[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 93 (Monday, June 11, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7450-S7451]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS

  The following petitions and memorials were laid before the Senate and 
were referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:

       POM-112. A concurrent resolution adopted by the Senate of 
     the State of Louisiana urging Congress to take a proactive 
     role in assisting the communities of New Orleans East in 
     protecting their health and safety and in promoting economic 
     development; to the Committee on Environment and Public 
     Works.

                   Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 4

       Whereas, the health, safety, welfare, and economic recovery 
     of the residents and businesses of New Orleans East are 
     dependent upon the continued assistance and encouragement 
     from our federal partners; and
       Whereas, the Legislature of Louisiana created the New 
     Orleans Regional Business Park as a special municipal 
     district for the primary purpose of engaging industrial, 
     manufacturing, processing, assembling, distribution, and 
     wholesale businesses; and
       Whereas, as of early May 2006, approximately forty 
     companies out of one hundred four pre-Katrina were back in 
     business and the future of the others is largely uncertain; 
     and
       Whereas, New Orleans East has become the illegal burial 
     grounds for homes and businesses washed out by hurricanes 
     Katrina and Rita; and
       Whereas, illegal dumping makes it extremely hard to attract 
     businesses to New Orleans East and to the business park; and
       Whereas, in the business park alone there are twenty-three 
     known illegal dumping sites and thirteen illegal automobile 
     dumping sites; and
       Whereas, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded 
     the business park $400,000 in grants to catalogue 
     contamination, but none of the federal funds will be used for 
     clean-up; and
       Whereas, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality 
     Enforcement Division, Surveillance Division and Criminal 
     Investigations Section of the Legal Affairs Division have 
     inspected over one hundred seventy-five sites and found 
     potential environmental violations on one hundred fifty of 
     these sites in the Almonaster/Gentilly area alone; and
       Whereas, on one of these sites, sixty-five thousand cubic 
     yards of debris or approximately an eleven foot tall mound of 
     debris was found to have been illegally dumped on this one 
     site in New Orleans East; and
       Whereas, the illegal piles of debris do not have protective 
     barriers to keep whatever poisons are in the piles contained 
     and from leaking out into the wetlands surrounding this area; 
     and
       Whereas, numerous federal agencies have roles and 
     responsibilities in the health, safety, and economic 
     development after hurricanes Katrina and Rita which range 
     from debris removal, oversight of regulations, and recovery 
     funding; and
       Whereas, the removal of all dump sites within the New 
     Orleans Regional Business Parks will improve the health, 
     safety, and economic development: Therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Legislature of Louisiana memorializes 
     the Congress of the United States to urge and request the 
     respective executive branch departments to take a proactive 
     role in assisting the communities of New Orleans East in 
     protecting their health and safety and in promoting economic 
     development; Therefore, be it further
       Resolved, That the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby 
     request the Congress of the United States and the appropriate 
     federal agencies, in coordination with appropriate Louisiana 
     state agencies, to immediately take the following actions: 
     (a) cease funding any waste disposal activities within the 
     New Orleans Regional Business Park; (b) develop and implement 
     procedures for expeditious environmental sampling, analysis, 
     and reporting; (c) resolve the blurring of debris management 
     responsibilities between the Federal Emergency Management 
     Agency and Environmental Protection Agency, and state 
     environmental and public health agencies; (d) review and 
     enhance the Environmental Protection Agency's oversight role 
     of illegal and improper debris disposal; and (e) provide 
     guidance and mechanisms for the development of public/private 
     partnerships in restoring and redeveloping the New Orleans 
     Regional Business Park and the New Orleans East community; be 
     it further
       Resolved, That a copy of this Resolution shall be 
     transmitted to the secretary of the United States Senate and 
     the clerk of the United States House of Representatives and 
     to each member of the Louisiana delegation to the United 
     States Congress.
                                  ____

       POM-113. A resolution adopted by the House of 
     Representatives of the State of Hawaii urging Congress to 
     create a replacement for the outdated Fast Track Trade 
     Authority system so United States trade agreements are 
     developed and implemented using a more democratic, inclusive 
     mechanism that enshrines the principles of federalism and 
     state sovereignty; to the Committee on Finance.

