Davis at center of international treaty dispute

Mercury News ^ | 6/29/02 | By Dion Nissenbaum / Mercury News Sacramento Bureau

[NormsRevenge]

SACRAMENTO - After years of parrying domestic attacks for his prodigious fundraising, Gov. Gray Davis has now become the novel target of an international dispute that could cost the country $1 billion -- and even undermine California's environmental laws.

A special global trade panel is weighing a precedent-setting proposition: Did Davis break international law by banning MTBE after accepting legal campaign donations from a company pushing an alternate gasoline additive?

[NormsRevenge]

That's Our GraY :-) !!! It's Raining Globally!!
DUMP DAVI$ & the Den of Socialists



GO SIMON

[NormsRevenge]

PING .... Po' Ol' GraYout!!! Man can't get no peace no more! I Love It!!

[norton]

I'm in no way certain which pi**es me off the most;

Governor Davis or the bozos who decided to use MTBE in the first place,
the whining bozos who think we should continue to use the stuff,
or the rock-headed politicians of both parties who decided NAFTA would be a good deal.

[TwoStep]

**Bumpity Bump --for SIMON**

[Tacis]

Blackout Davis has a bulletproof defense on this one! He is home free and innocent of the charges. Perhaps, a foreign company doesn't know our boy Davis. Davis will take or extort money from anyone!!! Sure, AMD may have slipped him, his friends or relatives and/or the state democrap committee a few bucks, or, hell, a few hundred thousand bucks. But, hey, who hasn't? Davis is for sale!! Just because, as foreigners, this outfit didn't know that all they had to do was raise the bid and pay Dvis more than AMD did, isn't our fault. When the dog humps your leg, don't blame the dog or the dog's owner; you should know that's what dogs do!! So, I've got to back Davis on this one. Everyone but California blacks, teachers and labor unions know Davis is a crook; these Canadians should have known, as well.

[niki]

What makes this dispute especially charged is the venue. The drama is not playing out in the courts; it's taking place in front of a closed-door NAFTA panel charged with resolving quarrels among the three nations -- the signatories.

We the people are being sued and this is happening behind closed doors. This is a bunch of BS.

[Ben Ficklin]

PBS Frontline did a show on this issue a while back in which they were pointing to the fact that the real implication is the subservience of National Soveriegnty to a trade agreement.

In addition to the case of CA and MTBE, Fontline also examined a similar case in which a US company bought an abandoned mfg facility in Mexico to restart. With Mexican federal permits in hand and assurances that local permits were a mere formality, the US company made the purchase. The Mexican state govt denied them the permits and it ended up in court with the US company collecting damages.

Frontline pointed out that when the language/wording of NAFTA was being devised, US FedGov employed a particular Washington law firm to do a great deal of the work. It is the same law firm that is now litigating these cases.

[Greybird]

[...] the real implication is the subservience of National Sovereignty to a trade agreement.

And are you calling for upholding Gov. Gray "I Fundraise 12 Hours a Day" Davis's influence-peddling? In the name of national sovereignty?

GO METHANEX!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Get the Manure out of the Governor's Office!

calgov2002:

calgov2002: for old calgov2002 articles. 

calgov2002: for new calgov2002 articles. 

Other Bump Lists at: Free Republic Bump List Register

[Carry_Okie]

This is about the fourth time Methanex has tried to use NAFTA to make us take their MTBE.

Note: Methanex=methane=natural gas. How much natural gas would we free up for electricity production if we went back to the national RFG formula?

[Carry_Okie]

The concern about sovereignty is legitimate. Don't let your distaste for Bray Davis get you shooting yourself in the foot.

[Ben Ficklin]

NAFTA Chapter 11 is much, much bigger than Gray Davis and Sacremento.

Now I've got to tell you, I abhor US social and environmental policy and on the surface, Chapter 11 could be a solution. But on the other hand, there are far reaching implications.

It will take 15 minutes to read Invalidating the 20th Century

[heleny]

MTBE was supposed to be phased out of California gas beginning this Semptember and completely eliminated by the end of December because it leaked into underground water. (MTBE causes cancer in rats makes some people ill. Unknown if it causes cancer in humans.)

But, the alternative additive (ethanol) might be more expensive, and Davis was afraid gasoline prices would increase in the fall, just before the election. So, he delayed the ban for a year to protect his reelection chances at the expense of the environment and future cleanup costs. Dump Davis!

[California] Governor decides to delay ban on use of MTBE
AP | 3-15-02 | CHRISTINA ALMEIDA
Posted on 3/15/02 3:04 PM Pacific by Oldeconomybuyer

Delay ban on MTBE, report advises :Additive restriction could spike prices (California )
The Oakland Tribune | Friday, March 15, 2002 | Jim Wasserman The Associated Press
Posted on 3/15/02 6:22 PM Pacific by Ernest_at_the_Beach

California: Davis delays MTBE ban in effort to keep gas affordable
San Francisco Chronicle | March 17, 2002 | Lynda Gledhill, Jane Kay
Posted on 3/17/02 1:03 PM Pacific by John Jorsett

[Carry_Okie]

Great post Ben. It's more than 15 minutes worth of cogitating.

It would be fascinating to press a Constitutional test of NAFTA alleging that the Federal Government provides unequal property rights protection under the law for those invested across national boundaries under NAFTA as opposed to those constrained to US law. It is still astounding to me that calling NAFTA a "trade agreement" instead of a treaty has held up in the courts.

[Carry_Okie]

These "cost analyses" of ethanol are a joke.

First, CARFG has 15% MTBE, nearly twice the amount required under Federal RFG standards. Second, RFG is mandated in only three critical air basins in California. We are therefore buying VASLTY more oxygenate than is needed. One could reformulate with the optimal fraction of ethanol for those few critical air basins and save money.

[heleny]

reformulate with the optimal fraction of ethanol for those few critical air basins and save money.

All the better for Bill Simon, since he can portray Davis as not caring for the environment or for our health (by delaying the MTBE ban) and if the gasoline prices won't increase dramatically (if/when Simon is governor next year) with the ethanol additive as some newspapers predict.

[Shermy]

You're right. This is the first big attack on our sovreignty by NAFTA. Some people are so blinded by their distaste for this guy Davis they don't see the more important Constitutional issues.

[Shermy]

BTW, the spin in this article, Davis took a bribe, is unrelated to NAFTA chapter 11.