ACTION
ALERT
***********************************************
WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
Mitsubishi
Pulp Mill in Canada Gets Taxpayer Bailout
***********************************************
Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
http://forests.org/
4/12/98
OVERVIEW
& COMMENTARY by EE
Following
is the corrected Action Alert from Rainforest Action Network
which
highlights the inappropriateness of the $130 million Canadian
taxpayer
bailout of Alberta-Pacific's industrial forestry operation.
g.b.
*******************************
RELAYED
TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Mitsubishi Bail-Out/Action Alert!
Source: Rainforest Action Network
Status: Distribute freely with credit given to
source
Date: April 7, 1998
APRIL,1998
ACTION ALERT
MITSUBISHI
PULP MILL GETS TAXPAYER BAILOUT
An
industrial logging operation owned by the world's largest
multinational
corporation might not seem like a deserving candidate
for
welfare benefits. But Alberta's Premier,
Ralph Klein, recently
gave
the Alberta-Pacific (Al-Pac) mill the most generous of handouts -
forgiveness
of $130 million (Canadian dollars) in loans Al-Pac owed
back to
the taxpayers of Alberta. Al-Pac,
according to the Western
Canada
Wilderness Committee, is now "the most heavily subsidized mill
in
history."
Rainforest
Action Network has reported on Al-Pac's devastating
operations
several times since 1993, when the mill opened for regular
production. The mill, which cost approximately $1.3
billion to build,
is
financed in part by several Mitsubishi-owned banks; Mitsubishi
Corporation
is also a 43% owner in the mill. The
province of Alberta
originally
made loans to Al-Pac with the understanding that the money
would
be returned when the mill became profitable.
To this day, the
mill
has not ever had a profitable quarter.
The
situation brings renewed attention to the mill's business
practices. In its four years of operation Al-Pac has
clearcut immense
tracts
of Alberta's old growth forests, and has dumped effluents into
the
already-polluted Athabasca River System, dramatically increasing
the
level of oxygen in the water. The
resulting environmental
catastrophe
has lead to the loss of fish, wildlife and safe drinking
water,
and has endangered the well-being of northern communities -
including
Northern Cree, Metis, and Dene First Nations (Indian) people
who
rely on trapping and fishing for their livelihood. Additionally,
these
First Nations communities fear that the continued encroachment
of
commercial logging operations onto their land will further undercut
their
rights, traditional culture and ancestral ways-of-life.
Meanwhile,
the provincial government of Alberta has given Al-Pac the
authority
to monitor its own environmental performance and effluents
without
any independent oversight - while the company systematically
clearcuts
Alberta's old growth boreal forest in an area almost the
size of
Indiana.
And yet
to preserve its lifeline of government subsidies, Al-Pac
continues
to promise jobs for the province of Alberta. With a
worldwide
slump in the pulp market and increasing automation, pulp and
paper
industry jobs are being lost at the rate of 20% per decade -
leaving
Albertans with ravaged forests, a sluggish economy, and the
burden
of debt for a project they did not support in the first place.
WHAT
YOU CAN DO
It is
not too late for Alberta-Pacific to take responsibility for its
actions. Community members are calling on Al-Pac to
stop the
destruction
of Alberta's old growth forests and set aside tracts of
undisturbed
wilderness within its logging territory - providing a safe
habitat
for the region's numerous species of plants and animals.
These
protected areas should also be open to First Nations people,
giving
them free access to hunt, fish and harvest medicinal plants.
Says
Gray Jones of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, "Al-Pac
has a
real opportunity to atone for its past misdeeds and show some
leadership
in the 21st century."
Tell
Mitsubishi's Al-Pac that it cannot continue to clearcut Alberta's
forest
resources. In addition to setting aside protected areas, Al-Pac
must
address the problem of old growth logging head-on: ask Bill
Hunter,
the new General Manager, to transition the mill into using
non-tree
fiber sources. Here is a sample letter (first-class postage
to
Canada is 46 cents):
Bill
Hunter, General Manager
Alberta-Pacific
Forest Industries
Box
8000, Boyle, Alberta
T0A
0M0, Canada
Dear
Mr. Hunter,
I
learned recently that the government of Alberta has erased $130
million
in loans that Alberta Pacific owes provincial taxpayers. It
troubles
me that your mill is subsidized to cut down irreplaceable old
growth
forests and pollute the Athabasca River system. In your new
position
as General Manager, the best steps you could take to protect
Alberta's
old growth forests are to set aside protected wilderness
areas
within your logging territory, and allow First Nations people -
such as
the Metis, Northern Cree and others - full access to carry on
their
traditional way of life. Additionally,
you must reconfigure
Al-Pac's
operation to use non-wood fibers, such as agricultural pulp,
as an
alternative to old growth forests in your pulp production.
Now
that the Premier of Alberta has given you a $130 million gift,
please
let me know what you intend to do in return for the people of
Alberta. I am especially interested in learning how
you plan on
improving
Alberta-Pacific's environmental record.
I will continue to
monitor
your progress on this issue, and support the rights of First
Nations
people to protect their land and at the same time establish
preserved
areas within your FMA.
###
Written
with Gray Jones of Western Canada Wilderness Committee
The
Corporate Transformation Program works to shift ecologically and
culturally
destructive corporate practices to those that protect
biological
and cultural diversity and integrity.
Rainforest
Action Network
Heather
Sarantis, Corporate Transformation Program Director
221
Pine Street, Suite 500
San
Francisco, CA 94110
415.398.4404
415.398.2732
(fax)
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