49 



Mr. LiNDEKUGEL. You talked about 



The Chairman. This bill — well, we'll leave it at that. Just con- 

 tinue, but you leave the Landless out. That is a separate piece of 

 legislation. Is that agreed? 



Mr. LiNDEKUGEL. I will go on, sir. This KPC extension bill is one 

 of the most outrageous pieces of special interest, corporate welfare 

 legislation we have ever seen and one of the most damaging pieces 

 of legislation ever proposed on the Tongass. This bill embodies the 

 attitudes and arrogance of the land skinners and robber barons 

 that Teddy Roosevelt fought so well. This bill is also opposed by 

 many Southeast Alaskans. 



I have got some resolutions from different organizations, commu- 

 nities and businesses opposing this bill that I would like to intro- 

 duce into the record. 



[The information may be found at end of hearing.] 



Mr. LiNDEKUGEL. You claim that Governor Knowles supports this 

 bill, but the Governor is not supporting this bill. This bill does not 

 even come close to fulfilling the conditions the Governor laid down 

 for supporting a KPC contract extension. 



Your bill would reward a major corporate polluter for violating 

 pollution laws. KPC has a long history of violating laws, clean air, 

 clean water, labor, health, antitrust, you name it, they violate it. 

 They've pocketed years of profits from breaking the law and now 

 they want the American people to pay to clean up their act. 



Your bill would hammer away at the Tongass. It mandates 4.4 

 billion board feet of new KPC clearcuts or a line of football-field- 

 sized clearcuts from Juneau, Alaska, to Washington, D.C., and 

 back. This includes such places like Cleveland Peninsula, Honker 

 Divide, Port Houghton, Ushk Bay. This cutting would occur regard- 

 less of the impacts to hunting, fishing, tourism, subsistence and 

 other resources. 



This bill would place Louisiana Pacific's corporate needs above 

 the needs of any other forest user; it will give L-P rights that it 

 never had before; and, threaten jobs in other Tongass-dependent 

 industries. 



Your bill would guarantee KPC 23 years of timber worth nearly 

 $1-174 billion and price that timber at a fraction of its real value. 

 It would hamstring the Forest Service's ability to protect the public 

 interest by removing its authority to terminate this new contract 

 because of environmental damage, and the contract would override 

 the Tongass planning process. 



You said this bill is necessary to allow KPC to obtain financing, 

 clean up its pulp mill. But after KPC gets the contract, your bill 

 allows them to walk away from this albatross and replace it with 

 a facility that provides fewer jobs. 



You said that KPC needs this contract because the Forest Service 

 hasn't given them enough timber. The Forest Service has released 

 plenty of timber to KPC. You have blamed the Tongass Timber Re- 

 form Act for the volatile business cycles that have driven timber 

 employment down since 1990. What you haven't said is that L-P 

 lost $22 million on pulp in the first quarter of 1996. L-P's pulp divi- 

 sion lost money three out of the last four years. L-P's real problem 

 is very weak international pulp markets. That is what L-P told its 



