SitNews - Rainforest Groups' Threats to Business are Outrageous Says Governor

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Rainforest Groups' Threats to Business are Outrageous Says Governor

March 31, 2004
Wednesday

Governor Frank Murkowski today expressed outrage about the tactics being used by environmental groups he describes as extreme that are threatening companies seeking to do business in Alaska. The public should not tolerate such threats to legitimate, responsible corporate citizens, Murkowski said.

Environmental groups have organized a telephone campaign aimed at Springfield, Oregon-based Timber Products Company, which has expressed interest in reopening the shuttered veneer mill in Ketchikan. Timber for the mill would come out of the Tongass National Forest, as well as from private and state-owned lands.

"Facts don't seem to be an obstacle to the militant environmentalists who have targeted Timber Products Company," said Murkowski. "They will stop at nothing in their quest to see all timber production halted on the Tongass, and our three remaining family-owned sawmills in Southeast out of business."

"The fact is, the Tongass is protected. The environmental groups are upset because the state prevailed in getting the Tongass exempted from the Clinton-era roadless rule, based on the "no more" provision of ANILCA, to which the groups had agreed in 1980. They are distorting the truth and using the Tongass to prop up their national fundraising agenda. Through the dissemination of half-truths on their websites, they encourage folks in the Lower 48 to put pressure on legitimate companies like TPC," said Murkowski.

Governor Murkowski said, "Timber Products Company is an upstanding, environmentally-conscientious company, which I would be proud to have operating in Alaska. I would encourage anyone concerned to review their track record, and support their interest in reopening the Ketchikan veneer mill."