NAFTA Watch: Testing the Environmental Side Agreements

NAFTA included a set of side agreements intended to alleviate concerns about the environmental effects of the trade regime. One of the results of these side agreements, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, has agreed to review a proposal for a Liquified Natural Gas project off the coast of Tijuana and San Diego. The complaint is brought by citizens’ groups, not the governments of NAFTA. The Commission, like a similar one created by DR-CAFTA, is advisory only so it is unclear how important this will be. But I suppose the Commission is a prototype for integrating environmental issues, and non-state parties, into the trade dispute resolution process.