="http://image.emails.sierraclub.org/lib/fe8a1372756c0c7a70/m/1/nat-newsletter-actioncenter.jpg" width="134" class=""></a><a href="http://action.sierraclub.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Signup_Insider&s_src=613ZSCZZ01&s_subsrc=button&utm_medium=email&utm_source=insider&utm_campaign=newsletter" target="_blank" class=""><img alt="Sign up for the Insider" border="0" height="19" src="http://image.emails.sierraclub.org/lib/fe8a1372756c0c7a70/m/1/nat-newsletter-getinsider.jpg" width="136" class=""></a><a href="https://twitter.com/sierraclub" target="_blank" class=""><img alt="Follow us on Twitter" border="0" height="19" src="http://image.emails.sierraclub.org/lib/fe8a1372756c0c7a70/m/1/nat-newsletter-follow-twitter.jpg" width="171" class=""></a></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><p align="center" class=""><img align="right" src="http://image.emails.sierraclub.org/lib/fe8f1372746d007871/m/1/SC-Logo_Horiz-Web-Black-150.png" width="150" class="">Sierra Club | 85 2nd St San Francisco, CA 94105 | <a href="mailto:sierra.news@sierraclub.org" target="_blank" class="">sierra.news@sierraclub.org</a><br class="">To subscribe, email <a href="mailto:media.assistant@sierraclub.org" target="_blank" class="">media.assistant@sierraclub.org</a><br class=""><a href="http://www.sierraclub.org/pressroom" target="_blank" class="">www.sierraclub.org/pressroom</a></p><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888" class=""><font color="#888888" class=""></font></font></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888" class=""><font color="#888888" class=""></font></font></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br class=""></span><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 8.5pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" class=""><a href="http://www.foe.org/news/news-releases/2016-05-greenpeace-netherlands-releases-explosive-documents" style="color: purple;" class="">http://www.foe.org/news/news-releases/2016-05-greenpeace-netherlands-releases-explosive-documents</a><o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><b class=""><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><img apple-inline="yes" id="0A9C6476-E725-4675-88BE-A002F56C9189" height="86" width="207" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:image001.jpg@01D1A47F.072852A0" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><b class=""><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: rgb(0, 176, 80);" class="">Friends of the Earth, U.S. news release<o:p class=""></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><b class=""><span style="font-size: 20pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Greenpeace Netherlands releases explosive documents on just concluded U.S.-Europe trade talks<o:p class=""></o:p></span></b></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><strong class=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" class="">For Immediate Release: </span></strong><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" class="">May 2, 2016</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><strong class=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" class="">Expert contact: </span></strong><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" class="">Bill Waren, (202) 222-0746, <a href="mailto:wwaren@foe.org" style="color: purple;" class="">wwaren@foe.org</a><br class=""><strong class="">Communications contact:</strong> Kate Colwell, (202) 222-0744, <a href="mailto:kcolwell@foe.org" style="color: purple;" class="">kcolwell@foe.org</a></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p align="center" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;" class=""><strong class=""><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" class="">Greenpeace Netherlands releases explosive documents on just concluded U.S.-Europe trade talks</span></strong><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><strong class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" class="">WASHINGTON, D.C. – </span></strong><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" class="">Today, Greenpeace Netherlands released leaked documents comprising approximately half of the draft negotiating text for the massive U.S.- European Union trade deal as of the time of the start of last week’s negotiations in New York City on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership <a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/press/releases/2016/Greenpeace-Netherlands-releases-TTIP-documents/" style="color: purple;" class="">agreement</a>. The leaked documents show that the TTIP deal between the two largest economies in the world presents an across-the board threat to environmental and climate action in both the U.S. and Europe. The leaked documents also confirm that the TTIP would establish institutions and procedures to quash environmental regulations before they can even be promulgated. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" class="">Bill Waren, senior trade analyst at Friends of the Earth U.S. had this comment:</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" class="">We now have documentary proof that the U.S.