November 17, 2003

Press Conference Statement Concerning Environmental Impacts of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)

JOSEPH OTIS MINOTT, ESQ., EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CLEAN AIR COUNCIL:

"The Bush administration has a long history of letting big business re-write our nation's environmental laws. With the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), President Bush takes things a step further, letting big polluters re-write the environmental rules set by state governments, local communities and even foreign countries.

There's no mistake about it: the FTAA poses a real threat to the environmental protections that clean up our air; that make our drinking water safe; that protect open spaces, public forests and endangered species. The FTAA would be a major blow to public health and the environment in Pennsylvania and throughout the hemisphere.

The FTAA is rightly described as little more than NAFTA on steroids. If you look at the record, you'll find that NAFTA has been terrible for local environmental protection.

Polluters have used NAFTA to prevent communities from blocking the use of dangerous chemicals that contaminate drinking water. NAFTA has been used to force a community that tried to stop a toxic waste facility from being built in its backyard to pay millions of dollars in penalties. At least one business is trying to use NAFTA to stop communities from maintaining local rights over their own water supply.

In a democratic society, communities should be allowed to create their own public health and environmental protections. The FTAA would allow big corporations to challenge environmental laws from southern Chile to northern Alaska, and anywhere in between, including here in Pennsylvania.

We need to stand up and say no a trade agreement that values short-term corporate gain over the environmental and public health legacy we leave for our children. We need to say no to a trade agreement that values the rights of polluters over our democratic rights as citizens. We need to say no to the FTAA."