The President is heading to Asia with an eye
to pressing forward passage of a new trade deal called the Trans-Pacific
Partnership Trade Agreement (TPP). The
problem? The TPP is a bad deal
all the way around or our country, at least as currently written and
proposed.
The TPP is bad news for jobs: http://www.cwa-union.org/issues/entry/c/trans-pacific_free_trade_agreement#.U1ZyCF6Z5kI
.
It will jeopardize food safety: http://www.exposethetpp.org/TPPImpacts_FoodSafety.html
.
And while it is light on environmental
preservation, it is heavy on corporate protection: http://www.delawarerivervoice.blogspot.com/2014/02/tpp-trade-agreement-pumps-up-pressure.html
.
And to top it off, the President wants
Congress to pass a piece of legislation called the Bipartisan Congressional
Trade Priorities Act of 2014 -- “Fast
Track” for short – that will diminish our democracy. Fast Track would give the President super
powers to be able to continue to negotiate the TPP deal in secret, to sign the
deal on behalf of the United States, to draft and put forth the legislation
that would implement his secretly negotiated deal, and to relegate our Congress
to a mere “yay” or “nay” vote, no hearings, no amendments, and very little
conversation at all.
Just looking at the issue of shale gas
development -- the TPP, and the Fast Track legislation designed to grease its
path through Congress …
–
do not support strong job
creation, they actually hurts it;
–
do not support energy
independence, they actually diminishes it; and
–
certainly do not help protect our
environment, they help to devastate it.
TPP Will Increase Fracked Gas Exports, Economic and Job Losses,
and Environmental Harm
There is already
a rush to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) because gas is selling for as much
as 3 to 4 times the price overseas as in the U.S. Advocates for LNG exports are using the
situation in Ukraine as a renewed call for exporting US fracked gas as LNG in
order to bolster their press for more drilling and fracking.
If passed as planned, the TPP will give
special status to new countries who will benefit from automatic approval of LNG
export plans – those countries include Japan, Vietman, Brunei, Malaysia, and
New Zealand, with China expected to be added to the list soon. That means environmental and economic reviews
of the impacts of new LNG construction, operation and export would be
by-passed.
LNG
operations are not about economic or job prosperity for the people of our
nation. Information submitted to the
Department of Energy demonstrates that while LNG exports generate increased
revenues for the gas exporters and gas companies, other areas of the U.S.
economy, as a result of exports, decline.
Among the losses are job losses.
LNG exports harm labor income and jobs in many other sectors of the
economy such as paper, metals, chemicals, stone, clay, glass, plastics, and food
processing. If LNG is allowed to proceed nationally as is being considered it
is estimated that as many as 270,000 jobs could be lost. In fact, if LNG is
allowed to grow as is being proposed, folks in every major sector, except for
natural gas, will lose income; and we all will have to pay more for goods and
services as the impact of increased gas prices reverberates through the
economy. (for more see: Will
LNG Exports Benefit the United States Economy? Synapse Energy Economics,
Jan 23, 2013)
TPP Will Mean More Fracking and Drilling In Our Communities –
Bringing Economic and Environmental Harms.
More LNG exports means more pressure for
shale gas development and fracking.
More drilling and fracking does
not mean economic prosperity. An
increasing number of reports scrutinizing the job claims of drilling companies
is demonstrating their claims of benefits to be increasingly false. As one
recent report stated:
“Employment
estimates have been overstated, and the industry and its boosters have used
inappropriate employment numbers, including equating new hires with new jobs
and using ancillary job figures that largely have nothing to do with drilling,
even after the flaws in those numbers have been brought to their attention. ….. [S]hale-related employment across the
six-state Marcellus/Utica region fell over the past 12 months for which data
exist, from the 1st quarter of 2012 to the 1st quarter of 2013.” (http://www.multistateshale.org/shale-employment-report)
The unparalleled level of harm to drinking water, air quality, food
supplies, and people’s health that result from ongoing and increasing levels of
drilling and fracking for shale gas bring high price tags for the United States
economy and taxpayers. Not only do our
communities lose out on life’s basic needs – air, water, food and health – but
we as taxpayers have to pay the upfront and long-term financial burden of these
harms, including the necessary clean up and health care costs.
The deforestation, land compaction, wetlands
destruction, and increased earthquake potential inflicted by shale gas
development means increased flooding and flood ravaged homes and communities;
it means increased erosion of public and private lands; it means the fear and
harm of an earthquake where it happens; it means lost fishing, hunting,
boating, birding and all the jobs they generate. And of course someone has to pay for all this
harm too – that someone is you and me in the form of emergency services, taxes,
hazard mitigation, and more national debt.
And
increased drilling will bring with it harm for jobs and economic
prosperity. For example, our healthy
Delaware River contributes $22 billion in annual economic activity. Increased drilling and fracking brings harm to
the River which means harm for this economic vitality.
TPP Empowers Industry to Undermine Community Protection Laws Here in
the U.S.
Not only will the TPP pump up the pressure
for drilling and fracking, and grease the wheels for LNG, but the TPP would
give foreign corporations the right to sue our government for millions of
dollars if they believe a U.S. environmental law (State, Federal or local) has
diminished its ability to make profits – one corporation is already taking
action under similar provisions in NAFTA against Canada for a ban on fracking
passed in Quebec. So environmental
protections at the local, state or even federal law designed to protect our
communities from the harms of drilling, could actually be legally challenged
and fall under explicit provisions in the TPP designed to give Corporations the
upper hand.
So don’t buy the bunk you are hearing about
the values of the President’s Asia trip and his push for the TPP and Fast Track.
See the President’s support of the TPP for what it is – another sell out of the
residents and citizens of the U.S. to industry and big money donors.
Take a moment to make your voice heard on
this important issue: http://bit.ly/DRN-TPPAction