-EU trade deal promises climate disaster by ramping up U.S. oil and gas production and exports to Europe. Sensible regulatory safeguards, such as those related to food safety and toxic chemicals, among many others, would also be stymied. Industry-friendly, cost-benefit analysis would hamstring new environmental initiatives. For example, insecticide safety standards would be lowered if the undervalued “benefit” of new regulations protecting the bees is outweighed by the “cost” to corporate profits, thus threatening the pollinators necessary for our food system.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p align="center" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;" class=""><span style="font-size: 8.5pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" class=""> ###</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p align="center" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;" class=""><em class=""><span style="font-size: 8.5pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" class="">Friends of the Earth fights to create a more healthy and just world. Our current campaigns focus on promoting clean energy and solutions to climate change, ensuring the food we eat and products we use are safe and sustainable, and protecting marine ecosystems and the people who live and work near them.</span></em></p><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/pressroomredirect.cfm?ID=5880" style="color: purple; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" class="">http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/pressroomredirect.cfm?ID=5880</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Leaked TTIP Documents: Threats to Regulatory Protections</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><br class=""><br class=""><b class=""><i class="">Statement of Robert Weissman, President, Public Citizen</i></b><br class=""><br class=""><i class="">Note: Today, Greenpeace Netherlands leaked negotiating texts of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement, the proposed trade deal between the United States and Europe. The leaks include 13 of 17 consolidated texts, as well as a European Union memorandum on the negotiating state of play. This statement provides a preliminary analysis of one of the leaked chapters, Regulatory Cooperation.</i><br class=""><br class="">Europe, beware. The leaked TTIP text confirms that the United States is trying to export its failed regulatory model. If the United States succeeds in its project, Big Business will gain enormous power to block, slow, undermine and repeal European regulations.<br class=""><br class="">The leaked text makes clear that there are serious issues requiring analysis in particular sectors, but also that the Regulatory Cooperation chapter poses a major threat to health, safety, environmental, labor, consumer, civil and political rights, and other regulatory protections. The U.S. proposals in the Regulatory Cooperation chapter seek to export many of the worst features of U.S. rulemaking.<br class=""><br class="">There is a lot to recommend about the U.S. regulatory process in theory, but in practice, the U.S. rulemaking process now evidences a massive tilt to favor the interests of regulated industries. It is far too slow; regulators are bogged down in seemingly endless analytic requirements that are themselves biased to favor the interests of regulated parties. Its veneration of “cost-benefit analysis” provides a pseudo-scientific cloak to industry’s apocalyptic claims about the costs of the next regulation and operates at loggerheads with application of the precautionary principle.<br class=""><br class="">In the days ahead, Public Citizen will issue a more detailed analysis of the draft Regulatory Cooperation chapter. These are among our top line concerns from the U.S. proposals in that chapter:<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><ul type="disc" style="margin-bottom: 0in;" class=""><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><b class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Regulatory Delay – Paralysis by Analysis:</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""> Article X.13 would require parties to provide detailed and expansive justifications for their decision to issue a regulation, including consideration of regulatory alternatives. This is an inherently unequal obligation, because there is no burden to provide justification for doing nothing. In practice, the need to provide detailed justification for issuing a rule dramatically slows U.S. rulemaking.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><b class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Corporate-Biased Cost Benefit Analysis:</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""> Article X.13.1.c would require parties to conduct detailed cost-benefit studies of regulations and regulatory alternatives. It is important to understand that the U.S. understanding of the phrase “anticipated costs and benefits” is fundamentally different than the European conception of regulatory impact assessment. In the United States, cost-benefit analysis is an extremely technical concept involving extensive data collection and elaborate modeling, and it is generally understood to be a near-absolute decision-making criterion. Its highly technical nature obscures the fact that cost estimates frequently rely on regulated industry-provided data and are excessive, and that non-quantifiable or indirect benefits are frequently not captured.