69 



has to hold to maintain their home, minimum-wage homes, and I 

 know these jobs are pretty decent-paying jobs. You work on your 

 own, but, again, it goes back to the State. The State, I think, would 

 have a better understanding of what has to be done to keep the 

 community alive. 



We are fighting over that 1,400,000 acres. If we lose that, we 

 have got nothing, and, unfortunately, I do think there are those 

 who would like to see that done so there is no infrastructure in 

 place so people would have to leave. The young people that would 

 like to stay here cannot. I watched a drain in the early 1960's in 

 the State. A lot of people had to go outside. Fortunately, we were 

 able to discover oil and kept a lot of our kids in the State, and I 

 would like to see that continue. 



I want to thank you all for being here, and I know that you have 

 great faith in this, and just on the private level, the beard may be 

 gray, but the heart is young, and I am going to help you win this 

 battle, and it is going to be a long, drawn-out process, but I hope 

 that when we finally get this thing settled, you will have a lot more 

 comfort margin to think there will be a future in the Southeast 

 area, because I am confident there will be. 



Thank you very much. 



The next panel will be Tim Bristol from Juneau, Vicki LeCornu 

 from Hydaburg, Sylvia Geraghty from Tokeen, and Wes Morrison. 

 Take your seats, and I am going to go see a little man about maybe 

 buying an airplane ticket. 



[Recess] 



The Chairman. This is Panel Number IV. We have Tim Bristol, 

 Vicki, Sylvia, and Wes Morrison. 



Tim, you are up first. 



STATEMENT OF TIM BRISTOL, JUNEAU 



Mr. Bristol. Mr. Chairman, my name is Tim Bristol. I work as 

 the grassroots organizer for the Southeast Alaska Conservation 

 Council, a coalition of 15 grassroots groups based in 12 commu- 

 nities throughout Southeast. 



SEACC strongly opposes your bill. This is possibly the worst 

 piece of anti-conservation legislation yet introduced by the Alaska 

 congressional delegation. This bill, which you have tried to disguise 

 as a State's rights bill, is actually a corporate wish list which 

 hands over public resources to a powerful few at the expense of 

 many. This bill does not allow Alaskans a larger role in the deci- 

 sionmaking process, as you claim, but will, in reality, completely 

 insulate the public from decisions affecting their forest home. 



As State Senator Robin Taylor has made so clear in his written 

 statements, the real nature of this bill is to turn over large portions 

 of the Tongass to private hands. This is a terrible idea. Why? Just 

 take a look across Clarence Strait. Many in Ketchikan allowed one 

 man, Louisiana Pacific's CEO, Mark Suyen, to engage in what I 

 would characterize as extortion. Suyen only cares about one 

 thing — his rich company's bottom line. He says it will pull the plug 

 on KPC's hard-working employees if it does not receive billions 

 more board feet of Tongass timber and millions of dollars of addi- 

 tional taxpayer subsidies. Too much power is already concentrated 



