Groups Sue over Canadian Lumber Agreement
http://forests.org/-- Forest Conservation Archives
12/10/98
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Title: Groups Sue over Canadian Lumber Agreement
Source: The Associated Press
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 12/10/98
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Four environmental groups filed suit Thursday
in an effort to require the United States to apply environmental
laws to a lumber trade agreement with Canada.
The five-year Softwood Lumber Agreement, struck in 1996, settled
a long-running trade dispute with Canada and slowed Canadian
shipments of softwood lumber into the United States.
But the environmental groups say the agreement encourages the
province of British Columbia to harvest too many trees from its
forests. The overcutting harms wildlife such as grizzly bear in
Canada, and also hurts wildlife across the border in the United
States, the environmentalists say.
``We want the agreement to take into account environmental and
endangered species considerations,'' said Bill Snape, legal
director for Defenders of Wildlife, one of the plaintiffs.
The lawsuit seeks to apply the Endangered Species Act and
National Environmental Policy Act to the trade agreement.
An official with the U.S. Trade Representative's office said he
has not seen the lawsuit and therefore couldn't comment on it.
Also joining the suit were the Northwest Ecosystem Alliance,
Kettle Range Conservation Group and Pilchuck Audubon Society. The
suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of
Columbia.
Under the softwood agreement, Canada's four leading
lumber-producing provinces -- Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and
Alberta -- agreed to reduce lumber exports to the United States by
more than 6 percent from record levels in 1994 and 1995.
It permits additional Canadian lumber exports into so-called hot
markets, where both prices and demand are high. Additional Canadian
lumber also is allowed to enter the United States on payment of a
tax.
The Canadian and United States lumber industries operate under
fundamentally different conditions.
U.S. companies generally log from private land and the price of
lumber is set at auction. Canadian companies usually log on land
owned by the provinces and pay a stumpage fee set by the provincial
government.
The United States contends that British Columbia violated the
softwood lumber agreement last June when it announced a 16 percent
cut in stumpage rates to spur the economy. An arbitration panel has
been formed to hear arguments, and a decision is expected by early
next year.