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Former US Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming, Who Bridged Partisan Gaps With His Quick Wit, Dies at Age 93

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Friday, March 14, 2025

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson, a political legend whose quick wit bridged partisan gaps in the years before today’s political acrimony, has died. He was 93.Along with former Vice President Dick Cheney, Simpson was a towering Republican figure from Wyoming, the least-populated state. Unlike Cheney, Simpson was famous for his humor.“We have two political parties in this country, the Stupid Party and the Evil Party. I belong to the Stupid Party,” was among Simpson’s many well-known quips.A political moderate by current standards, Simpson’s three terms as senator from 1979 to 1997 covered the Republican Party’s rejuvenation under President Ronald Reagan. Simpson played a key role rallying GOP senators around the party’s legislative agenda as a top Senate leader during that time.Simpson was better known for holding his own views, though, with sometimes caustic certainty. A deficit hawk with sharp descriptions of people who relied on government assistance, Simpson supported abortion rights — an example of moderation that contributed to his fade in the GOP.His Democratic friends included Robert Reich, labor secretary under President Bill Clinton, and Norman Mineta, transportation secretary under President George W. Bush.Simpson and Mineta met as Boy Scouts when Mineta and his family were imprisoned as Japanese-Americans in the Heart Mountain War Relocation Center near Simpson’s hometown of Cody, Wyoming, during World War II.After leaving politics, both promoted awareness of the incarceration of some 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry in camps during the war. Mineta, who died in 2022, recalled that Simpson once was asked what was the biggest difference between them as a Republican and a Democrat.“Alan thought about it and he said, ‘Well, I wear size 15 shoes and he wears a size 8 and a half,’” Mineta replied, according to the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation.In 2010, President Barack Obama tasked Simpson with co-leading a debt-reduction commission that developed a plan to save $4 trillion through tax hikes and spending cuts. The plan lacked support for serious consideration by Congress.At 6-foot-7, Simpson was literally a towering figure — tallest on record in the Senate until Alabama Sen. Luther Strange, who is 6-foot-9, took office in 2017.Big as Simpson’s shoes were, he had huge ones to fill politically.His father, Milward Simpson, was a governor, U.S. senator and state legislator. His mother, Lorna Kooi Simpson, was president of the Red Cross in Cody and on the local planning commission.“I saw Dad loved politics and the law, and I wanted to do that,” Simpson once said.Simpson was born in Denver in 1931. After a childhood of reckless gun-shooting and vandalism in Cody that put him in danger and in trouble with the law, he graduated from Cody High School in 1949 and the University of Wyoming in 1954.Also that year he married Ann Schroll, of Greybull, Wyoming, and joined the U.S. Army, where he served in the Fifth Infantry Division and the Second Armored “Hell on Wheels” Division in Germany.After leaving the Army, Simpson got a law degree from the University of Wyoming in 1958 and joined his father’s law practice, where he worked for the next 19 years. He was elected to the Wyoming House in 1964 and served there until his election to the U.S. Senate in 1976.A football and basketball athlete at the University of Wyoming, Simpson fondly described politics as a “contact sport.”“I’ve been called everything,” he said in 2003. “What the hell. If you don’t like the combat, get out.”Simpson’s candor made him popular with voters. He also was known as a well-read, hardworking and sometimes hard-nosed politician involved in immigration, veterans’ affairs and environmental issues.He served on the Immigration Subcommittee and the Veterans Affairs Committee, among others.Simpson opposed sentences of life without parole for juveniles and said he supported review of criminal sentences after a period of time.“When they get to be 30 or 40 and they been in the clink for 20 years, or 30 or 40, and they have learned how to read and how to do things, why not?” he told The Associated Press in 2009.By 1995, he’d had enough of the Senate and decided not to run again.“Part of me said I could do this for another three or four years but not six,” he said at the time. “The old fire in the belly is out. The edge is off.”Others of his family in politics and government included his older brother, Pete, a University of Wyoming historian who served in the Wyoming House and was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for governor in 1986. Alan Simpson’s son Colin was speaker of the Wyoming House, and his nephew Milward Simpson directed the state parks department.After leaving the Senate, Simpson taught about politics and the media at Harvard University and the University of Wyoming. In speeches he often urged college students to be politically involved.Simpson is survived by his wife, Ann; his brother Pete Simpson; sons Colin Simpson and William Simpson; and daughter, Susan Simpson Gallagher.Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See - Feb. 2025

Relatives are remembering former U_S_ Sen_ Alan Simpson of Wyoming as “an uncommonly generous man” who was “gifted in crossing party lines.”

