33 



ing with the forest industry in Siberia is that it is chaotic and cor- 

 rupt. Shipments are often sent to the wrong destinations; bribery 

 is rampart; and we should not trust timber certification without 

 further independent verification. 



Also, we have had enough examples of problems associated with 

 logs brought in from Chile and New Zealand that we should be 

 very, very careful about relying on the Proposed Rules or the In- 

 terim Rules. Recently Dr. Bill Dennison, a forest mycologist at Or- 

 egon State University, called me early in the morning and said 

 that he had just seen a load of uncovered logs that were obviously 

 imported go over one of the passes in the Cascade Mountains. He 

 asked whether that was illegal, and I said, no, that the new rules 

 allow imported logs to be transported to mills throughout the re- 

 gion. He said that he had worked with APHIS in the earlier work- 

 ing groups and he thought that the spirit of the negotiations had 

 implied that the logs would be milled close to the ports. This is an 

 example of truckloads of logs that have not been heat treated being 

 transported through some of our most valuable forests in the 

 Northwest. 



Just to end up, someone mentioned earlier whether the importers 

 would have to post bonds. We have discussed it in my organization. 

 The question is — ^bonds for how much? Importers do not have to 

 post bonds under the new regulations; but how much would we ask 

 for? A billion dollars; $5 billion? The mitigation with pesticides, the 

 mitigation for loss of timber species such as Douglas fir, the loss 

 of wildlife species, how much should we ask for that? 



Mr. Rose. Well, EPA is asking people who stored old batteries 

 25 and 30 years ago, you know, to pay millions of dollars for clean- 

 up of Superfund sites now. So maybe they should talk to the EPA 

 about — no. 



Ms. Belsky. Right. In closing, it is a very difficult process. What 

 we should do is prevent these pests and pathogens from coming 

 into our country, and we should look at the rules, not only the new 

 proposed rules but the existing interim rules. We should not allow 

 any unprocessed logs or timber to come into the U.S. until we have 

 foolproof methods to prevent the entrance of exotic pests and 

 pathogens into the country. 



Mr. Rose. Thank you. 



[The prepared statement of Ms. Belsky appears at the conclusion 

 of the hearing.] 



Mr. Rose. Mr. Russell. 



STATEMENT OF KEN RUSSELL 



Mr. Russell. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for allowing me to par- 

 ticipate. 



I am a pathologist for the State of Washington, Department of 

 Natural Resources, and I am not going to go into detail in every- 

 thing here. I will skip along to another 



Mr. Rose. Your full statement is part of the record. 



Mr. Russell. Right. 



Mr. Rose. And we will publish a copy of this as a hearing. 



Mr. Russell. Right. My concerns about importing logs come from 

 two points of view, and the first are the concerns about exotic pest 

 threats on Washington's lands, which includes 2.1 million acres of 



