CSHJR 64(RES): Relating to extension of the United States Forest Service timber sale contract with the Ketchikan Pulp Company.
00CS FOR HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 64(RES) 01 Relating to extension of the United States Forest Service timber sale contract with 02 the Ketchikan Pulp Company. 03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 WHEREAS, for the last 40 years, the timber industry operating on national forest land 05 in Southeast Alaska has been the largest private employer in Southeast Alaska; and 06 WHEREAS the United States Forest Service strategy for creating permanent year- 07 round employment through a timber industry in Southeast Alaska has been to offer long-term 08 contracts to attract pulp mills to use, and add value to, low-grade and by-product materials 09 from timber harvesting; these pulp mills serve as a market for pulp logs and chips from the 10 sawmills in Southeast Alaska; and 11 WHEREAS pulp mills assure full utilization and protect forest health by using that 12 significant portion of the Tongass National Forest that consists of dead, dying, and over- 13 mature timber; and 14 WHEREAS, since passage of the Tongass Timber Reform Act of 1990 (TTRA), a
01 pulp mill and a major sawmill have closed, and more than 40 percent of the timber industry 02 has been lost due, in part, to the failure of the United States Forest Service to make available 03 the approximately 420,000,000 board feet per year needed to meet the jobs protection 04 promises made by those who sought passage of the TTRA, all of which has created severe 05 social and economic harm to the timber industry, its workers, and timber-dependent 06 communities in Southeast Alaska; and 07 WHEREAS another of the reasons for the closure of the Sitka pulp mill was the 08 adverse economic impacts of unilateral changes to its long-term contract made by the TTRA, 09 those unilateral changes also adversely impact the economics of the Ketchikan Pulp Company 10 (KPC) contract; and 11 WHEREAS KPC, which obtained a long-term contract to help create year-round jobs 12 in Southeast Alaska, is the sole remaining pulp mill in Alaska, a major employer in Southeast 13 Alaska, and the market for pulp logs and chips from all the other sawmills in Southeast 14 Alaska; and 15 WHEREAS the loss of the KPC pulp mill could lead to the loss of the entire industry 16 now operating on the Tongass National Forest with devastating social and economic effects 17 on families and communities throughout Southeast Alaska; and 18 WHEREAS the KPC pulp mill faces an uncertain future, not of its own making, as 19 a result of the continuing log shortage created by the failure of the United States Forest 20 Service to meet its volume requirements under KPC's contract and the TTRA, as a result of 21 the adverse economic impacts to its long-term contract caused by the unilateral TTRA 22 changes, and as a result of the requirement that more than $155,000,000 in capital 23 expenditures be made over the next few years to meet new and ever changing federal 24 environmental standards and operating needs; and 25 WHEREAS, as a matter of economic common sense, KPC cannot make all the 26 necessary expenditures without the federal government extending its contract for a sufficient 27 period to amortize those expenditures, without an adequate supply of timber, and without 28 modifying those portions of the unilateral TTRA contract changes that have adversely 29 impacted the contract's economics; and 30 WHEREAS the legislature finds that an additional 15 years is a minimum reasonable 31 period to extend the KPC's timber sale contract to allow such amortization; and
01 WHEREAS the legislature finds that the 420,000,000 board feet promised by the 02 TTRA must be made available in order to provide sufficient timber to maintain the KPC 03 contract, to provide for the contracts to small business, and to reopen the Wrangell facility and 04 a by-product facility in Sitka; 05 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully urges the Alaska 06 delegation in Congress and the Governor to take all steps necessary, this year, to extend the 07 Ketchikan Pulp Company long-term contract for an additional 15 years and modify those 08 portions of the contract which the TTRA unilaterally impacted, because such an extension and 09 modification are critical to the environmental, social, and economic well-being of the Tongass 10 National Forest timber workers, their families, and timber-dependent communities in Southeast 11 Alaska and because such an extension is in the public interest of the State of Alaska; and be 12 it 13 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature also respectfully urges the 14 Alaska Congressional Delegation, the Governor, and the United States Forest Service to take 15 action this year to assure that a minimum of 420,000,000 board feet per year is made available 16 as part of any revision of the Tongass Land-Use Management Plan. 17 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the 18 United States; the Honorable Daniel R. Glickman, Secretary of the U.S. Department of 19 Agriculture; the Honorable Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior; 20 the Honorable Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable 21 Strom Thurmond, President Pro Tempore of the U.S. Senate; and to the Honorable Ted 22 Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, 23 U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.