Lawsuit alleges Softwood Lumber Agreement fuels deforestation, undermines endangered species recovery. |
||
| SEATTLE- The Northwest Ecosystem Alliance and Defenders of Wildlife, represented by Earth Justice Legal Defense Fund, served notice that they intend to sue the Departments of Interior, Commerce and the Office of U.S. Trade Representative over various forest protection and timber trade issues. The groups are requesting the agencies remedy ongoing violations of the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act arising from the Softwood Lumber Agreement with Canada. | ||
| The groups say that present trade policy is helping to fuel catastrophic deforestation in Canada and this in turn is adversely affecting the environment of the US. "Wholesale deforestation is being fueled by wholesale prices. It’s a bad deal for our common ecosystems, fish and wildlife." said Joe Scott, Conservation Director of the Bellingham based Northwest Ecosystem Alliance. | ||
| According to Bill Snape, Legal Director of the Defenders of Wildlife, "Trade agreements must have strong environmental standards built into them. The US is importing cheap lumber and exporting both species extinction, and jobs." Snape said that the logging levels in BC are leading to declines in many salmon stocks, and water quality, as well as increased extinction pressures on grizzly bears, lynx, marbled murrelets and woodland caribou. | ||
| The Canadian Council of Forest Industries estimates that one acre of forest is being cut in Canada every 12.9 seconds. The British Columbia government estimates that the old growth forests of the province are being felled at a rate that is 40% faster than they can regenerate. The level of overcut is approximately 10 billion board feet. This old growth liquidation is made possible by policies clearly defined in the BC Forest Act, and is in sharp contrast to efforts in the US to protect remaining ancient forest habitat | ||
| Kevin Scott, of the Canadian Citizens’ Envionmental Embassy said, "As a Canadian, I am embarrassed by my country’s [environmental] policies." BC still has over 50 percent of its original ancient forests, and is one of only three regions in the world with the opportunity to protect large tracts of these internationally significant ecosystems. "Under this agreement, we are sending 300,000 log trucks a year loaded with Canada’s natural heritage south of the border." | ||
| The Softwood Lumber Agreement is the result of a long standing dispute between US and Canadian softwood lumber producers. The SWLA allows Canada to export to the US 14.7 bbf of softwood lumber per year tax free, 70% of which comes from British Columbia. American producers and labor unions have long charged that their Canadian counterparts enjoy unfair subsidies in the form of excessively low stumpage rates and a dearth of environmental and species protection laws. The duty free quota of 9.8 bbf (under the SWLA) is equal to the unsustainable (overcut) logging levels in BC based on the government’s own figures. | ||
| The conservation groups charge that the Commerce Department should have prepared an Environmental Impact Statement and consulted with the US Fish and Wildlife Service when negotiating the Agreement. | ||
| "We share watersheds, ecosystems and endangered species with Canada, including rapidly declining salmon stocks", said Bill Snape "but the laws of our two countries are light years apart." The conservationists maintain that Canada can sell their timber at bargain basement prices because their overhead is unfairly low. Conspicuously absent in resource policy north of the border, are provisions that form the framework of conservation law in the US. These are endangered species protection, environmental assessment, landscape planning, citizen participation, and streamside habitat and clean water standards. | ||
| Neither Canada nor the province of British Columbia has endangered species legislation. "The US is spending millions of dollars in a high stakes game to conserve and recover endangered species, but all bets are off when protected grizzlies wander north the border, or marbled murrelets decide to nest in the coastal rainforest of BC" said Joe Scott. | ||
| According to Joe Scott, huge areas of critical border habitat are about to get hammered in southeast and south central BC on the Washington and Montana borders. Immense clearcuts and miles of roads are planned for boundary watersheds including wildlife rich areas adjacent to the Glacier/Waterton Park complex in northwest Montana. All the areas are critical habitat for grizzlies and soon to be ESA listed bull trout, among others, and act as important wildlife migration corridors for species such as protected (in US) lynx and gray wolf. | ||
| The BC government’s recently enacted Forest Practices Code (FPC) was supposed to level the playing field by addressing the environmental discrepancies between BC and the US. According to Kevin Scott the FPC protections are abysmal and there is inadequate enforcement. "It’s like putting a couple of hockey teams out on the ice and having the referees go into the locker room when the game begins." To make matters worse the BC government is in the process of rolling back the limited environmental standards that the FPC currently provides. | ||
| Streamside protection standards in BC pale by comparison with those in the US. Clearcuts in the interior forests can be as large as 100 hectares (one hectare is the size of a football field). "Our [environmental] policies lag far behind those of the US, so it is critical that trade agreements include ‘Upward Harmonization’ provisions, otherwise the country with the weak standards will experience dramatic environmental impacts." | ||
| K. Scott Concluded. "The complete lack of environmental standards in the current SWLA provides BC with a short term economic advantage and a long term environmental disadvantage, that will be shared by both our countries." | ||
| Northwest Ecosystem Alliance and Defenders of Wildlife are represented by Earth Justice Legal Defense Fund. All legal questions should be directed to: | ||
Patti
Goldman or Amy Sinden |
||
| The litigation over the Softwood Lumber Campaign is part of NWEA's continuing efforts to address the impacts to transboundary threatened and endangered species and the ecologically disastrous situation that continues to unfold as a result of the rampant deforestation in Canada, particularly in British Columbia. | ||
| NWEA and it's allies will work hard in the coming months to elevate the level of awareness in this country of BC's catastophic ancient forest liquidation policy, and help educate citizens as to how they can influence change in these policies. | ||
CONTACTS: |
||
Bill
Snape, Legal Director |
Kevin
Scott |
Joe
Scott, Conservation Director |
We cannot guarantee the accuracy of any
of the information presented here, nor do we advocate that anyone do anything other than
read it. Certain Images and Articles on this site are copyright by Lucky Stryke, some are
copyright by their respective owners and used with permission, all others are
believed to be public domain. Anyone who acts on information contained within these pages
do so of their own free choice and must accept full responsibility! |
||