space Press Releases, News Stories

Coalition Press Release

The "green" appointment came as a result of the settlement of a lawsuit filed by health and environmental advocacy organizations one year ago against the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) and the U.S. Commerce Department under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), which mandates that U.S. government advisory committees mustrepresent a fair balance of viewpoints. Immediately following the government's decision to appoint one environmental representative, the chairpersons of ISAC-3 (Chemical and Allied ProductsAdvisory Committee) represented by CEOs of chemical companies, sued the government to block the appointment. However, on Tuesday, their lawsuit was thrown out as having no merit.

“It is anti-democratic for a single corporate interest group to have special access to government decisionmakers concerning issues that affect all people,” said Martin Wagner, attorney for Earthjustice. “The court was right to reject the chemical industry’s claim to such privilege."

The chemical industry had attempted to argue before the judge that the appointment violated the Trade Act, which created the ISACs (Industrial Sector Advisory Committees), because it exceeded limits the Act placed on the kinds of people the government could name to the committee. Judge Hogan rejected the Chairs’ claim on two grounds. First, the judge concluded that although the Trade Act mandates that the government guarantee that ISAC members represent the interests of producers, it does not preclude the government from appointing representatives of other interests. The government thus has discretion to appoint other representatives to the committee. Second, Judge Hoganheld that the Chairs lacked standing to challenge the appointment of an environmentalist to ISAC-3 because they could not show that they would be injured by such an appointment.

The Chairs also argued that the presence of an environmentalist on the committee would destroy the “informal give-and-take” of the meetings, make chemical industry representatives “reluctant or unwilling to air their views,” and would make it “difficult if not impossible” to form industry consensus on the committee. Because Judge Hogan considered these concerns to be speculative and conjectural, and found no requirement that ISACs reach consensus, he held that the Chairs had no right to sue over the appointment of an environmentalist to ISAC-3.

“The government had to be dragged kicking and screaming to allow but one public health advocate onto a committee with 34 chemical CEOs," said Mary Bottari of Public Citizen. "The Bush administration's recent decision to abide by the law, and this week's decision by Judge Hogan to uphold it, are steps in the right direction, but far more needs to be done to assure democratic participation in trade policy decision making."

Attorney's for the industrialists had previously claimed that if they lost they would not hesitate to appeal the case. And likewise, the public health advocates are equally determined to pursue this case as far as necessary. Both sides believe that much is at stake.

“This is not just a silly test of wills,” said Jim Puckett, toxics specialist with the Asia Pacific Environmental Exchange. “Crucial matters such as the global impacts of increased consumption of harmful chemicals,or long overdue implementation of a more precautionary approach to chemical use, remain unaddressed as long as the doors to government access are locked to all but conflicted interests.”

The activists point out that other advisory committees such as those for Tobacco, Mining and Energy are extremely important to health and environmental concerns and still remain closed to public interest groups and operate behind closed doors.

Contacts:

Martin Wagner, Earthjustice (415) 627-6700 ext. 216

Mary Bottari, Public Citizen (202) 454-5126

Jim Puckett, Asia Pacific Environmental Exchange, Basel Action Network (206) 652-5555

For more information:

USTR 13 March 2001, Press Release http//www.ustr.gov/

Backgrounder to Original Chemical Sector Lawsuit http//www.a-p-e-x.org/ISAC/ISAC.PDF