Environmental Ethics, Environmental Ethics, Environmental Law, and TradeEnvironmental Law, and Trade

ObjectivesObjectives

Show how law is sometimes used to embody ethical principles, particularly in environmental law

Show how how trade policy can undercut the ethical principles embodied in domestic law.

Relate these ideas to issues in the news

Ethics and the LawEthics and the Law

Law reflects the ethical judgments of a society.

Ethics serves as a basis for laws, changes in law reflect changing ethical views.

Environmental law embodies shared ethical values.

Ethical Principles in Ethical Principles in Environmental LawEnvironmental Law

The Polluter Pays PrincipleThe Precautionary Principle

The Polluter Pays PrincipleThe Polluter Pays Principle Don’t make messes. If you make a mess, clean it up. Pollution is an externality—a cost not borne by

the parties to a transaction. Goal—internalize the costs of pollution.

The polluter pays principle is an internalization strategy embodied in U.S. law.

Superfund, CERCLA, RCRA, USTA

The Precautionary PrincipleThe Precautionary Principle

Take precautionary measures to anticipate, prevent or minimize environmental harm. Rather than await certainty, regulators should anticipate potential environmental harm and act to prevent it.

International treaties, some signed by the U.S., expressly adopt the precautionary principle.

Rio Declaration, Cartagena Protocol (SPS treaty), Kyoto Protocol

Trade Policy, Domestic Law, Trade Policy, Domestic Law, and Environmental Protectionand Environmental Protection

Trade policies and trade agreements (NAFTA, WTO, FTAA) can undercut domestic environmental protection laws.

NAFTA ProvisionsNAFTA Provisions• NAFTA protects the property rights of foreign

investors:• No direct or indirect expropriation without

compensation• Indirect expropriation is sometimes called

“Regulatory Taking”

• NAFTA allows a foreign citizen or corporation to sue a government for improper expropriation.

Protecting Property RightsProtecting Property RightsGovernments MUST protect rights to private

property against unjust takings:The Fifth Amendment states:No person shall be . . . deprived of life,

liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.

The expropriation clauses build this requirement into trade agreements

Kinds of TakingsKinds of TakingsProperty can be taken directly—as in imminent

domain—for public uses.Property can be taken indirectly—its value greatly

reduced or eliminated—by government regulations that impose costs or limit profits.

“Regulatory takings” cases haven’t worked well in U.S. courts.– Exception: Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Comm.– “Regulatory takings” theory limits government too

much.

Environmental Law and Environmental Law and ExpropriationExpropriation

• Environmental laws tend either to impose direct costs on, or to limit the profitability of, some activity.

• Foreign corporations claim that domestic environmental laws indirect expropriations for which they are entitled compensation from the government (taxpayers).

NAFTA cases undercutting NAFTA cases undercutting environmental lawenvironmental law

Ethyl Corp v. CanadaMethanex Corporation v. United StatesS.D. Meyers Corporation v. Canada

Ethyl Corp. v. CanadaEthyl Corp. v. Canada

o Ethyl makes a gasoline additive Methylcyclopentadienyl Manganese Tricarbonyl (MMT) to reduce emissions

o MMT is banned in several states as a health risk.o Canada banned MMT as a health risk.o Ethyl sues Canada under Chapter 11 for illegal

expropriation for LOST PROFITS!o Ethyl WINS.

Methanex Corp. V. U.S.Methanex Corp. V. U.S. Methanex is a Canadian corporation that makes methyl

tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) an oxygenate gasoline additive. MTBE was banned by California because of its

perceived threat to humans and the water supply. Gov. Davis found "on balance, there is significant risk to the

environment from using MTBE in gasoline in California." Methanex claims that the science supporting the ban is

inadequate, despite evidence that MTBE causes cancers in some lab animals.

Methanex, continuedMethanex, continued

Methanex sued the U.S. for $970 million, claiming that California’s environmental regulation:

A. The MTBE ban illegally prefers a U.S. product (Ethanol)

B. Constitutes an illegal expropriation of profit This case constitutes "a clear threat to California

state sovereignty and democratic governance.“

S.D. MeyersS.D. Meyers

S.D. Meyers deals in treating toxic wastes, specializing in PCB’s. S.D. Meyers processes contaminated transformers, some imported from Canada.

Acting under the Basel Convention on Transboundary Shipment of Hazardous Waste, Canada bans the export of PCB contaminated transformers.

Meyers, continuedMeyers, continuedMeyers sues Canada for having expropriated its

profits by banning exports (thus giving the profits to Canadian corporations).

Remember, international treaty law bans the transboundary shipment of toxic waste.

S.D. Meyers WINS.

A Few More Outrageous A Few More Outrageous Cases Under NAFTA Chapter Cases Under NAFTA Chapter

1111Sun Belt Water, Inc. v. CanadaPope and Talbot v. CanadaMetalclad Corporation v. Mexico

Sun Belt Water, Inc.Sun Belt Water, Inc. Fortune Magazine says “water will be to the 21st

century what oil was to the 20th.” 20% of the world’s fresh water is in Canada SUN BELT undertakes commercial and

humanitarian projects dealing with water. Sun Belt serves markets in the U.S. Southwest

(Oakland, San Francisco, San Rafael, Santa Cruz) Sun Belt wanted to import Canadian water from

BC to sell in the U.S.

