Here is just a small sample of the way American Forest Service and the American goverment subsidize thier logging companies, then they turn around and accuse Canada of doing the same. Logging Companies in Canada pay for all their own roads, reforestation, engineering costs. Right now there are more than 200 agricultural products in the states that are protected by tariffs. The only way Dominicans are going to get any kind of free (ha) trade with the Americans is if the Companies in the DR are all owned and controlled by Americans.
Environment
U.S. Timber Program Posts Record Losses
By Cat Lazaroff
WASHINGTON, DC, June 12, 2001 (ENS) * Waste in the federal timber sale program is at an all time high, even as logging levels have hit a record low, according to a new report by Taxpayers for Common Sense, a national budget watchdog group. The report found that the federal timber program cost taxpayers $407 million dollars more than it received for its timber sales in 1998.
Conservation groups say logging roads, like this one on the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia, break up wildlife habitat and can lead to erosion and other problems (Two photos by Steve Holmer, courtesy American Lands)
Using the most recent government data and agency figures obtained though Freedom of Information requests, the report found that the U.S. Forest Service is significantly underestimating the timber program's financial losses.
"This agency has become the perennial financial black hole here in Washington," said Jonathan Oppenheimer, director of the Forest Campaign at Taxpayers for Common Sense. "The less they do, the more they waste. This financial abuse is starting to spiral out of control."
Key findings of the report include:
105 of the 111 national forests failed to return as much money as they spent managing the timber program
Earlier this year, the Forest Service underreported its financial losses by more than two thirds
$779 taxpayer dollars were wasted on every acre logged and $7,730 was lost on every job created
The national forest that does the most restoration and cuts the fewest old growth trees made the most money in 1998: the Siuslaw National Forest in Oregon, which made $11.5 million
The forest that proposed the most old growth logging lost the most money: Oregon's Willamette National Forest, which lost almost $30 million
"Accountants at the Forest Service ignore large expenses included in typical accounting procedures," continued Oppenheimer. He cited road construction and maintenance costs as expenses that the Forest Service attempts to downplay in their accounting practices.
Roads and logging can fragment forests, like this area of the Willamette National Forest in Oregon
The timber program lost $407 million in 1998, making it the worst financial year ever for the program. The new figures represent a 23 percent jump from the program's $330 million average loss from 1992-1997, which the General Accounting Office had previously reported.
The Forest Service's timber sale program loses money because revenue from timber sales does not cover the costs of timber sale preparation, administration, road building and other overhead costs. The Forest Service also siphons millions of dollars each year into timber trust funds, which do not receive adequate oversight by Congress or American taxpayers, charges Taxpayers for Common Sense.
The biggest money losing forests were in the western states, including Alaska, Idaho, California, Montana and Washington. Oregon topped the list, losing more than $100 million in 1998.
The states with the worst performing national forests are also the states with congressional delegations that are the most supportive of the timber industry, Oppenheimer charged.
Many logging roads must be maintained at taxpayer expense to avoid stream clogging washouts like this one in the Starrigavan watershed of Alaska's Tongass National Forest (Photo courtesy Tongass National Forest)
"The Forest Service wastes hundreds of millions of dollars each year, and Congress doesn't seem to care," said Oppenheimer. "They drink martinis on K Street with timber industry lobbyists, instead of trying to eliminate this outrageous waste of taxpayer money."
While this is not the first report to highlight the costs - both financial and environmental - of federal timber subsidies, it is the first under the new White House administration. The Bush administration and new Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth are expected to be far more favorable to timber interests than were former President George W. Bush and Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck.
Just last week, in a blow to supporters of roadless forest protection, Chief Bosworth gave himself sole authority over all decisions about timber harvest and road construction in roadless areas of national forests. And President George W. Bush's first federal budget would increase the timber sale program by more than $11 million.
Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth will have the authority to authorize logging in roadless areas of national forests (Photo courtesy U.S. Forest Service)
In contrast, according to the Congressional Budget Office, if money losing timber sales were eliminated from the Northern, Rocky Mountain, Southwestern, Intermountain and Alaska regions of the Forest Service, taxpayers would save about $1.6 billion over the next 10 years.
Taxpayers for Common Sense also proposes that Congress do the following:
Expedite the release of financial records for the National Forests: The latest numbers were released almost three years after the close of fiscal year 1998.
Eliminate timber slush funds: The absence of congressional or public oversight for these funds leads to abuse. These funds are often used to pay for overhead costs.
Eliminate commercial timber subsidies and reform the budget structure: A disproportionate share of the Forest Service's budget flows through the timber sale program, even though the program has declined in size.
"Congressional inaction sets a terrible precedent that the more you rip off the taxpayer, the bigger your budget will be," concluded Oppenheimer.
More information is available at:
http://www.taxpayer.net/forest
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free trade with the Americans
free trade, etc.
