In Ad Buy, Sierra Club Urges Rep. Polis To Oppose Fast Track for Trans-Pacific Partnership

The Sierra Club launched a targeted ad campaign today, urging Representative Jared Polis to oppose fast track legislation for trade deals. The effort, which includes substantial online and public transportation ad buys, points to Rep. Polis's strong environmental record and the environmental repercussions of forthcoming fast track legislation for deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

"Congressman Polis has helped keep Colorado clean and green, and we need his help to make sure dirty trade deals don't undermine that great work," said Ilana Solomon, director of the Sierra Club's Responsible Trade Program. "Voting for fast track would be a vote against climate progress."

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is currently under negotiation between the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim nations behind closed doors. Multinational corporations -- including some of the world's biggest polluters -- could use provisions in the TPP to sue governments, in private trade courts, over laws and policies that they claimed would reduce their profits. That means our clean air, clean water, and climate protections could be subject to attack just because corporations say they cut into their bottom lines.

"Representative Polis has been a friend of the planet, which is why we need him to oppose fast track for trade pacts such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership," said Bill Waren, trade analyst for Friends of the Earth. "Fast track would rush through trade pacts that undermine critical environmental and public health safeguards that could lead, for example, to more unsafe chemicals in our everyday lives.

Congress may soon decide whether to grant the Obama administration "fast track" authority to have the "final" pact approved as is -- meaning strict limits on Congressional debate and no amendments.

"The TPP will greatly threaten Coloradans' food and water," said Lisa Trope, Colorado organizer with Food & Water Watch. "By allowing international corporations to sue local municipalities for protecting their communities' water and homes from fracking, the TPP will undermine our local democracy. We urge Representative Polis to stand with Coloradans and vote against fast tracking the TPP."

The ads are supported by the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, Food and Water Watch, and 350.org.