In a piece for the National Post, Canada's Environment Minister Jim Prentice tackles the issue of bilateral climate change cooperation with the US. To address the issue, Prentice writes, "it is imperative that Canada continue to work with the United States to develop a coordinated approach that will both advance our respective environmental and energy objectives and renew the North American economy."

Last week, US Senators John Kerry and Barbara Boxer produced an outline climate bill. The Financial Times reports that the Kerry-Boxer is similar but different from the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill passed by the House at the beginning of the summer. Progress in the US has been made on cap-and-trade, carbon offsets, and "price collars" for emissions permits.

Nationally, Ottawa -through initiatives like the Economic Action Plan-continues to invest in the environment and also craft climate legislation. Bi-nationally, Canada has been working with the US on a number of fronts, including the U.S.-Canada Clean Energy Dialogue. Thus, according to Prentice, as Canadians, "it is with great interest that we watch the progress of American climate change legislation."

However, the Government of Canada is currently being sued by a New Jersey-based construction company for $188 million (US) for blocking a 152-hectare quarry and marine port in the Bay of Fundy. Under dispute is whether or not the 2007 adoption by the Nova Scotia provincial and the federal governments of a panel recommendation to block the project, by reason of adverse environmental impacts, was a breach of NAFTA commitments. According to Embassy Magazine, "US investors wanted to extract large quantities of basalt - a key ingredient in the production of concrete and asphalt-and ship it by bulk tanker to their New Jersey manufacturing site."

Can the Canadian federal and provincial government continue to work through NAFTA with Washington in the area of climate change and the environment while possibly breaching NAFTA commitments with American companies on the same issues?

Related:

• Event: (CTPL) Environmental Regulation and Investor Expectations under NAFTA/Règlementation environnementale et attentes des investisseurs dans le cadre de l'ALÉNA
• Event: (Canada Institute) Our Common Energy Future
• In the Classroom: The North American Free Trade Agreement and North America
• In the Classroom: Transboundary Environmental Governance in Canada and the United States
• Office of the Prime Minister: U.S.-Canada Clean Energy Dialogue
• Past Feature: The Economics of Climate Change

(Image credit: Flickr user kriscip)