Dept. of Interior May Open National Parks To Logging

I'ts unclear from the article I cited wether or not the new version of the bill includes all three of those types of industrial exploitation.

This article is important info, it shows under the Bush regime that timber, mining, petroleum and other multinational US corporations have indeed been exploiting the national forests and other ecosystems held in the public trust. Ironically the workers who are coerced via threat of homelessness to physically carry out the destruction are often the same people who are exposed to the human health hazards of processing/extracting the resources in question..

Recently the corporate media (Sac Bee) has printed some long withheld info about the "pineros", or immigrant forest workers, loggers, chokesetters, etc. that work for either logging contracters for larger timber corporations like Maxxam/PL, Sierra Pacific Industries, etc..

The contract loggers are denied acess to health/medical benifits and any sort of job security. No union organizing is allowed. If a pinero/logger becomes injured, they are not given any help with medical costs and are often fired if they cannot return to work. Columbia Helicopter hires chokesetters who are in one of the top injury risk categories and routinely deny them any medical support. In the interest of greater financial efficiency logging corporations like Maxxam/PL have laid off hundreds of workers in Humboldt and replaced them with mechanized sawmills..

In nearby towns where timber is taken for processing, the workers live near the pollution from the sawmill. The chemicals used to treat the wood form the public forests are often found years later in the groundwater and aquifers. Oroville hosted Lousiana Pacific (now owned by SPI) and ended up with contaminated groundwater from wood treatment chemicals leached within one mile of the Feather River. The responsibility is ?shared? with Kopper Inc., and neither corporation is willing to accept responsibility. Since SPI purchased the LP plant, they also claim innocence in this long term problem. Needless to say SPI continues to harvest countless trees on public land and export to suburban sprawl development stateside and overseas. Housing for lower income residents remains in disrepair and neglect, the development money incentive is found in suburban sprawl, not housing upkeep in lower income communities..

The timber/mining corporations that exploit public land and workers for their short term financial gain are removing the future forest from everyone. What workers can do is try to organize under the scrutiny of timber corporate union-busting tactics, similar to the expoitation of Wal-mart workers, the corporate climat is increasingly becoming anti-union. Another otion is for IWW organizing of loggers, miners and other people employed in resource extraction. We need to consider long term sustainability and future jobs instead of a corporate smash and grab of resources on land held in the public trust. By slowing down the exploitation of resources, the value needs to increase and benefit everyone, not just wealthy corporate timber/mining/etc./developers in suburbia. The people deserve both, sustainable jobs, livable & affordable communities and healthy ecosystems in the public forests/grasslands/deserts/etc...


"Welcome to the web site for the LWIU 120, a website for all workers in forests. All workers engaged in logging operations, in saw and shingle mills, and in preparing wood for fuel and manufacturing purposes. Bark and sap collection, and restoration forestry."

http://www.iww.org/unions/iu120/

love, peace and justice;

luna moth