THIS CAN'T BE MUCH OF A SECRET

Lucas,

Earlier this week, in Melbourne, Australia, trade negotiators and their corporate sponsors began another round of secret negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement. This deal is branded as a trade pact, but really at issue is a backdoor attack on a wide array of domestic policies.

From financial regulation to Buy America procurement and all sorts of new rights for large corporations, corporate advisors have access to hundreds of pages of draft treaty text that is being kept secret from the press and public.

Take a moment to alert your governor and members of Congress about this secret attack on the environment, public health and even our justice systems.

Last week, we told you about Chevron's attack on Ecuador. An Ecuadorean court has ruled that the company's subsidiary made a deadly mess in the Amazon that the company must now pay to have cleaned up. Having lost in both Ecuadorean and U.S. courts, Chevron turned to an ad hoc "investor-state" tribunal -- which enforces the extreme "foreign investor" rights granted foreign corporations in NAFTA-style trade deals -- to try to evade justice.

Now, Chevron and other powerful corporations are pushing U.S. trade negotiators to expand these extreme investor rights and enforcement by unaccountable tribunals in the prospective TPP trade deal.

While the public are locked out of the talks, more than 600 representatives of corporations like Chevron are cleared advisers. They want nothing more than to expand this "investor-state" regime so that they don't have to be burdened by pesky environmental, financial stability and public health policies around the globe.

Just as during the negotiation rounds in Chicago, Lima, Honolulu, San Francisco and Kuala Lumpur, people in Melbourne will take to the streets to demand a "Fair Deal or No Deal."

Let's join them in taking a stand.

Philip Morris International, the infamous tobacco giant, has used one of these "investor-state" tribunals to attack the government of Australia for its popular tobacco-labeling policies.

Corporations have been thrilled to use the "investor-state" system to evade environmental and public health responsibilities, so it's no surprise that they are working behind the scenes to convince TPP negotiators, as well as U.S. state governors and others, to further these extreme investor rights in the TPP.

The only good news about these outrageous "investor-state" attacks by Chevron and Philip Morris is that they go so far that they might serve to bring down the whole extremist "investor-state" system.

The Philip Morris attack has raised so much public ire that the Australian government has now publically refused to subject itself to any "investor-state" clause in the TPP. But the way it is going now, the U.S. would be nonetheless subjected to this extreme system.

The only way to avoid TPP becoming a NAFTA-on-steroids with Asia is for you to raise your voice now to demand change.

Take a moment to send a message to your state governor and members of Congress to call for an end to secrecy and corporate cronyism in the TPP.

Thanks for all that you do,