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The Forest Service urges us to wait until the "new" 

 Tongass Plan is completed (most likely in 1994) before 

 we push for any major reforms in Tongass management; 

 that course of inaction assures there will be precious 

 little left to reform. 



S.346 IS JOB NEUTRAL. Passage of S . 346 will have no effect on the number of 

 jobs in the Tongass -dependent timber industry of southeast Alaska. The GAO 

 states: "The employment goal of Section 705(a) of ANILCA and the Tongass Land 

 Management Plan. . .has not been achieved." Each time the pulp mills have faced 

 Congressional efforts at reform, they have responded in the same manner -- by 

 blackmailing the public and Congress with the specter of job losses or mill 

 closures . 



For example, in 1973 mill officials threatened cutbacks and 

 shutdowns if environmental impact statements were required in the Tongass. In 

 1976, KPC announced it would close by July 1, 1977 if the EPA insisted on 

 enforcing the same pollution standards used for every other pulp mill in the 

 country. During the Alaska Lands Act debates in 1979 and 1980, the mills 

 argued that wilderness designations would cause them to shut down if Congress 

 did not grant them special funding and timber supply provisions of Section 

 705. Throughout the early 1980s the pulp mills threatened to leave if 

 pollution waivers, labor union wage cuts, and relaxed logging regulations were 

 not granted. As late as 1985, Senator Ted Stevens told the Juneau Empire chat 

 APC would shut down if Congress did not approve a special grant to install the 

 pollution equipment required of every other mill in the country. 



The timber industry also has exaggerated the number of jobs in the 

 industry. According to a Forest Service report to Congress released two weeks 

 ago in draft form, 1781 people were employed directly in Tongass timbering. 



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