FWD: Sierra Club Urges "No" to NAFTA Fast Track

[MDOLAN <mdolan@citizen.org>]

  ===== Original Message from DAN@SMTP {dan.seligman@sfsierra.sierraclub.org} 
  at 9/26/97 10:24 pm
  Original Recipient(s):
  To: CTAYLOR@CITIZEN (Chantell Taylor)
       LWALLACH@CITIZEN (LORI WALLACH)
       MDOLAN@CITIZEN (MDOLAN)
  
   Press Advisory
  
   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                  CONTACT:
   September 26, 1997                      Daniel Seligman, (202) 675-2387
  
   Sierra Club Urges Representatives to Oppose NAFTA Fast-Track,
   Launches Media Campaign
  
   Washington, DC...The Sierra Club has launched a paid media campaign in
   targeted congressional districts urging Representatives to oppose President
   Clinton's request for fast-track authority to expand the North American 
  Free
   Trade Agreement (NAFTA).  Radio ads inform voters that this fast-track
   proposal will only increase the environmental damage done by NAFTA.  It 
  asks
   citizens to call their Representatives, urging them to oppose the NAFTA 
  fast
   track.
  
   Initial ads will start Monday, September 29, in the districts of
   Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Nancy L. Johnson (R-CT), Karen 
  McCarthy
   (D-MO), Sue W. Kelly (R-NY), Darlene Hooley (D-OR), and Ronald J. Kind
   (D-WI).
  
   "Each of these Representatives has a strong environmental voting record,"
   said Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope.  "We want their constituents
   to understand that the NAFTA fast track is one of the most important health
   and environmental issues that Americans face today."
  
   "The President's fast-track proposal bars labor and environmental standards
   from future trade agreements.  It will open more environmental and health
   laws to attack as `non-tariff trade barriers.'   And it asks Congress to 
  give
   up its right to amend trade agreements before it has seen the final 
  product,"
   Pope said.  "Legislators won't have any leverage to influence trade
   agreements that profoundly affect their constituents."
  
   The environmental community has united in opposition to a fast-track 
  proposal
   that would allow new trade agreements without guarantees to protect the
   environment.  Labor groups also oppose the NAFTA fast-track because
   unbalanced trade agreements shuffle high-paying American jobs to other
   countries where workers' rights aren't protected.
  
   "This fast track reflects the outdated notion that only corporate interests
   matter as we write the rules for the global economy," added Daniel 
  Seligman,
   Senior Fellow, who directs the Sierra Club's Responsible Trade Campaign.
   "The President's proposal gives corporate polluters an inside track to 
  attack
   our health and environmental laws.  We need a different approach that 
  brings
   all Americans to the table."
  
   "Trade negotiations should fix the failed NAFTA, not expand a flawed
   agreement," added Pope.  "NAFTA weakened inspections for food imports.  It
   did little to clean up the US-Mexico border.  Corporations are now using
   NAFTA to sue taxpayers for compensation if governments try to tighten
   pollution laws.  Three-quarters of Americans would support an 
  environmentally
   responsible trade policy.  But the President's fast-track proposal fails to
   address their concerns."
   # # #
  ===== Comments by MDOLAN@CITIZEN (MDOLAN) at 9/27/97 12:43 pm
  
  
  
  ****************************************************************************
   /s/ Mike Dolan, Field Director, Global Trade Watch, Public Citizen
  
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