The Price Paid for Illegal Timber

April 17, 2007
Editorial

Letter to the Editor 

The Washington Post

The illegal timber trade is an affront to communities, businesses and ecosystems alike ["Corruption Stains Timber Trade," front page, April 1], and it is vital that we take measures to curb it. Last month I introduced the Legal Timber Protection Act, H.R. 1497, which would ban trade in illegally harvested timber and wood products.

Illegal logging is a death sentence for some of the world's richest ecosystems, and with as much as 30 percent of U.S. hardwood imports coming from suspicious or illegal sources, it costs the U.S. timber industry $1 billion a year. It is no surprise, then, that my legislation has not only bipartisan support but also support from environmental groups, industry and labor.

EARL BLUMENAUER

U.S. Representative (D-Ore.)

Washington

Issues: 
Health Care and Medicare