Chairman Crane, members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today on Chilean accession to the North American Free Trade Agreement {NAFTA). My name is Robert Housman, I am a Senior Attorney with the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) in Washington, D.C.. Brennan Van Dyke and David Hunter, both also of CIEL, aided in the preparation of this testimony.
My testimony will focus on two issues: l) the inclusion of environmental protection in the grant of fast track authority to negotiate with Chile their accession to the NAFTA; 2) how environmental issues regarding Chile’s accession to the NAFTA might be handled most effectively.