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Article

6 Jan 2016

Author:
Carroll Muffett, President, Center for International Environmental Law

Statement of Carroll Muffett on TransCanada Lawsuit Using the Investment Chapter of NAFTA

…TransCanada filed a lawsuit using the Investment Chapter of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to sue the United States for more than $15 billion.  Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), a feature of some 3,000 Free Trade Agreements, gives corporations the power to sue governments for decisions taken in the broader public interest…What do foreign corporations want in exchange for the public’s opinion on environmental and social issues? 15 billion dollars…TransCanada Corporation has now made itself the poster child for the democratic catastrophe that is investor state dispute settlement, or “ISDS.”  With a single press release, TransCanada has proven what concerned citizens have argued for decades – that the primary purpose of ISDS is to subvert democratic processes and the public interest, in the name of private profit…Millions of people were galvanized into action to stop the Keystone XL pipeline and to say, clearly and loudly, that it is not in the national interest.  TransCanada demonstrates why ISDS demands the same response.