> http://www.latimes.com/business/la-000009237feb06.story?coll=la-headlines-business > > February 6, 2002 > > Ban on MTBE Induces Suit Using NAFTA Provision > > By EVELYN IRITANI, TIMES STAFF WRITER > > Santa Monica city officials had no idea they would trigger an > international legal brawl when they sent their water out for routine > testing in 1996 and discovered it contained the foul-smelling > gasoline additive MTBE. > > Formally known as methyl tertiary butyl ether, MTBE was banned by > California because of its perceived threat to humans and the water > supply. But what began as an environmental issue took a twist into > international trade when a Canadian firm contested the state order > under a provision of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
If your a Canadian, Mexican and U.S. citizen this will help explain wear our public tax dollars are going byway of tribunals. A recent PBS program addressed the above issue. Transcript follows; "Methanex ö a Canadian company that is the world's largest producer of the key ingredient in MTBE." 2.01.02 Transcript: TRADING DEMOCRACY BILL MOYERS REPORTS: TRADING DEMOCRACY BILL MOYERS: Everyone's heard about NAFTA ö the North American Free Trade Agreement ö and all the talk about jobs. But almost no one heard about one obscure section of NAFTA - Chapter 11 - except for multinational corporations who are using it to challenge democracy. [more] http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_tdfull.html Additional report entitled; "New Study Analyzes Seven Years of Corporate Investor Challenges to Democratic Governance and State Sovereignty Under NAFTA" "Challenge of California MTBE Ban Shows How NAFTA Grants Foreign Corporations Greater Rights Than Local Communities and Businesses" http://www.commondreams.org/news2001/0904-08.htm Included; "Bush seeks Fast Track trade authority to expand NAFTA rules to an additional 31 Latin American nations by 2005 through the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)." This week U.S. Congress is working on campaign finance reform. C-SPAN has been showing segments. ÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷ ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Get your FREE credit report with a FREE CreditCheck Monitoring Service trial http://us.click.yahoo.com/ACHqaB/bQ8CAA/ySSFAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Please do NOT send "unsubscribe" messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
