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level, contributing to our trade deficit More importantly, however, we then throw the 

 burden and responsibility of harvesting timber iqx)n other countries. The United States has 

 the strictest laws in the worid governing the harvest of timber. The fact that these laws 

 work is emphasized by ttie increase in trees and forested area and timber volume since the 

 1930s. Many of the countries fi-om which we wiQ import wood products have no 

 restrictions upon logging, and many of these countries are poor enough that they will gladly 

 strip their forests for the American dollar. A refusal to manage our timber lands for 

 maximum timber production will contribute to the deforestation of other countries, most of 

 which do not have the technology nor the funds to reforest. This is inexcusable given Ae 

 fact that the United States has been actively reforesting for decades and is capable of doing 

 so into infinity. 



An article in the Rapid City Journal recently reported that because of fluctuations in the 

 price and availability of lumber, some home builders are turning to the use of steel beams 

 instead of 2X4s for home construction. The manufacture and transport of steel takes over 

 nine (9) times the amoimt of energy as does the similar structural amount of wood. In 

 addition, neither steel, concrete, nor the petroleum used to make the new 'plastic wood' is 

 renewable. We cannot grow more. It is also inexcuseable, in my opinion, to replace wood 

 with nonrenewable resources when we have an evergrowing supply of trees. 



I stated earlier that twenty years ago I believed in the environmental movement I believe 

 that we all support the concept of caring for our enviroiunent We all want clean air and 

 clean water and healthy plants and animals and lands, and we all want those wonderful 

 aspects of this great planet to be enjoyed by our descendents. The environmental 

 movement of twenty years ago, however, is no longer. It has been replaced by the 

 environmental industry: a multi-million dollar per year industry that has become dependent 

 upon unfounded hysterics that destroy people and businesses. Witness the "Alar scare" 



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