The Alberta tar sands.
Nadia Prupis writes
Sensing Keystone XL Rejection, TransCanada Scopes NAFTA Lawsuit:
TransCanada Corporation, the company behind the controversial Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, is furtively planning its next steps—including suing the U.S. government—if U.S. President Barack Obama rejects the permits which would allow construction of the project to move forward, the Canadian Press reported on Monday.
While the company has publicly maintained hope that Obama will grant it permission to build the pipeline, those close to the project say TransCanada expects a rejection and is quietly considering suing the government under the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), using articles in the pact that protect companies from discrimination, unfair or arbitrary treatment, and expropriation.
NAFTA also includes a mechanism known as the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), which allows corporations to sue a country for damages based on projected "lost profits" and "expected future profits." As Common Dreams has previously reported, there are no monetary caps to the potential award.
Experts have warned that TransCanada could bring a NAFTA challenge over Keystone XL. Natural Resources Defense Council international program director Jake Schmidt told Politico in February that such a case was "definitely a possibility." [...]
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2008—Book Review: Robert Wexler's "Fire-Breathing Liberal":
For a Congressman who's only served in the House for a decade and a half, Robert Wexler of Florida has performed quite the feat, managing to find himself at Ground Zero for not one, but two, of the most divisive issues in America's recent political history -- Bill Clinton's impeachment trial and the Florida 2000 recount. The former occurred during his first term, when he unexpectedly found himself as one of Clinton's most passionate on-air defenders. And in-depth involvement with the 2000 recount was foisted upon him by geography and history--the counties at the heart of the controversy were those he represented.
And as Fire-Breathing Liberal shows, Wexler managed to keep a level head and sense of humor throughout it all. His tales-from-the-trenches biography juggles his appealing mix of idealism and realism, explanation and anecdote, in just the right amount. What's delivered is an insider account of politics with an appealing, self-deprecating and entertaining twist.
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