Kerry Amendment's Defeat Ensures Environmentally Harmful Trade Bill

(05/22/2002) - WASHINGTON -- Defenders of Wildlife today warned that defeat of the Kerry Amendment in the Senate virtually ensures environmental opposition to the final Fast Track trade bill. The amendment, defeated by a narrow margin in the Senate this afternoon, was offered by Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) to correct one of the most serious flaws in the Fast Track bill - the so-called "investor suit" provision that would allow foreign investors to sue the United States whenever an environmental law reduces their profits. Foreign companies have used similar measures under NAFTA to attack environmental standards in California and the civil jury system in Mississippi. A recent study by Tufts University researchers estimates such attacks could cost taxpayers as much as $32 billion. The Kerry Amendment would have limited foreign investors to the rights and protections enjoyed by all U.S. citizens under the U.S. Constitution.

"The current Fast Track bill is an environmental nightmare," said Carroll Muffett, director of international programs for Defenders of Wildlife. "The Kerry Amendment would have fixed one of the biggest problems with it. Without Kerry, Fast Track is just a license for unchecked environmental destruction."

Concerns about the impacts of investor suits on environmental, health and labor standards -- and on the sovereignty of state and local governments -- generated strong support for the Kerry Amendment from a broad coalition of groups, including environmentalists, labor unions, taxpayers advocates, and state and local government officials.

"With the broad coalition of groups that supported it, the Kerry Amendment should have passed by a huge majority," Muffett said. "The fact that it didn't proves there is something fundamentally wrong with the way we make trade policy in this country. Until this system is fixed, public opposition to trade agreements is just going to increase."

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Defenders of Wildlife is a leading nonprofit conservation organization recognized as one of the nation’s most progressive advocates for wildlife and its habitat. With more than 430,000 members and supporters, Defenders of Wildlife is an effective leader on environmental issues. For timely information on environmental issues, visit www.defenders.org and subscribe to DENLines, a free e-mail alert newsletter.

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Contact(s):

Brad DeVries, (202) 772-0237