http://aftinet.org.au/cms/node/1186 June 28 2016: Canadian oil company TransCanada has now filed its lawsuit for $15 billion against the United States under the North American Free Trade Agreement, arguing that the U.S. rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline for environmental reasons violated NAFTA’s broad rights for foreign investors by thwarting the company’s “expectations."
TransCanada’s case, first notified in January 2016, will be heard in a private tribunal of three lawyers who are not accountable to any domestic legal system, thanks to NAFTA’s “investor-state” system, which is also included in the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The controversial TPP would empower thousands of additional corporations, including major polluters, to follow TransCanada’s example and use this private tribunal system to challenge governmnent climate and environmental policies.
Read the Sierra Club's analysis here.