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson, a political legend whose quick wit bridged partisan gaps in the years before today’s political acrimony, has died. He was 93.

Along with former Vice President Dick Cheney, Simpson was a towering Republican figure from Wyoming, the least-populated state. Unlike Cheney, Simpson was famous for his humor.

“We have two political parties in this country, the Stupid Party and the Evil Party. I belong to the Stupid Party,” was among Simpson’s many well-known quips.

A political moderate by current standards, Simpson’s three terms as senator from 1979 to 1997 covered the Republican Party’s rejuvenation under President Ronald Reagan. Simpson played a key role rallying GOP senators around the party’s legislative agenda as a top Senate leader during that time.

Simpson was better known for holding his own views, though, with sometimes caustic certainty. A deficit hawk with sharp descriptions of people who relied on government assistance, Simpson supported abortion rights — an example of moderation that contributed to his fade in the GOP.

His Democratic friends included Robert Reich, labor secretary under President Bill Clinton, and Norman Mineta, transportation secretary under President George W. Bush.

Simpson and Mineta met as Boy Scouts when Mineta and his family were imprisoned as Japanese-Americans in the Heart Mountain War Relocation Center near Simpson’s hometown of Cody, Wyoming, during World War II.

After leaving politics, both promoted awareness of the incarceration of some 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry in camps during the war. Mineta, who died in 2022, recalled that Simpson once was asked what was the biggest difference between them as a Republican and a Democrat.

“Alan thought about it and he said, ‘Well, I wear size 15 shoes and he wears a size 8 and a half,’” Mineta replied, according to the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation.

In 2010, President Barack Obama tasked Simpson with co-leading a debt-reduction commission that developed a plan to save $4 trillion through tax hikes and spending cuts. The plan lacked support for serious consideration by Congress.

At 6-foot-7, Simpson was literally a towering figure — tallest on record in the Senate until Alabama Sen. Luther Strange, who is 6-foot-9, took office in 2017.

Big as Simpson’s shoes were, he had huge ones to fill politically.

His father, Milward Simpson, was a governor, U.S. senator and state legislator. His mother, Lorna Kooi Simpson, was president of the Red Cross in Cody and on the local planning commission.

“I saw Dad loved politics and the law, and I wanted to do that,” Simpson once said.

Simpson was born in Denver in 1931. After a childhood of reckless gun-shooting and vandalism in Cody that put him in danger and in trouble with the law, he graduated from Cody High School in 1949 and the University of Wyoming in 1954.

Also that year he married Ann Schroll, of Greybull, Wyoming, and joined the U.S. Army, where he served in the Fifth Infantry Division and the Second Armored “Hell on Wheels” Division in Germany.

After leaving the Army, Simpson got a law degree from the University of Wyoming in 1958 and joined his father’s law practice, where he worked for the next 19 years. He was elected to the Wyoming House in 1964 and served there until his election to the U.S. Senate in 1976.

A football and basketball athlete at the University of Wyoming, Simpson fondly described politics as a “contact sport.”

“I’ve been called everything,” he said in 2003. “What the hell. If you don’t like the combat, get out.”

Simpson’s candor made him popular with voters. He also was known as a well-read, hardworking and sometimes hard-nosed politician involved in immigration, veterans’ affairs and environmental issues.

He served on the Immigration Subcommittee and the Veterans Affairs Committee, among others.

Simpson opposed sentences of life without parole for juveniles and said he supported review of criminal sentences after a period of time.

“When they get to be 30 or 40 and they been in the clink for 20 years, or 30 or 40, and they have learned how to read and how to do things, why not?” he told The Associated Press in 2009.

By 1995, he’d had enough of the Senate and decided not to run again.

“Part of me said I could do this for another three or four years but not six,” he said at the time. “The old fire in the belly is out. The edge is off.”

Others of his family in politics and government included his older brother, Pete, a University of Wyoming historian who served in the Wyoming House and was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for governor in 1986. Alan Simpson’s son Colin was speaker of the Wyoming House, and his nephew Milward Simpson directed the state parks department.

After leaving the Senate, Simpson taught about politics and the media at Harvard University and the University of Wyoming. In speeches he often urged college students to be politically involved.

Simpson is survived by his wife, Ann; his brother Pete Simpson; sons Colin Simpson and William Simpson; and daughter, Susan Simpson Gallagher.

