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For the past two years, as a member ot the Natural Resources Task Force of the 

 Presidents Council on Sustainable Development. 1 have had the opportunity to 

 speak with many people in the western United States on the sustainable 

 development of natural resources. There is a growing understanding world- 

 wide that maintaining a high quality of life depends equally upon economic 

 stability, environmental protection, and social justice. This long term timber 

 contract, written over four decades ago, fails the test of sustainability by every 

 measure. It assumes that our forests can be clear-cut forever, it forces us to 

 manage wildlife without consideration of habitat, it eliminates competition 

 within the industry and eliminates the use of the resource by more sustainable 

 industries, and it ignores both the physical and financial impacts that highly 

 toxic wastes have on all living things. 



Mr. Chairman, ACWA does not work on timber allocation issues and defers to 

 other individuals and organizations on such matters; however, we could not 

 begin to consider supporting extensions to the KPC timber contract unless four 

 conditions were met: (1) suspension of KPC's opposition to the 1994 EPA permit; 

 (2) a complete cessation of KPC's discharge of toxic materials to the waters of S.E. 

 Alaska; (3) the timely completion and implementation of a site remediation plan 

 for Ward Cove, and (4) an immediate initiation of the refitting of the facility to 

 allow the company to operate in compliance with all State and Federal pollution 

 laws. 



Thank you Mr. Chairman for this opportunity to address your Committee on this 

 most important issue. 



Sincerely, 



Gershon Cohen 

 Executive Director 