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><b class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">One-Sided Analytic Requirements:</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""> Article X.13.2 would require parties to assess the impact of regulations on small businesses, a formal assessment under U.S. in certain circumstances that imposes extensive delay. It is also a one-sided required analysis, both under U.S. law and the U.S. TTIP proposal, because the specially required analysis looks to burdens (“adverse economic impacts” in the TTIP proposal) but not pro-competitive or other benefits to small business.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><b class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Look Back, Not Forward:</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""> Article X.16 would require parties to undertake retrospective reviews of regulations. This is, again, an inherently uneven process, because the instruction is to search for rules to revise or repeal, not for regulatory shortcomings or gaps requiring new initiatives. In practice in the United States, the obligation to undertake regulatory reviews demands valuable time and resources from agencies, and interferes with their ability to conduct forward-looking activity.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><b class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Trade Over the Public Interest:</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""> Article X.9 would impose a requirement for parties to consider trade effects of proposed regulations, and implicitly to justify any detrimental effects on trade. This is admittedly a soft requirement, but is notable inserting purely commercial considerations into regulatory decision-making and should be viewed as precursor to more robust demands in this area to follow.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></li></ul><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Taken in their entirety, the U.S. Regulatory Cooperation proposals are affirmatively hostile to the precautionary principle. The precautionary principle counsels taking protective action in the face of uncertainty. The U.S. cost-benefit standards, demands for consideration of alternative regulatory approaches, and expansive analytic requirements also counsel for inaction in the face of uncertainty. Moreover, U.S.-style cost-benefit analysis places a premium on industry-provided cost estimates while effectively discounting benefits from action to prevent possible harm.<br class=""><br class="">There is no need to overstate this tension; it is in fact possible to take precautionary action in a cost-benefit framework, as the United States sometimes does – but it is also the case that U.S.-style cost benefit is generally discordant with precautionary approaches.<br class=""><br class="">The U.S. proposal notably does not include a requirement for judicial review of regulatory impact analytic requirements. This feature is central to the U.S. rulemaking process, but U.S. negotiators have recognized its incompatibility with European institutional arrangements.<br class=""><br class="">It remains to be seen how a regulatory cooperation chapter will intersect with the investment chapter. But irrespective of the intersection with the investment chapter, Europeans should be aware that, if the U.S. Regulatory Cooperation proposals are accepted and TTIP is approved, it is only a matter of time before the United States and U.S. corporations begin advocating judicial review of European compliance with the provisions of the Regulatory Cooperation chapter.<br class=""><br class="">Judicial review is an inherent part of the logic of the U.S. system, and there is no doubt that U.S. corporate interests will insist that judicial review is required to enforce the terms of the Regulatory Cooperation chapter.<br class=""><br class="">###</span></div></div><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;" class=""><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888" class=""><font color="#888888" class=""> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></font></font></span></span></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888" class=""><font color="#888888" class=""></font></font></span></div><span class="HOEnZb" style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;"></span></span><a href="http://www.iatp.org/documents/leaked-ttip-text-shows-us-negotiators-push-to-lower-food-safety-standards-farmer-protectio" class="">http://www.iatp.org/documents/leaked-ttip-text-shows-us-negotiators-push-to-lower-food-safety-standards-farmer-protectio</a></div><div apple-content-edited="true" class=""><br class=""></div><div apple-content-edited="true" class=""><div id="mainLeft" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Droid Serif', Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" class=""><h1 style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; line-height: 46px; letter-spacing: -0.04em; font-size: 48px; font-weight: normal; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="">Leaked TTIP text shows U.S. negotiators push to lower food safety standards, farmer protections</h1><p class="subtitle" style="line-height: 18px; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; margin-top: -4px;">Corporate fingerprints evident in U.S. trade negotiating positions</p><div class=""><p class="Normal" style="line-height: 21px;"><span class="inline-heading" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: Ubuntu, Helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; font-size: 11px; text-transform: uppercase;">MINNEAPOLIS </span>– Today, Greenpeace Netherlands released draft negotiating texts, including U.S. proposals, for several chapters of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). An initial reading of the text by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) shows the heavy influence of corporate agribusiness in the negotiations, with a strong push to lower trade restrictions and public health regulations affecting food production over locally led approaches to sustainable agriculture and fair food systems. The texts provide compelling evidence in support of demands by civil society on both sides of the Atlantic of the need for a more transparent process that fully involves affected sectors.