Canadian imports result of mill closures, not cause

I read with absolute outrage the recent article in The News-Review regarding the loss of jobs in the wood products industry. It is unconscionable that the Sierra Club would attempt to rewrite history to deflect the blame for the human suffering they have been the direct cause of. It is equally unbelievable that the AFL-CIO would buy into and perpetuate the fairytale that mill closures were caused by anything other than the nearly complete closure of the Federally Managed Forests.

As Bob Ragon has described, there has been an ongoing competition between Canadian mills and our local mills. Competition is healthy: it is what has made our local companies the strongest, most efficient operations in the world. The rub came with the open and competitive bidding process for federal wood here versus the guaranteed volumes at fixed prices for Canadian producers. It might be an unfair advantage, but we were still competitive. What changed was that, where the Canadian Government has kept its promises, our Congress sees no need to consider our rural economies worthy of attention or honoring their commitments.

The U.S. government, in fear of and sometimes in collusion with groups like the Sierra Club, stopped selling public timber. It does not matter how talented your workforce, how efficient your operation nor what the competition is doing, if you do not have the raw materials — in this case public timber — you cannot produce a product.

American families need and are still building homes. American mills closed for lack of public timber supply and the Canadians were more than happy to fill that void. Without a raw material for the manufacturer, there can be no recapturing of these markets. An increase in Canadian imports is the result of the loss of American mills and jobs, not the cause.

Paul H. Beck

Timber manager

Herbert Lumber Company

Roseburg