A group of 13 elected officials from Boulder, Longmont and Fort Collins has sent a letter to U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder, asking him to oppose expedited Congressional approval for the contentious Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.

The policymakers, worried the TPP deal would undermine local control, announced their action at a press conference organized by the consumer rights advocacy group Food & Water Watch in Boulder on Friday.

The event came a day after several powerful Congressional committees had struck a deal on a bill that would grant the Obama administration so-called trade promotion authority, or TPA, to help finish negotiating what would be the country’s largest international trade pact since Bill Clinton pushed the North American Free Trade Agreement of 1994 through Congress despite strong opposition from labor unions and other core Democratic constituencies.

The White House, backed by Congressional Republicans in a rare instance of cross-branch cooperation, argues TPP would open up key Asian-Pacific markets for U.S. exports.

The fast-track legislation — introduced in the Senate Thursday — would strip away the congressional right to amend the TPP framework before an up-or-down vote. But it left open a backdoor: If the U.S. trade representative, who negotiates the TPP agreement, comes back with an outline that fails to meet the objectives Congress requested on labor, environmental and human-rights standards, a 60-vote majority in the Republican-controlled Senate could retract fast track and open up the framework to amendments.

But many Democrats in both the Senate and the House — a group that includes the powerful left-wing voice of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren — align with labor unions such as the AFL-CIO to generally dismiss the TPP negotiations as a job killer for American manufacturing and criticize labor protection and human rights standards in countries such as Vietnam. Environmental groups also worry that such an agreement could open the door for lawsuits from foreign corporations seeking to undermine environmental standards here in the United States.

“We are deeply concerned that, as written, the TPP will threaten the recent votes to protect health, safety and property from fracking in Longmont, Boulder, Broomfield, Fort Collins and Lafayette,” the local policymakers wrote in their letter to Polis, who represents their district in Congress. “It could also undercut Boulder’s attempts to take control over its energy future as well as Fort Collins’ recent adoption of an aggressive carbon reduction plan.”

And, “Congress would only be allowed to vote the entire trade pact up or down without any changes to address the concerns of your constituents.”

The letter is dated April 17 — the day after the TPA legislation was introduced in the U.S. Senate. But a spokesperson for the Boulder county commissioners said a final draft was sent to her office Wednesday — the day before the Congressional committee leaders announced they had agreed on a way to move forward with TPA.

In addition to signing the letter, Boulder city councilman Macon Cowles said he sent an email to Polis Friday morning after he had read that the Congressman from Colorado’s second district was among a group of a dozen Democratic House members who have signaled their support for TPA after Thursday’s legislative breakthrough.

The bipartisan Senate bill was introduced by Sens. Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, the Finance committee chairman, and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the committee’s ranking Democrat. A similar measure is expected to soon be introduced in the House by Rep. Paul Ryan, the Wisconsin Republican who chairs the Ways and Means committee. The three lawmakers have spent the last six months mapping out a way to move forward with TPA.

Polis’ office was not aware of the letter when The Statesman reached out for comment. In an emailed statement several hours later, Polis said, “We are pleased that the bill introduced yesterday includes a number of the priorities that we have been fighting for and that we specifically outlined in a recent letter to Senator Wyden, the chief negotiator of this agreement. These include a historically high bar for labor, human rights — the first time ever human rights included as negotiating objective, the environment, transparency, and enforcement.”

Polis also praised the “smart track” approval process in the introduced bill and said he looked forward to a “robust discussion” with local city councilors, commissioners and advocacy groups.

The 13 signatories were Boulder County commissioners Elise Jones, Deb Gardner and Cindy Domenico; Longmont city councilmember Polly Christensen; RTD district 1 Director Judy Lubow; Fort Collins city councilmembers Bob Overbeck and Ross Cunniff as well as Boulder city councilmembers Lisa Morzel, Mary Young, Suzanne Jones, Macon Cowles, Tim Plass and Sam Weaver.

Below is the full text of the letter:

April 17, 2015

Dear Congressman Polis:

The undersigned elected officials urge you to oppose granting the Obama Administration Fast Track Trade Promotion Authority for the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).

We are deeply concerned that, as written, the TPP will threaten the recent votes to protect health, safety and property from fracking in Longmont, Boulder, Broomfield, Fort Collins and Lafayette. It could also undercut Boulder’s attempts to take control over its energy future as well as Fort Collins’ recent adoption of an aggressive carbon reduction plan.

Current provisions under the TPP would give foreign companies the right to challenge local environmental standards and laws. This so-called Investor State Dispute Resolution was first introduced under the North American Free Trade Agreement. Ever since, the right of foreign companies to challenge local governments has been a hallmark of U.S. trade policy. Foreign companies that have “invested” in a trading partner’s country can challenge national, state or local laws or regulations at an international tribunal by alleging the law or regulation takes away its ability to earn expected profits. The company can seek monetary damages for rules that purportedly infringe on profits.

The threat of this type of lawsuit is very real. In 2012, Quebec placed a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to study the effects on the St. Lawrence River. In response, Lone Pine Resources, Inc., an oil and gas exploration company formed and operating in Canada but incorporated in Delaware, served notice of its intent to submit a claim for arbitration against the government of Canada under NAFTA’s investor-state provisions.While the TPP is being negotiated in secret, a version of the Investment Chapter was leaked last year, and is readily available on the Internet. The TPP investment negotiations continue to include investor state dispute provisions (Section B of the investment chapter).

We thank you for taking a stand asking the Colorado Oil and Gas Association to drop its lawsuits against measures passed by cities in your district to stop fracking. The TPP could facilitate far worse legal actions that not only attempt to overturn democratically enacted fracking rules but seek monetary damages from local governments.

Voting for Fast Track will not give you the ability to exercise your constitutionally granted power to remove this type of provision from the TPP; Congress would only be allowed to vote the entire trade pact up or down without any changes to address the concerns of your constituents. For this reason, we urge you to vote “no” on Fast Track so that you may offer changes that will protect Boulder’s municipalization or the various measures to stop fracking.

– Lars@coloradostatesman.com