At Offices in Quebec, California, Delaware & Texas, Environmental Activists Will Challenge the Firm’s $1 Billion ISDS Case Against an LNG Project Permitting Decision
Austin, Texas — Climate activists will gather outside the offices of businesses associated with the firm Ruby River Capital at multiple locations across the United States and Canada today, urging the company to drop its trade suit seeking $1 billion over a Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) project permitting decision. The demonstrations are part of a coordinated cross-border day of action against Ruby River’s suit and the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system under which the suit was brought.
“People in Austin and across North America are urging Ruby River to drop its outrageous trade suit immediately,” said Clayton Tucker, a climate organizer with the Trade Justice Education Fund. “After a full public debate with input from a wide range of stakeholders, the Canadian government democratically rejected the company’s proposal to build a new LNG plant and terminal on environmental grounds. Ruby River’s attempt to use outdated trade rules to undermine that decision is an affront to the planet and to democracy.”
During rallies in Montreal, Quebec; Sunnyvale, California; Wilmington, Delaware; and Austin, Texas, climate activists will hold signs and attempt to deliver letters urging Ruby River to withdraw its suit. They will also call for the U.S. and Canadian governments to take further action to eliminate the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system through which Ruby River’s suit was initiated.
ISDS is a mechanism written into many older trade and investment agreements that allows individual corporations to challenge laws, regulations, permitting decisions, and even court decisions that they view as a violation of their supposed trade agreement rights. These ISDS challenges aren’t heard in front of any countries’ domestic judicial system, but instead, in front of an extrajudicial tribunal of often three trade attorneys. The tribunals can’t literally overturn a country’s laws and other decisions, but they can award companies millions, and in some instances, billions of dollars in taxpayer compensation — which sometimes persuades governments to change their policies in order to avoid additional suits.
“The world can’t afford to give polluting corporations a massive payout every time a government takes action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, protect the environment, or otherwise promote a clean energy economy,” said Tucker. “The U.S. and Canada have already taken important steps toward reducing their exposure to new ISDS suits. We urge them to use ongoing trade and investment negotiations in the Americas to eliminate ISDS throughout the hemisphere.”
Last month, nearly 50 members of the U.S. Congress wrote to the Biden administration urging them to eliminate ISDS from existing trade pacts in order to “uplift democratic sovereignty in the region, protect fiscal budgets for emerging economies, and strengthen environmental protections.”
“The Ruby River case is a perfect example of how the antiquated ISDS system, which is anti-democratic, poses grave threats to climate action,” said Hamid Bernhmade, a spokesperson for the Quebec Network for Inclusive Globalization. “Shamefully, Canada is pursuing a new free trade agreement with Ecuador that would expand the ISDS system being used against us by Ruby River. Eliminating ISDS from that pact is among the changes that should be made before it moves forward.”
Groups involved in today’s demonstrations include Bay Climate Action, California Trade Justice Coalition, Oil & Gas Action Network, Public Citizen, Quebec Network for Inclusive Globalization, Trade Justice Education Fund and others.
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