</p><p class="Normal" style="line-height: 21px;">Karen Hansen-Kuhn, IATP’s Director of Trade, Technology and Global Governance, noted, “Food and farm groups have been weighing in since the inception of the talks on the rules needed to ensure that efforts to rebuild our food systems from the ground up are not undermined by the trade deal. Instead we see evidence that TTIP is following the lead of multinational corporations: weakening the use of the precautionary principle in setting food and plant safety standards; undermining food labeling rules; and eliminating preferences for local producers in public procurement programs.”</p><p class="Normal" style="line-height: 21px;">IATP Senior Policy Analyst Steve Suppan commented, “The text shows the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) protecting corporate interests by shielding environmental, health and safety data used in TTIP risk assessment as confidential business information, preventing peer scientific review. The end result of the U.S. proposal would be increasing the burden on governments to justify food safety rules while placing no burden on industry to demonstrate that its products—including new kinds of GMOs, food or agri-nanotechnology products—are safe.”</p><p class="Normal" style="line-height: 21px;">“Our fears about agriculture in TTIP have sadly been vindicated every step of the way. The EU and the U.S. are busy horse-trading the lives of small dairy and meat producers and processors over car parts and other goods each side is willing to liberalize, said Shefali Sharma, Director of the IATP Europe office. “Many products that are key to local livelihoods and food systems are slated to have duties slashed either immediately, after TTIP comes into force, or in stages. These negotiators are trading off some vulnerable sectors behind closed doors at the expense of farmers and consumers.”</p><p class="Normal" style="line-height: 21px;">IATP Advisor Sharon Anglin Treat noted that, “The Regulatory Cooperation and Coherence texts proposed by EU and U.S. negotiators confirm both parties are seeking to use this international agreement to reach far into domestic policy decision-making in a way that undermines democratic processes on each side of the Atlantic. This would make it far more difficult to protect consumers, workers and the environment from pesticides and toxic chemicals, or even to inform them about food ingredients.”</p><p class="Normal" style="line-height: 21px;">IATP has prepared analyses of these issues based on past leaks of draft text, including:</p><ul class=""><li class="Bulleted-list" style="line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"><a href="http://www.iatp.org/documents/following-breadcrumbs-tpp-text-provides-clues-to-us-positions-in-ttip" target="_blank" in_tag="ul" kaspersky_status="skipped" style="color: rgb(69, 0, 133);" class="">Following Breadcrumbs: TPP Text Provides Clues to U.S. Positions in TTIP</a>, by Karen Hansen-Kuhn</li><li class="Bulleted-list" style="line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"><a href="http://www.iatp.org/blog/201603/tacd%E2%80%99s-recommendations-on-the-proposed-food-safety-chapter-in-ttip" target="_blank" in_tag="ul" kaspersky_status="skipped" style="color: rgb(69, 0, 133);" class="">TACD’s recommendations on the proposed food safety chapter in TTIP</a>, by Steve Suppan, with the Trans-Atlantic Consumer Dialogue</li><li class="Bulleted-list" style="line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"><a href="http://www.iatp.org/documents/10-reasons-ttip-is-bad-for-good-food-and-farming" target="_blank" in_tag="ul" kaspersky_status="skipped" style="color: rgb(69, 0, 133);" class="">10 reasons TTIP is bad for good food and farming</a>, by Shefali Sharma</li><li class="Bulleted-list" style="line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"><a href="http://www.iatp.org/documents/states%E2%80%99-leadership-on-healthy-food-and-farming-at-risk-under-proposed-trade-deals#sthash.BVwSac5j.dpuf" target="_blank" in_tag="ul" kaspersky_status="skipped" style="color: rgb(69, 0, 133);" class="">States’ Leadership on Healthy Food and Farming at Risk under Proposed Trade Deals</a>, by Sharon Anglin Treat</li></ul>- See more at: <a href="http://www.iatp.org/documents/leaked-ttip-text-shows-us-negotiators-push-to-lower-food-safety-standards-farmer-protectio#sthash.qZANivx4.dpuf" class="">http://www.iatp.org/documents/leaked-ttip-text-shows-us-negotiators-push-to-lower-food-safety-standards-farmer-protectio#sthash.qZANivx4.dpuf</a></div></div></div><div apple-content-edited="true" class=""><br class=""></div><div apple-content-edited="true" class=""><br class=""></div><div apple-content-edited="true" class=""><br class=""></div><div apple-content-edited="true" class=""><br class=""></div>
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