Environmentalists Praise Wildlife Measures in Trans-Pacific Trade Pact

[Eugene]

Source: New York Times

Environmentalists Praise Wildlife Measures in Trans-Pacific Trade Pact

By RON NIXON and CORAL DAVENPORT OCT. 5, 2015

WASHINGTON — Environmentalists praised wildlife protections included in the sweeping Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal announced Monday, calling them groundbreaking.

They said the pact would strengthen international environmental enforcement agreements and could go a long way to diminish the illegal trade in certain plants and animals.

Those measures represent a major breakthrough on one of the most divisive issues in the contentious trade negotiations, as well as a significant victory for the Obama administration, which had pushed for strong environmental provisions against the objections of most other countries taking part in the 12-nation deal.

“The provisions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership go beyond what we have seen in other trade agreements,” said David McCauley, senior vice president for policy and government affairs at the World Wildlife Federation, which was among several advocacy groups that had worked closely with the administration on the final language. “We see this as a very big deal.”

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Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/06/business/environmentalists-praise-wildlife-measures-in-trans-pacific-trade-pact.html

[djean111]

1. Remember, Fast Track means that things like this will be publicized, and things like

More Expensive Drugs For Everybody! and Lowest Common Denominator for Standards! will not be talked about.

And then there has to be an up or down vote, yes or no, no changes, deletions, alterations. A nasty pig in a poke, with lipstick.

[nolabels]

3. Three corporate lawyers to adjudicate with no mechanism for review of decisions

That's not even a pig in poke. It makes 99% of us here in the US just virtual road kill.

Then when such an agreement is in place do you really think the larger corporations will be following those kind of provisions when inconveniences them?

[cprise]

2. Feed the working class to wild animals

might as well...

[A Little Weird]

4. The administration is overstating the support of environmentalists

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/10/05/3709061/tpp-agreement-reached-environmental-concerns-remain/

Officials from Oceana, the Humane Society, the World Wildlife Fund and World Animal Protection all told HuffPost they had not endorsed the TPP pact and are waiting to see the final agreement before rendering a verdict, although the White House quoted all of these groups praising elements of it.

I was actually blocked from the Barack Obama group for posting this which really surprised me since I did not attack the president or even the tpp. But apparently even the mildest dissent is not allowed. Anyway, I thought the ThinkProgress link was a lot more believable than the cheerleading from the NY Times business section. Most people still don't eve know what is included in the deal. They very well may support some of it once the details are more widely available, but I doubt it based on what was leaked previously.

[RiverLover]

5. Thank you.

This is pure spin.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. More Than a Dozen Environmental Organizations Warn of Trans-Pacific Partnership Risks

On October 5, after more than 5 years of closed-door negotiations, the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim nations finally reached an agreement on the increasingly controversial and unpopular Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal. The Sierra Club and environmental partners across the country have worked tirelessly to expose the threats of this deal, which would empower some of the world’s biggest polluters to challenge climate and environmental policies in private trade courts and expand trade in climate-disrupting fossil fuels. And, we’re sorry to say, there is no evidence to support claims that the pact will help save endangered species like the elephant or rhino.

Over the last year, the United States Trade Representative (USTR), desperate to reach a deal, has glossed over these concerns and attempted to paint the deal as progressive and environmentally friendly. There have even been attempts to construe a few cherry-picked statements from a small number of conservation-focused organizations as environmental support for the pact. A headline from Zach Carter of The Huffington Post during the height of Obama’s fight for fast track authority over the trade deal says it all: “White House Says Enviros Love This Trade Pact, But Enviros Say Otherwise.”

Don’t be fooled. During the fast-track fight, Steven Mufson of the Washington Post wrote an article headlined “Obama’s environmental allies not buying his trade pitch on climate.” And even now that a deal on the TPP has reportedly been reached, environmental and climate organizations are still lining up to warn about the threats of this toxic pact.

http://www.sierraclub.org/compass/2015/10/more-dozen-environmental-organizations-warn-trans-pacific-partnership-risks

Has the reactions of the following:

Sierra Club
National Resources Defense Council
350.org
Greenpeace
Friends of the Earth
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Center for Biological Diversity
Oil Change International
Food & Water Watch
SustainUs
U.S. Climate Plan
Center for International Environmental Law
Green America
Institute for Policy Studies
The Delaware Riverkeeper Network