"Obama’s Environmental Allies Not Buying His Trade Pitch on Climate"

"President Obama has made environmental safeguards one of the selling points of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. But environmental groups aren’t buying.

The influential environmental groups — a key part of the effort to rally the Democratic base against the fast-track bill for trade talks — believe that a new trade pact could set back important gains achieved over the past two decades. By contrast, the White House argues, as senior adviser Brian Deese put it in a recent Web posting, that this is 'a once-in-a-generation chance to protect our oceans, wildlife, and the environment.'

The trade issue pits Obama, who has devoted himself to slowing climate change, against environmental groups, which are clamoring for tougher terms. In a largely unpublicized May 21 meeting with the heads of a handful of major environmental groups including the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the League of Conservation Voters, Obama asked for their trust and help persuading members of Congress to give him fast-track authority to conclude the TPP agreement."

Steven Mufson reports for the Washington Post June 16, 2015.