TransCanada slaps the US gov't with US$15 bil. suit

[Judi Lynn]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Raine1967 (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: Agence France-Presse

TransCanada slaps the US gov't with US$15 bil. suit

AFP
June 27, 2016, 12:19 am TWN

OTTAWA -- TransCanada has formally filed a US$15 billion suit against the U.S. government for blocking its controversial project for an oil pipeline linking Canada with the Gulf of Mexico, legal documents show.

The company first announced its intention to sue in January, but then sought negotiations toward "an amicable settlement of the dispute" surrounding the Keystone XL pipeline, according to legal documents posted on its website.

Unable to settle, the company formally filed suit late Friday, asserting that denial of a permit to complete the pipeline was "unjustified" under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and that the decision also exceeded U.S. President Barack Obama's constitutional powers.

The suit is based on Chapter 11 of NAFTA — the 1994 trade pact between the United States, Canada and Mexico — which aims to protect foreign investors from potential losses.

Read more: http://www.chinapost.com.tw/business/americas/2016/06/27/470449/TransCanada-slaps.htm

[JEB]

1. K&R for exposure.

These corporate sponsored trade deals are big mistakes.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. You started a pipeline without prior approval?

They knew the risks, government regulation of business is not a science,
it has economic and political elements even in the age of NAFTA

Sounds to me like they handled this like a right-of-way with an expected
outcome

[markpkessinger]

7. This is a direct result of NAFTA . . .

. . . (and will be the result of the TPP) and other trade deals.

Here's the thing about these trade deals, which are sold to taxpayers as being necessary to facilitate "tree trade" with other nations: provided neither nation has anyh law prohibiting it, there is nothing standing in the way of trade between any two nations. What these bills seek to accomplish, and do accomplish, essentially boils down to two things: (1) standardizing laws and regulations across nations, and (2) making sure such legal and regulatory standards are as minimal as possible, and tha they will remain so -- both in the interests of reducing corporate costs arising from things like tariffs, compliance with worker safety and environmental regulations, etc. They accomplish this by inserting language in these agreements that gives corporations legal recourse against government for lost _anticipated_ profits. That is outrageous. And that is why it is outrageous for a party that purports to represent working people to embrace these deals!

[elmac]

3. The bill should be spread out

amongst those who voted and signed for NAFTA, that seems fair.

[Ash_F]

4. NAFTA strikes! Foreshadowing of what TPP will get us.

[Scientific]

5. Yup - TPP will unleash the Corporate Kraken

...and the Corporate Kraken will sue the human beings of planet earth and their so-called representative governments (but now captured) for every last frikken red cent.

[markpkessinger]

6. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party embraces yet another trade deal that enables this nonsense! n/t

[CanonRay]

8. And TPP is NAFTA on steroids.n/t

[Akicita]

9. God I love NAFTA.

[Night Watchman]

10. If Trump is Elected, He'll send in the Marines to Take the Tarsands

And annex Alberta.

[Raine1967]

11. Locking; This is a dupe of this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141500745
Please keep posting there.

Thanks.
Raine