In an op-ed for The Hill, CPR Member Scholar Joel Mintz takes a look at the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and concludes that it’s insufficiently protective of the environment, the Administration’s assertions notwithstanding.
In his piece, he notes that the TPP “contains no mention whatsoever of what is widely seen as the most pressing threat to the global environment: disruption of the earth’s climate from the release of greenhouse gases.” Indeed, he notes, the TPP could encourage more fracking, thus contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. He goes on to write,
The most potentially damaging threat posed to U.S. environmental laws by the TPP, however, stems from the agreement’s mechanism for the settlement of inter-party disputes: the Investor State Dispute Resolution system (ISDS). This portion of the treaty creates an enormous opportunity for multi-national corporations—acting with the cooperation of friendly nations—to bypass domestic courts and undermine national and sub-national environmental requirements by raising grievances through arbitration panels. While the treaty indicates that arbitrators must have relevant expertise, and not be affiliated with or take instructions from any party to a dispute before them, it provides scant protection against the possibility that the rosters of qualified arbitrators will be dominated by representatives of corporate interests who view national environmental laws as needless obstacles to private profit-making.
Read Joel Mintz’s piece in The Hill, here.
