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David Sirota is a political journalist and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist at Creators Syndicate. David writes about political corruption, globalization and working-class economic issues often ignored by both of America's political parties.
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October 9, 2007 10:50 AM
ExxonMobil Uses NAFTA To Crush Enviro/Tax Regs
CORNER BROOK, N.L. -- U.S. oil giants ExxonMobil and Murphy Oil are accusing Ottawa of breaching the North American Free Trade Agreement by allowing Newfoundland to require them to spend millions of dollars on research in the province. The two companies plan to sue the federal government, alleging it violated a previous NAFTA agreement when a provincial-federal agency adopted a new guideline on research and development in November 2004. In notices of intent filed last month, ExxonMobil and Murphy Oil say the new regulation would cost them $40 million and $10 million, respectively, regardless of the commercial need for such investment or of the resources in place to sustain it. The companies call the guideline "restrictive" as it specifies a fixed amount of money to be invested, and cite the Newfoundland and Labrador government's push for more revenues from the offshore oil industry.
You can bet that with the expansion of NAFTAs into places like Panama, this kind of attack on sovereignty is coming to a municipal, state, and federal government near you.
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About David Sirota
David Sirota is a political journalist and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist at Creators Syndicate. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Hostile Takeover. He lives in Denver, Colorado. His daily blog can be found at CREDO Action. He contributes regularly to the Denver Post's Web site, is a senior editor at In These Times magazine and is working on his second book. He has been profiled in Newsweek and the Rocky Mountain News and is widely known for his reporting on political corruption, globalization and working-class economic issues often ignored by both of America's political parties. Sirota serves as co-chair of the Progressive States Network, a 501(c)3 organization that supports state legislators and that is a partner of CREDO.
You can subscribe to Sirota's e-mail newsletter by going to davidsirota.com and signing up in the lefthand corner. To find out more about Sirota, download his official biography or see his recent media appearances. You can e-mail him at sirota@credoaction.com.
The views expressed on this blog are his own, and do not necessarily represent the views of Working Assets (publisher of CREDO Action) or the institutions Sirota works for.
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Discussion
Canada opted into NAFTA; Canada can opt out.
Opting out of NAFTA may not be as simple a thing as unilaterally withdrawing from the ABM Treaty but, with enough political will, it can be done.
Well what the hell was Canada thinking? That it could get away with another free trade deal just like it did with US-Canada free trade agreement of 1985 ? They better learn a quick lesson from this upcoming tragedy or they'll be quicksand history before they know it.
I think Connie Fogal of the Canadian Action Party has the best direction for getting out of NAFTA, but few have heard of them. I think the Rhino party gets more votes unfortunately.
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