The following was drafted as a resolution for the Washington State Democratic Party platform and was passed in legislative districts across the state. One Democratic District sent notice of its passage out as a press release as well as a copy to the WA State Congressional delegation.

RESOLUTION TO OPPOSE FAST TRACK

(To be submitted to the platform debate for theWA State Democratic Party)

WHEREAS, today trade agreements promote international commerce by undercutting environmental, health and safety standards -- what trade specialists call "non-tariff trade barriers;" and

WHEREAS, NAFTA’s Chapter 11 exposes virtually all domestic laws to challenge as NAFTA violations -- including pollution controls, smart growth programs, and workplace safety rules; and

WHEREAS, when California’s Gov. Gray Davis decided to phase out the carcinogenic gasoline additive MTBE, Methanex Corporation, the Canadian company that makes a component of MTBE, used NAFTA's Chapter 11 provision to demand from the United States government nearly $1 billion charging that California's MTBE phase-out had hurt the company's business prospects; and

WHEREAS, the MTBE case is just one of a growing string of trade challenges to environmental, health and safety protections. For instance:

• A secret NAFTA tribunal ruled in favor of a U.S. corporation, Metalclad, denying the power of a local Mexican government to issue a zoning permit for use of a hazardous waste dump. Metalclad received compensation of $16 million from Mexico. Now the authority of local government to determine zoning is at risk under NAFTA; and
  
  
• The WTO ordered Europe to lift its ban on beef grown with artificial hormones that have been linked to development disorders and even cancer. Eventually these same WTO rules could be used to undercut U.S. food safety standards, such as our stringent standards for pesticide residues on fresh fruits and vegetables.
  
  
• Under NAFTA, the United States has been forced to admit trucks from Mexico that do not meet our safety and pollution control standards. Already, increased truck traffic along NAFTA highway corridors is pushing up levels of air pollution; and
  

WHEREAS, now President Bush wants Fast Track Authority to expand NAFTA throughout the Western Hemisphere, establishing the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) which will contain provisions, like those in NAFTA, empowering foreign investors to file suit over environmental, health, and safety laws; and

WHEREAS, under Fast Track, Congress limits its ability to influence trade policy by agreeing that it won't amend or hold committee hearings on trade deals negotiated by the President, but allows hundreds of corporate lobbyists to have access to US trade negotiators through closed-door trade advisory committees; and

WHEREAS, Congress rejected Fast Track in 1997 and 1998 over labor and environmental concerns; and

WHEREAS, Fast Track is opposed by: twenty-four bipartisan members of the Washington State Legislature, the Washington State Democratic Party Central Committee, eleven of the major national environmental organizations, the AFL-CIO, the National Family Farmers Union, and the League of Women Voters; and

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: We demand that our entire Washington State Congressional delegation oppose Fast Track in the U.S. Senate now and subsequently after the Conference Report in both Houses of Congress.

People for Fair Trade
www.peopleforfairtrade.org
2343 NW 100th, Seattle, WA 98177 USA