***********************************************
WORLDWIDE
BIODIVERSITY/FOREST CAMPAIGN NEWS
RAN
Discloses Mitsubish Exports Raw U.S. Logs
***********************************************
Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
2/3/95
OVERVIEW
& SOURCE
Following
is an item from Rainforest Action Networks' February
publication,
posted in econet's rainfor.general conference, which
highlights
Mitsubishi's role in US forest destruction.
RAN has
been
organizing a boycott against Mitsubishi for some time on the
basis
of their leading role in unsustainable forest utilization
world
wide. BOYCOTT MITSUBISHI!!
*******************************
/**
rainfor.genera: 162.0 **/
**
Topic: Mitsubishi exports raw U.S. logs **
**
Written 1:21 PM Feb
3, 1995 by rainforest in
cdp:rainfor.genera
**
From:
Rainforest Action Network <rainforest>
/*
Written 1:18 PM Feb
3, 1995 by rainforest in igc:ran.news */
/*
---------- "Mitsubishi exports raw U.S. logs" ---------- */
Mitsubishi
gives Northwest raw deal
Mitsubishi
Corporation is exporting prodigious quantities of
whole,
raw logs and woodchips from the Northwest United States.
Rainforest
Action Network has known for years that Mitsubishi is
shipping
timber from the U.S. and Canada, but RAN recently
discovered
precisely how much is leaving the Northwest U.S. alone.
Mitsubishi
International (MI), the Japanese corporation's wholly
owned
U.S. subsidiary, exported a total of 1,256 million pounds,
or
approximately 2,277,000 cubic meters, of Douglas fir and
hemlock
logs in 1993 and 1994.
That's
enough to fill 140 football fields six feet high,
every
year.
RAN
obtained the data by searching PIERS, a database of imports
and
exports at U.S. ports.
A
Congressional report says about a quarter of all timber
harvested
in the Northwest is exported as raw logs. Approximately
two-thirds
of those logs go to Japan for processing. Meanwhile,
U.S.
plywood, lumber, and paper mills are closing or cutting
shifts
because of log shortages.
Adding
insult to injury, taxpayers actually give some of the
largest
log exporters a break on corporate taxes for every log
they
sell overseas. U.S. Representative Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.)
says,
"For millworkers in my state, that's like giving a tip to
the guy
who mugs you on the street."
MI also
exports woodchips obtained from hardwoods like alder and
softwoods
like Douglas fir. MI's U.S. chip exports, predominantly
but not
exclusively from the Northwest, totaled 1,566 million
pounds,
or 2,841,000 cubic meters, for 1993-1994. These woodchip
exports
would fill 174 football fields six feet high two years in
a
row.
Since
it began buying from Weyerhaeuser in the mid-1970s,
Mitsubishi
has consistently been one of the three largest
exporters
of timber from North America. "My hope," says Michael
Marx,
director of RAN's Boycott-Mitsubishi campaign, "is that the
more we
learn about Mitsubishi's role in destroying our own
forests,
the better we can activate groups working on domestic
forest
issues to fight Mitsubishi as well. Mitsubishi is not just
destroying
forests overseas, it's destroying U.S. forests, and
it's
destroying our own local economies."
Marx
adds that recent statistics also indicate that MI, while
shipping
U.S. logs out, continues to be a major importer of wood
into
the United States. "They are shipping tropical timber from
every
major exporting country in the world: mahogany from Brazil,
Bolivia,
Belize, and Guatemala; meranti from Indonesia and
Malaysia;
lauan from the Philippines; and teak brokered through
Singapore,
or originating in Thailand." In light of the
recent
findings, RAN plans to increase the pressure on MI
over
the coming months.
A
condensed report on "Mitsubishi in the Forest" is now available
through
RAN. The report details Mitsubishi Corporation's various
operations
around the world and their impact on the environment
and
local communities.
------------------------------------------------------
From
Action Alert 105, February 1995
Published
by:
Rainforest
Action Network
450
Sansome St., Suite 700
San
Francisco, CA 94111, U.S.A.
Automatic
info: ran-info@igc.apc.org
Tel: (415) 398-4404
Fax: (415) 398-2732
Rainforest Action Network works to
protect
the
Earth's rainforests and support the rights of
their
inhabitants through grassroots education,
organizing,
and non-violent direct action.
###RELAYED
TEXT ENDS###
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