Pacific Rim v. El Salvador and the Perils of Free Trade in the Americas

1. Barack Obama, “Why I oppose CAFTA”, Chicago Tribune, June 30, 2005, Commentary section.

2. Alexis Stoumbelis, “Landmark hearing begins at World Bank arbitration center,” CISPES, http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=715.

3. Robert E. Moran, “Technical Review of the El Dorado Mine Project Environmental Assessment (EIA), El Salvador,” October 2005, http://www.miningwatch.ca/en/technical-review-el-dorado-mine-project-environmental-impact-assessment-eia-el-salvador.

4. Ibid.

5. “El Dorado, El Salvador,” Pacific Rim Mining Corp, http://www.pacrim-mining.com/s/ES_Eldorado.asp.

6. Cameron Herrington, interview by author, June 28, 2010.

7. Moran

8. Raúl Gutiérrez, “Gold Mining ‘Is a Huge Rip-Off’ - Environmentalists,” Inter-Press Service, December 8, 2008, http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45035.

9. Cited in Moran

10. Keith Slack, interview by author, July 13, 2010.

11. “Metals, Mining, and Sustainable Development in Central America,” OxFam America, February 17, 2009, http://www.oxfamamerica.org/publications/metals-mining-and-sustainable-development-in-central-america.

12. “El Dorado, El Salvador”

13. Zach Dyer, “El Salvador Faces CAFTA Suit Over Mine Project,” NACLA, February 6, 2009, http://nacla.org/node/5499.

14. Travis McArthur, “CAFTA Case Challenges Mining Laws,” Public Citizen, June 4, 2010, http://citizen.typepad.com/eyesontrade/2010/06/cafta-case-challenges-mining-laws.html.

15. Mary O’Grady, “Will El Salvador Veer Left?,” The Wall Street Journal, December 22, 2008, Americas section, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122990333544725099.html?mod=googlenews_wsj.

16. O’Grady

17. McArthur

18. “El Dorado, El Salvador”

19. Lee Hudson Teslkik, “Fast-Track Trade Promotion Authority and Its Impact on U.S. Trade Policy,” Council on Foreign Relations, June 25, 2007, http://www.cfr.org/publication/13663/fasttrack_trade_promotion_authority_and_its_impact_on_us_trade_policy.html.

20. David Ratner and Robert E. Scott, “NAFTA’s cautionary tale: Recent history suggests CAFTA could lead to further U.S. job displacement,” Economic Policy Institute, July 20, 2005, http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/ib214/.

21. “Overview,” Pacific Rim Mining Corp, http://www.pacrim-mining.com/s/AboutUs_Overview.asp.

22. Sarah Anderson, Manuel Perez-Rocha, and Rebecca Dreyfus, “Mining for Profits in International Tribunals,” Institute for Policy Studies, April 29, 2010, http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/mining_for_profits_in_international_tribunals.

23. Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement, August 2, 2005, ch. 10, http://www.ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements/cafta-dr-dominican-republic-central-america-fta/final-text.

24. Karyn Keenan, “Canadian Mining: Still Unaccountable,” NACLA, May/June 2010, http://nacla.org/node/6555.

25. Ibid.