                        House Resolution No. 63

       Whereas, in general, democratic accountable governance in 
     the states, and specifically, the authority granted to the 
     legislative branch by the Constitution of the State of 
     Hawaii, is being undermined by international commercial and 
     trade rules enforced by the World Trade Organization and 
     established by the North American Free Trade Agreement, and 
     is further threatened by similar provisions in an array of 
     pending trade agreements; and
       Whereas, today's trade agreements have effects that extend 
     significantly beyond the bounds of traditional trade matters 
     such as tariffs and quotas; and

[[Page S7451]]

       Whereas, the North American Free Trade Agreement and other 
     United States free trade agreements grant foreign firms new 
     rights and privileges regarding acquisition of land and 
     facilities and operating within a state that exceed those 
     granted to American businesses under state and federal laws; 
     and
       Whereas, the North American Free Trade Agreement already 
     has generated ``regulatory takings'' cases against state and 
     local land use decisions, state environmental and public 
     health policies, adverse state court rulings, and state and 
     local contracts that would not have been possible in United 
     States courts; and
       Whereas, when states are bound to comply with government 
     procurement provisions contained in trade agreements, common 
     economic development and environmental policies such as buy-
     local laws, prevailing wage laws, policies to prevent 
     offshoring of state jobs, as well as recycled content laws 
     could be subject to challenge as violating the obligations in 
     the trade agreements; and
       Whereas, recent trade agreements curtail state regulatory 
     authority by placing constraints on future policy options; 
     and
       Whereas, the World Trade Organization General Agreement on 
     Trade in Services could undermine state efforts to expand 
     health care coverage and rein in health care costs and places 
     constraints on state and local land use planning and gambling 
     policy; and
       Whereas, new General Agreement on Trade in Services 
     negotiations could impose additional constraints on state 
     regulation of energy, higher education, professional 
     licensing, and other issues; and
       Whereas, despite the indisputable fact that international 
     trade agreements have a far-reaching impact on state and 
     local laws, federal government trade negotiators have failed 
     to respect states' rights to prior informed consent before 
     binding states to conform state law and authority to trade 
     agreement requirements and have refused even to send copies 
     of key correspondence to state legislatures; and
       Whereas, the current encroachment on state regulatory 
     authority by international commercial and trade agreements 
     has occurred due in no small part to the fact that United 
     States trade policy is being formulated and implemented under 
     the Fast Track Trade Authority procedure; and
       Whereas, Fast Track Trade Authority eliminates vital checks 
     and balances established in the United States Constitution by 
     broadly delegating Congress' exclusive Constitutional 
     authority to set the terms of trade to the Executive Branch 
     such that the Executive Branch is empowered to negotiate 
     broad-ranging trade agreements and to sign them before 
     Congress votes on the agreements; and
       Whereas, the ability of the Executive Branch to sign trade 
     agreements prior to Congress' vote of approval means 
     Executive Branch negotiators are able to ignore congressional 
     negotiating objectives or states' demands, and neither 
     Congress nor the states have any means to enforce any 
     decision regarding what provisions must be contained in every 
     United States trade agreement and what provisions may not 
     be included in any United States trade agreement; and
       Whereas, federal trade negotiators have ignored and 
     disrespected states' demands regarding whether states agree 
     to be bound to certain nontariff trade agreement provisions; 
     and
       Whereas, Fast Track Trade Authority also circumvents normal 
     Congressional review and amendment committee procedures, 
     limits debate to twenty hours total, and forbids any floor 
     amendments to the implementing legislation that is presented 
     to Congress to conform hundreds of United States laws to 
     trade agreement obligations and to incorporate the actual 
     trade agreement itself into United States federal law, which 
     preempts state law; and
       Whereas, Fast Track Trade Authority is not necessary for 
     negotiating trade agreements, as demonstrated by the 
     existence of scores of trade agreements, including major 
     pacts such as the agreements administered by the World Trade 
     Organization implemented in the past thirty years without use 
     of Fast Track Trade Authority; and
       Whereas, Fast Track Trade Authority, which was established 
     in 1974 by President Richard Nixon when trade agreements were 
     limited to traditional matters such as tariffs and quotas, is 
     now woefully outdated and inappropriate given the diverse 
     range of nontrade issues now included in ``trade'' agreements 
     that broadly affect federal and state nontrade regulatory 
     authority; and
       Whereas, the current grant of Fast Track Trade Authority 
     expires in July 2007: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-
     fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 
     2007, That the United States Congress is respectfully 
     requested to create a replacement for the outdated Fast Track 
     Trade Authority system so that United States trade agreements 
     are developed and implemented using a more democratic, 
     inclusive mechanism that enshrines the principles of 
     federalism and state sovereignty; and be it further
       Resolved, That the Congress is requested to include in this 
     new process for developing and implementing trade agreements 
     an explicit mechanism for ensuring the prior informed consent 
     of state legislatures before states are bound to the 
     nontariff terms of any trade agreement that affect state 
     regulatory authority so as to ensure that the United States 
     Trade Representative respects the decisions made by states; 
     and be it further
       Resolved, That certified copies of this Resolution be 
     transmitted to the President of the United States, Ambassador 
     Susan Schwab, United States Trade Representative, the 
     President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the 
     United States House of Representatives, and the members of 
     Hawaii's congressional delegation.

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