Jack Reed: “The major international environmental issues which we face--not alone, but collectively as a world community--are…”

“The major international environmental issues which we face--not alone, but collectively as a world community--are significant: global climate change, which we were talking about recently; ozone depleting substances, which have affected all of us around the world; reduction in ship pollution of the ocean; international ocean dumping; transboundary movement of hazardous waste materials and disposal. What happens to all of this waste in countries where it is being produced? How does it move from one country to another? All of these are critical issues. Yet, within a context and scope of this fast track agreement, they would be relegated... to side agreements at best. Our experience has been such that these side agreements are ineffectual in most cases, if not all cases. If we put them in the center of our concerns as a negotiating objective, not only will we make progress on these issues, but we will send a strong signal to all of our potential trading partners that they have to be prepared to come to the table and talk turkey about the environment and about how they will improve their environmental quality.”