Sun Belt, ContinuedSun Belt, Continued Sun Belt formed a partnership with Snowcap, a

Canadian water company Sun Belt won a contract to supply water to Santa

Barbara (beating a Canadian firm, WCW) B.C. citing the Water Protection Act, denied Sun

Belt/Snowcap the needed export licenses. Sun Belt’s $400 million NAFTA suit is pending. Sun Belt's CEO Jack Lindsay says, "Because of

NAFTA, we are now stakeholders in the national water policy in Canada.“

Pope and TalbotPope and Talbot

Pope & Talbot is a small, U.S. based lumber firm operating in Canada.

Timber imports and exports have been the subject of controversy between the U.S. and Canada for years.

1996—U.S./Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement (SLA) set export quotas, levies and production taxes.

Pope & Talbot, cont.Pope & Talbot, cont. Pope & Talbot was adversely affected by the SLA

(which the U.S. negotiated) Pope & Talbot sued Canada, and won, claiming that

Canada had breached NAFTA duties on national treatment and minimum standards of treatment.

A U.S. firm successfully sued Canada because of a treaty other U.S. firms had lobbied the U.S. gov’t to force on Canada.

Metalclad v. MexicoMetalclad v. MexicoMetalclad Corp is a U.S. based waste disposal

company.Metalclad constructed and began operating a waste

disposal facility in Guadalcazar in the state of San Luis Potosí.

Metalclad did not have full local approval for the plant, but claimed it had assurances from the Mexican federal government.

The plant leaked, was located on an alluvial stream, and contaminated local groundwater.

Metalclad, continuedMetalclad, continuedThe governor of San Lois Potosi declared a

600,000 acre environmental protection zone and ordered the plant closed as an environmental hazard.

Metalclad sued for $90 million for lost costs, expropriated profits, and an order that it be allowed to reopen the plant.

Metalclad won 19.7 million in damages and rhe right to reopen the plant.

Technical Trade Barriers and Technical Trade Barriers and the WTOthe WTO

The WTO promotes free trade Prohibits formal trade barriers—quotas, import

limits, import taxes, price supports– The EU Caribbean bananas case

Prohibits “technical barriers to trade” as disguised quotas or tariffs– Some workplace health and safety laws,

consumer protection laws and environmental regulations have been found to be technical trade barriers

The The Turtle Turtle and and Beef Beef HormonesHormones Cases Cases

2 of the most famous (infamous) cases to go before the WTO.

Each case raises questions about domestic sovereignty—the right of the people of a nation to make their own laws.

These cases are at the heart of the protests in Seattle at the WTO ministerial conference in 2000 and the IMF/World Bank Protests in Washington and Montreal in 2001.

In 2002, the WTO met in Doha, Qatar.

The Turtle CaseThe Turtle Case

Congress passed a law stating that all shrimp sold in the U.S. had to be caught in turtle safe nets.

Caribbean shrimpers sought U.S. help in meeting the deadline set in the law.

Asian shrimpers did not comply with the law. The EPA extended the deadline for full

compliance. A court ordered the EPA to enforce the law fully

and the EPS banned the sale Asian shrimp not caught in turtle safe nets.

Turtle case, continuedTurtle case, continuedAsian shrimpers sued in the WTO DRB arguing

that the U.S.’s environmental law was a technical trade barrier, a disguised tariff, and not really about protecting turtles.

That ALL domestic U.S. shrimpers, and ALL imports were subject to the same rules didn’t matter.

The WTO ruled against the U.S., forcing either a dropping of the requirement or facing retaliatory tariffs.

The Beef Hormones CaseThe Beef Hormones CaseThe Montreal codicil to the UN’s treaty on

Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) explicitly adopts the precautionary principle as a basis for making food safety decisions. (article 57)

The EU banned administering substances having thyrostatic, estrogenic, androgenic or gestagenic action to farm animals AND it banned the sale of meat from animals to which such substances had been administered as a precautionary health measure.

Beef Hormones, cont.Beef Hormones, cont.These rules applied to EU beef producers and to

beef importers.U.S. and Canadian beef producers, who use

growth hormones to fatten cattle, sued under WTO rules.

As in the turtle case, the producers argued that these were TBT’s and not real safety measures.

The U.S. and Canadian beef producers won.What happened to domestic sovereignty?

The FTAAThe FTAA

The FTAA, the Free Trade Area of the Americas, would extend NAFTA all over North and South America (except Cuba).

It would extend NAFTA to include services. “Services” is a huge category of economic activity

including extractive industries, mining, shipping, construction, and waste processing and management.

Water rights and the privatization of water resources would be included.

How does all this relate to my How does all this relate to my life or to issues in the news life or to issues in the news today?today?Trade protests (the Battle in Seattle, the

riots in Montreal in 2001, attempts to protest the WTO ministerial in Doha, Qatar) turn on these issues.

Domestic sovereignty, our right to make our own laws and to embody our ethical convictions in law, is at risk.