U.S. salmon study called attack on B.C. logging
Copyright © 2001 CBC
August 16, 2001
WASHINGTON - The logging industry in British Columbia says a new U.S. plan to study salmon stocks is just another salvo in the softwood lumber dispute.
A bill before the U.S. Senate, called the Pacific Salmon Recovery Act, would dedicate $1 billion to protect and restore endangered salmon runs from California to Alaska – and study the environmental impact of logging in British Columbia.
The bill is being pushed by Oregon Congresswoman Darlene Hooley. She says American loggers are protecting the salmon, while the Canadians are destroying the habitat.
"I just want the same rules to apply and I want to make sure whatever logging practices are conducted and however we get our lumber, it's done in an environmentally sound way," she said.
But the study is just another attack on the B.C. logging industry, said John Allen, of the Lumber Trade Council. And he said it would be of no value.
"Pure harassment," he said. "I think that would be a total waste of time."
B.C.'s loggers have nothing to hide about their environmental practices, Allen said. And a forestry expert at Yale University agrees.
Ben Cashore says the study is a diversion, and that using the environment as a weapon could backfire on the U.S. industry.
Written by CBC News Online staff