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Photos You Should See - Feb. 2025

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"Environmental disaster": Toxic aftermath of Los Angeles fires puts public at risk, experts warn

Local residents are wary of "years of pollution" and misleading government messaging about the wildfires

The unprecedented Los Angeles wildfires nearly two months ago burnt down entire communities and displaced thousands of people have all been contained, but the questions about the extent of the remaining environmental disaster — and its impact on local communities — are still going strong. Almost immediately after the fires broke out, many environmental experts warned that this is an urban wildfire unlike any we’ve seen before. So comparisons to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, other wildfires and major clean-up efforts were bound to fall short, they argued. Months after the first fires broke out, many remain homeless, trying to get back to their communities or acquire access to potable water. For many others, concerns remain about the safety of air and water quality in the larger LA area, the second largest city in the United States. Few people in the area were  immune to the fires: Ross Gerber, a climate activist, early Tesla investor and CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management, was only able to return to his Pacific Palisades home in early March. "It's an environmental disaster, and they [city authorities] are pretending like, ‘Oh, it'll just go away.’ But now it's sitting on our beaches, and it's just like going into the sand, and it's possible that, if they don't deal with this, it could be years of contamination for the LA beaches or more,” Gerber told Salon. Even influential money managers like Gerber felt seemingly helpless in the face of local governments’ response to the wildfires and their immediate aftermath. A car that was destroyed by the Eaton Fire is marked as a non-electric vehicle and not containing large EV batteries on January 29, 2025 in Altadena, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) "The lifeguards are standing there, and I was like, ‘Dude, you're not going to tell these people to get out of the water?’” he said, describing a recent encounter on a beach. “They're literally wading in toxic s**t. It's all over. And they're like, ‘Yeah, whatever.’ I figured if I started telling people to get their kids out of the water, they would be like, ‘leave us alone.’" Gerber has not been the only one concerned about the local response and on-the-ground application of city guidelines, as public officials scrambled to balance public safety with political considerations. Almost immediately after the fires broke out, many environmental experts warned that this is an urban wildfire unlike any we’ve seen before. “We’re in a race against time to stop disaster after the disaster,” Jane Williams, executive director at California Communities Against Toxics, warned during a webinar hosted by Coalition for Clean Air back on January 16, immediately comparing the Los Angeles wildfires to the impact of 9/11. “[That was] one of the largest public health disasters in the country’s history, and we’re faced with exactly the same problem in Los Angeles now: trying to intercept those exposures.” Local authorities' response and messaging on health risks has been uneven, with many displaced residents struggling to get clear guidelines on the timeline of the cleanup or the status of the potable water in their districts. In Pacific Palisades, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power found trace levels of benzene, a known carcinogen, in several locations and is still working on resolving the contamination, the Los Angeles Times reported. Meanwhile, Altadena communities are still waiting for the final clearance from the state to lift the “do not drink” notices. Want more health and science stories in your inbox? Subscribe to Salon's weekly newsletter Lab Notes. Many residents have turned to local Facebook groups and private messaging boards in an attempt to navigate local bureaucracies, often making tough, personal calls on what is safe for their families. The popularity of electric vehicles in California and the volume of electric cars damaged in the fires have added another layer of complexity to the cleanup efforts. Steve Calanog, the EPA's incident commander for the Palisades and Eaton fires called it “probably the largest lithium-ion battery pickup, cleanup, that's ever happened in the history of the world,” according to an NBC Los Angeles report. While some beaches that were previously closed due to fire debris have reopened, others remain closed. Health officials advise the public to check on the latest updates from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health or call the beach closure hotline at 1-800-525-5662 for the latest information. When it comes to air quality, officials have mostly warned about avoiding outdoor activities in areas with visible ash or poor air quality, but some safety experts say that many toxic particles could be hard to see. “The particles are so small they can get into the brain,” said Ed Avol, professor emeritus at USC School of Medicine at the same Coalition for Clean Air event. “The ability to focus, pay attention in school, dementia – we’re looking at a range of outcomes. It affects your metabolic system.” While California Governor Gavin Newsom touted “the fastest-ever hazardous debris removal effort in the nation” as of February 25, many questions about the safety of air, water and long-term health impact remain. Newsom’s office did not respond to Salon’s request for comment. “They're driving those trucks right through West LA right through residential neighborhoods,” Gerber said of the ongoing clean up efforts. “The whole idea that they're using any level of safety is absurd." Read more about pollution and the environment

UK government vows to clean up Windermere after sewage criticism

Environment secretary points to measures to stop lake being ‘choked by unacceptable levels’ of pollutionThe government has said it will “clean up Windermere” after criticism over the volume of sewage being pumped into England’s largest lake.The environment secretary, Steve Reed, pledged “only rainwater” would enter the famous body of water in the Lake District, putting an end to the situation where it Windermere was being “choked by unacceptable levels of sewage pollution”. Continue reading...

