ABSTRACT
Environmental laws and regulations can have important effects on economic behaviour, so the liberalised investment regime of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) could be expected to intersect on occasion with domestic environmental policy decisions. The chapter presents one environmentalist's revisionist view that the public alarm springs from mistaking the identity of the interests that were really taking the lead during complicated decision-making minuets. The chapter begins with a brief synopsis of the core elements, including both the substantive disciplines on government action and the procedural devices for raising and resolving investor claims. Domestic commercial or political dancers at the masked ball, lurking in the shadows, were well served by putatively environmental decisions taken at the expense of foreign guests. Environmentalists fear as an avenue for business attack on environmental regulations and thus a threat to aggressive environmental protection policies, especially at the local and state/provincial levels.
