| Montreal, 12/12/1995 – The Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) -- otherwise known as the NAFTA environment commission -- made public today a decision which rejects further consideration of a submission alleging failure on the part of the U.S. government to effectively enforce its environmental law.
The submission, filed by the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, Inc. on behalf of twenty-eight U.S., Canadian and Mexican non-governmental organizations, requested that the CEC prepare a factual record examining the Salvage Timber Rider contained in the Fiscal Year 1995 Supplemental Appropriations, Disaster Assistance and Rescissions Act, signed into law by President Clinton on July 27, 1995. The Rider eases restrictions on logging and increases the discretion of the government in approving timber sales.
Under Article 14 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (the environmental side accord to NAFTA), the Secretariat of the CEC is empowered to consider a submission from any non-governmental organization or person alleging that one of the three NAFTA governments is failing to effectively enforce its environmental law. The Secretariat may recommend to the environment ministers of the three NAFTA countries that a factual record be prepared to explore such an allegation.
The submission filed by the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, Inc. contends that the enactment of a law may constitute a failure to enforce other laws. The Secretariat, however, decided that Article 14 addresses failures to enforce by those officials or agencies charged with enforcing existing environmental laws.
In its decision letter, the Secretariat stated that [t]he Secretariat considers that the enactment of legislation which specifically alters the operation of pre-existing environmental law in essence becomes a part of the greater body of laws and statutes on the books. Therefore, the Secretariat cannot characterize the application of a new legal regime as a failure to enforce an old one. The Secretariat also concluded that the submission lacked a factual basis on which to allege failure to effectively enforce.
The CEC, which is funded equally by the three NAFTA partners, was created under the NAFTA environmental side accord. The trinational body oversees a wide range of cooperation programs aimed at improving the North American environment.
The CEC Council of Ministers is composed of EPA Chief Carol Browner, Mexican Environment Minister Julia Carabias and Canadian Environment Minister Sheila Copps.
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