The government has said it will “clean up Windermere” after criticism over the volume of sewage being pumped into England’s largest lake.The environment secretary, Steve Reed, pledged “only rainwater” would enter the famous body of water in the Lake District, putting an end to the situation where it Windermere was being “choked by unacceptable levels of sewage pollution”.Reed highlighted a range of measures being put in place, including investment from the water company United Utilities. The company, which has been a major polluter of the Unesco world heritage site, recently conceded defeat in its legal efforts to block the public from accessing data related to how much sewage it was dumping into the lake.United Utilities had argued that information on how much phosphorus was being detected at a main sewage treatment works on Windermere did not fall into publicly accessible environmental information.On top of legal discharges made by the company into the important habitat, various investigations have found it also illegally dumped millions of litres of raw sewage into the watercourse.Reed and the water minister, Emma Hardy, will be in Windermere on Monday as part of a “Things Can Only Get Cleaner” tour, to see where investment in water infrastructure will underpin the building of new homes, create jobs and bolster local economies.Reed said: “Windermere is a stunningly beautiful national treasure – but it’s being choked by unacceptable levels of sewage pollution.”He added that the government was “committed to cleaning up this iconic lake” as part of its Plan for Change scheme to upgrade the crumbling water infrastructure and increase economic growth using more than £100bn of private investment.The government was also working “to stop all sewage going into the lake and restore it to its natural beauty”, Reed added.Local groups and organisations have set up a feasibility study to look into what is needed to eliminate sewage discharges into Windermere and draw on successful examples and innovation from around the world.The study has been set up by a coalition that includes United Utilities, the Environment Agency, Ofwat, Save Windermere, Love Windermere, the Lake District national park authority and Westmorland and Furness council.A £200 investment from United Utilities will go towards upgrading 10 wastewater treatment works at Windermere and reducing spills from four storm overflows discharging into the lake to two a year by 2030. Upgrades to the remaining two storm overflows are due from around 2030-35.The private sector money will go towards sewage pipes, water treatment works and nine reservoirs, supporting 1.5 m new homes, 150 large infrastructure projects and power industries such as gigafactories and datacentres.Money from water company fines and penalties has been ringfenced to deliver local water projects, and schemes to clean up waterways are to get up to £11m.Windermere is home to more than 14,000 people and its scenery, rare species and cultural heritage attract seven million visitors a year, generating £750m for the local economy.

Trump’s Cuts to Federal Work Force Push Out Young Employees

The loss of early career workers has raised concerns about the impact on the next generation of civil servants.

About six months ago, Alex Brunet, a recent Northwestern University graduate, moved to Washington and started a new job at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as an honors paralegal. It was fitting for Mr. Brunet, 23, who said he had wanted to work in public service for as long as he could remember and help “craft an economy that works better for everyone.”But about 15 minutes before he was going to head to dinner with his girlfriend on the night before Valentine’s Day, an email landed in his inbox informing him that he would be terminated by the end of the day — making him one of many young workers who have been caught up in the Trump administration’s rapid wave of firings.“It’s discouraging to all of us,” Mr. Brunet said. “We’ve lost, for now at least, the opportunity to do something that matters.”Among the federal workers whose careers and lives have been upended in recent weeks are those who represent the next generation of civil servants and are now wrestling with whether they can even consider a future in public service.The Trump administration’s moves to reduce the size of the bureaucracy have had an outsize impact on these early career workers. Many of them were probationary employees who were in their roles for less than one or two years, and were among the first to be targeted for termination. The administration also ended the Presidential Management Fellows Program, a prestigious two-year training program for recent graduates interested in civil service, and canceled entry-level job offers.The firings of young people across the government could have a long-term effect on the ability to replenish the bureaucracy with those who have cutting-edge skills and knowledge, experts warn. Donald F. Kettl, a former dean in the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, says that young workers bring skills “the government needs” in fields like information technology, medicine and environmental protection.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Why fear of billion-dollar lawsuits stops countries phasing out fossil fuels

Companies can sue governments for closing oilfields and mines – and the risk of huge damages is already stopping countries from passing green laws, ministers sayRevealed: how Wall Street is making millions betting against green lawsIn the mountains of Transylvania, a Canadian company makes plans for a vast gold and silver mine. The proposal – which involves razing four mountain tops – sparks a national outcry, and the Romanian government pulls its support.After protests from local communities, the Italian government bans drilling for oil within 12 miles of its shoreline. A UK fossil fuel firm has to dismantle its oilfield. Continue reading...

