8 



Mr. Janik. Thank you. 



The Chairman. Mr. Lyons, you are first up. 



STATEMENT OF JAMES R. LYONS, UNDER SECRETARY, NATU- 

 RAL RESOURCES AND THE ENVIRONMENT, U.S. DEPART- 

 MENT OF AGRICULTURE; ACCOMPANIED BY PHIL JANIK, RE- 

 GIONAL FORESTER, ALASKA REGION FOREST SERVICE; JIM 

 PERRY, ASSOCIATE GENERAL COUNSEL; AND FRED WALK, 

 ALASKA REGION TIMBER MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR AND 

 CONTRACT OFFICER FOR KPC 



Mr. Lyons. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Chairman 

 Young, Chairman Allard, and members of the committee, I appre- 

 ciate this opportunity to appear before you this afternoon. If I could 

 beg the committee's indulgence, there is a memorial service begin- 

 ning shortly for Mollie Beattie, Director of the Fish and Wildlife 

 Service, who passed away recently. And I would like to be able to 

 attend that, so I will present my testimony and then hopefully an- 

 swer some questions, but if I could, I would ask I be able to depart 

 soon afterwards. 



I am joined today by Phil Janik, who of course is the regional for- 

 ester for the Alaska Region Forest Service; by Jim Perry to my 

 right, who is the Assistant — excuse me. Associate General Counsel 

 in the Department of Agriculture for Natural Resources; Brad Pow- 

 ell next to Phil, who is Forest Supervisor of the Ketchikan area of 

 the Tongass; and Fred Walk, who is the Alaska Region Timber 

 Management Director and Contract Officer for KPC. 



Let me State at the outset, Mr. Chairman, that the Administra- 

 tion strongly opposes Senate bill 1877, and they are concerned the 

 bill unilaterally modifies provisions of the long-term timber sale 

 contract with KPC and that it extends it for 15 years until the year 

 2019. In so doing, the bill undermines the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture's authority to manage the resources of the Tongass Na- 

 tional Forest, restricts the Secretary's ability to adapt to changing 

 environmental information, provides special benefits to a private 

 corporation and conflicts with certain existing law, including the 

 National Forest Management Act and the Tongass Timber Reform 

 Act. Of course, the same applies to H.R. 3659. 



Secretary Glickman has committed the Department to maintain- 

 ing a sustainable timber flow to KPC in accordance with the terms 

 of the existing contract, TTRA, and other relevant statutes. I would 

 submit, Mr. Chairman, that we have and we will stand by our con- 

 tractual commitments to KPC. 



We object to specific provisions of the bill. We object to the statu- 

 tory modification of the existing long-term timber sale contract 

 with KPC. The contract is almost 50 years old and is the subject 

 of substantial litigation. In addition, a number of significant envi- 

 ronmental laws have been enacted since the contract was signed. 



Section 2(b)(1) of the bill states that the contract acknowledges 

 an intention on the part of the Forest Service to supply adequate 

 timber after the completion of the contract for permanent operation 

 of the purchaser's facilities. However, neither the original 1951 con- 

 tract nor the post-Tongass Timber Reform Act contract obligate the 

 Forest Service to grant or approve an extension of the long-term 

 contract. 



