Sometimes the zombie doesn’t stay dead. This week, TransCanada tried to re-invigorate the Keystone XL effort by extorting $15B from the US government under NAFTA rules. As Bill McKibben says, NAFTA is not a planetary suicide pact. The NAFTA rules are similar to the TPP rules and exemplify the risk of accepting the TPP as the law of the land.  If you like the idea of self-determination, national sovereignty and progress against climate change, the TPP is problematic.

The reading list:

• Details on the Trans Canada suit under NAFTA, from InsideClimate
• John Oliver "deconstructs" the ISDS mechanism.
• ThinkProgress on the TransCanada suit
• Politico weighs in
• If we can't build it, give us $15B !!
• How do the TPP and the Paris Agreement work together? Not well, as it happens.
• TransCanada just gave ClimateHawks a huge boost

Because we recognize the necessity of personal accountability for our actions, because we accept responsibility for building a durable future and because we believe it is our patriotic duty as citizens to speak out, we must insist that the United States put a price on carbon.

Thanks for listening.

…Ted McIntyre