In the mountains of Transylvania, a Canadian company makes plans for a vast gold and silver mine. The proposal – which involves razing four mountain tops – sparks a national outcry, and the Romanian government pulls its support.After protests from local communities, the Italian government bans drilling for oil within 12 miles of its shoreline. A UK fossil fuel firm has to dismantle its oilfield.Beneath the grey whales and sea turtles of Mexico’s gulf, an underwater exploration company gets a permit to explore a huge phosphate deposit. Before it can begin, Mexico withdraws the permit, saying the ecosystem is “a natural treasure” that could be threatened by mining.Campaigners in London in 2016 protest against two trade agreements with ISDS clauses, hoping to draw attention to a legal action by a mining company against Romania. Photograph: Mark Kerrison/AlamySuch cases appear to be part of the bread and butter of governments – updating environmental laws or responding to voter pressure. But every time, the company involved sued the government for lost profits and often, they won (Romania prevailed in its case, Italy and Mexico were forced to pay out).They are among more than 1,400 cases analysed by the Guardian from within the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) system, a set of private courts in which companies can sue countries for billions. There have been long-held concerns about ISDS creating “regulatory chill” – where governments are scared off action on nature loss and the climate crisis by legal risks. Now, government ministers from a range of countries have confirmed to the Guardian that this “chilling” is already in effect – and that fear of ISDS suits is actively shaping environmental laws and regulations.What is it?Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) was created to help companies protect investments abroad. It allows companies to sue countries for lost profits caused by government action including corruption, seizure of assets or the introduction of health and environmental policies.The system was created in the 1960s by the World Bank. It was intended to give companies confidence to invest in poorer countries with weak political systems where they might not get a fair hearing in domestic courts.How does it work?The foreign company must put forward a case showing that the state has damaged its profits. Most international investment treaties and free-trade deals include ISDS clauses. Cases are heard by a private arbitration tribunal, and typically decided by a panel of three arbitrators – one chosen by the company, one chosen by the state and the third selected jointly.How much are the cases worth?Awards regularly amount to hundreds of millions of dollars, and some are in the billions. In 2024 the average amount awarded was $385m (£304m). The average sum awarded is increasing and these payouts can make up a sizeable chunk of poorer countries' annual budgets. Who is involved?The fossil fuel and mining industries are the most litigious in the ISDS system, accounting for more than 30% of known cases.Most claims are brought by companies based in rich countries against the governments of developing countries. Companies registered in developed countries file 81% of ISDS lawsuits, according to UN data, while developing countries have faced 62% of cases.How common is it?ISDS began as an obscure legal mechanism, averaging about one case a year for its first decade. Now, dozens are brought every year, with Guardian analysis finding more than 900 since 2013.In April 2018, New Zealand banned new offshore oil exploration projects, but stopped short of an outright ban or revoking existing concession. James Shaw, who was climate minister at the time, said it was because of the risk of being sued by foreign oil and gas companies. “When we implemented the ban on offshore oil and gas exploration, we had to construct that incredibly carefully in order to avoid the risk of litigation. The way that we did that was to leave existing permits in place,” he said. As a result, New Zealand was unable to be a full member of the Beyond Oil & Gas Alliance.Shaw said the implications of ISDS were discussed around the cabinet table, with the ministry of foreign affairs and Trade pushing back on environment policies and “frequently talking about the risk that we would end up in litigation”, although ISDS was rarely explicitly cited.“We could see what was happening around the world”, he said. “We’d keep track of the number of ISDS cases that were being taken and what percentage of those were essentially hostile to environmental regulation.” The Waiho Papa Moana Hikoi (protest march) in Auckland in 2014. The protestors were opposing drilling for deep sea oil. Photograph: Phil Walter/Getty ImagesToby Landau, who has been a leading arbitration lawyer for 30 years, said acting in accordance with the Paris agreement could result in “very significant claims” for countries. He said: “It matters hugely because of the climate emergency that we are in – we’ve got an imperative under the Paris agreement to act quickly and decisively.”The idea that this does not create a chilling effect is an “outdated and inaccurate view”. He says: “My impression from working closely with governments is that ISDS is now increasingly on their radar, that is it’s increasingly an issue for them to consider: whether implementing a particular policy might give rise to claims.