The TPP was billed as having environmental standards that would be ground-breaking for a trade deal, butWhat's more, giving multinational corporations the power to sue our governments for creating new laws, could inhibit their ability to govern in the public interest.For example, if a state government placed a ban on coal seam gas fracking, because it was contaminating water tables, the fracking company could sue the government and force Australian taxpayers to cover the cost of lost profits.We've already seen scenarios like this played out in countries around the world, such as in El Salvador, where a Canadian company (now Australian-owned) is suing the government for $315 million in "loss of future profits" because local citizens won a hard-fought campaign against a gold mine that threatened to contaminate their water supplies. The Australian company is continuing to pursue the case.