The Sierra Club will turn out hundreds of its South Florida members to protest the Bush trade agenda during the People's March and Rally for Global Justice on Thursday, November 20. Sierra Club's President, Larry Fahn will be in Miami on Thursday to address the rally alongside labor, human rights, and faith community leaders.

"The Bush administration wants the FTAA to give broad power to polluting companies to undermine environmental safeguards and sue taxpayers," said Larry Fahn, President of the Sierra Club. "For example, international water companies could use new FTAA rules to challenge clean drinking water laws in Florida and throughout the Americas, putting communities at risk."

Under NAFTA, a Canadian chemical company has already sued US taxpayers for $1 billion in an effort to overturn a crucial California clean water law. If similar corporate lawsuit provisions are included in the FTAA, costs to taxpayers could skyrocket, crippling efforts to protect our air and water.

"We're here to remind the American people that this administration has caused serious harm to our nation's environment. The FTAA is simply the international extension of the same anti-environmental policies the Bush administration has perused at home," said Fahn.

"America needs a new trade policy that's fair to all. We can cut tariffs without giving global companies the power to undermine our environmental standards. We should slash trade-distorting subsidies to polluting industries. And we should level the playing field by requiring enforcement of labor and environmental standards," Fahn concluded.

Interviews with Mr. Fahn or Daniel Seligman, Sierra Club's Senior Trade Fellow, can be arranged by calling (202) 365-1219.

More information about Sierra Club's Trade program can be found at
http://www.sierraclub.org/trade