“We’re left with two regimes that conflict: the Paris agreement requires (broadly) that fossil fuels be phased out, and the ISDS regime provides guarantees for investors that protect their investment – even if it is a fossil fuel investment. That’s the conflict – it’s as simple as that.”My impression from working with governments is that ISDS is now increasingly on their radar, it’s increasingly an issueToby Landau, arbitration lawyer“International arbitration costs a lot of money,” says Manuel Díaz-Galeas, attorney general of Honduras, which is fighting cases claiming $18bn (£14bn) – greater than the country’s annual budget. “The thousands of millions of dollars claimed in compensation is simply absurd,” he says.Díaz-Galeas adds that the effects of ISDS claims are particularly significant for countries such as Honduras with high poverty rates and limited budgets.Rob Davies, who was minister of trade and industry of South Africa from 2009 to 2019, withdrew the country from a number of treaties with ISDS clauses from 2013 onwards. He says ISDS posed “significant risk” to the government’s legislation.“Companies have got the right to challenge any policy … that will impact their expectation of profitability in the future, no matter what the regulation is, no matter what its motivation is, no matter how well designed it is or anything,” he says. Davies believes more recently fossil fuel companies are using the ISDS provisions to “thwart regulations on green transition”. He says: “It has a chilling effect, particularly on developing countries.”In 2021, the International Energy Agency released a report saying the 1.5C pathway requires no new oil, gas or coal. But the issue of regulatory chill has been acknowledged by a number of international bodies, including the 2022 IPPC report on climate change. “Numerous scholars have pointed to ISDS being able to be used by fossil fuel companies to block national legislation aimed at phasing out the use of their assets,” the authors wrote. The UN, Council of Europe and European parliament have all raised similar concerns about climate action being delayed or watered down by ISDS.Protestors opposing the North American Free Trade Agreement, which contains ISDS clauses, rally in Ottawa, Canada in 2017. Photograph: The Canadian Press/Alamy“There can be astronomical costs associated with these cases,” says Kyla Tienhaara, an associate professor at the School of Environmental Studies at Queen’s University in Canada. Countries are afraid of implementing environmentally friendly policies because they can’t afford the cost of ISDS, says Tienhaara. “Governments don’t even have the funding to deal with the case in the first place.”The Guardian investigation into ISDS reveals $84bn in payouts from governments to fossil fuel companies. More than $120bn of public money has been awarded to private investors across all industries since 1976. The average payout for a fossil fuel claim was $1.2bn.Some cases can cost countries a significant portion of their total annual budget. For example, in 2015 Occidental Petroleum received a $1.1bn payout from the Ecuadorian government. The country’s budget was $29.8bn in 2016. Honduras faces 11 claims, with one seeking damages equal to 30% of the country’s GDP.The problem is increasingly being discussed by climate ministers and heads of state. On the campaign trail in 2020, US presidential candidate Joe Biden said he opposed ISDS clauses in trade agreements because they allow “private corporations to attack labour, health and environmental policies”.Members of the European parliament protest against ISDS during a plenary session in February 2019. Photograph: Frederick Florin/AFP/Getty ImagesLast March, Ireland’s former president Mary Robinson said there was a “growing number of claims brought by fossil fuel companies against governments wanting to take action to tackle the climate emergency”, claiming fossil fuel companies were seeking financial compensation from states that decided to tackle the nature and climate crisis. “I cannot overstate just how perverse this is,” she said.The Danish government set a deadline to stop fossil fuel exploration by 2050 as opposed to 2030 or 2040 because it would have had to pay “incredibly expensive” compensation to companies, on top of lost revenue for the Treasury, then-climate minister Dan Jørgensen said.A 2023 UN report by David Boyd, the special rapporteur on human rights and the environment, found Denmark, New Zealand and France had limited their climate policies because of the threat of ISDS, with the Spanish government saying it has slowed its transition away from fossil fuels over “fear of being sued by a foreign investor”. The report stated that this threat has become a “major obstacle” for countries addressing the climate crisis.Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow the biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield in the Guardian app for more nature coverage.

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