By MATT ARMSTRONG
A “breakfast briefing” scheduled for Tuesday morning in Washington, D.C., will seek to draw attention to the supposedly high cost to taxpayers of timber sales in the Tongass National Forest.
The breakfast, titled “Money-losing timber sales in the Tongass National Forest,” is being held with the assistance of Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon, and Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, according to a flyer for the event.
The flyer claims that the average cost of timber sales to U.S. taxpayers is $21.7 million per year.
The nearly 17-million acre Tongass National Forest is managed by the U.S. Forest Service, which has its administrative offices in Ketchikan.
Blumenauer represent’s Oregon’s 3rd Congressional District, which includes Portland.
“Congressman Blumenauer is helping organize this bipartisan briefing to provide a forum to staff to learn about numerous issues surrounding timber sales in the Tongass,” said Nicole L’Esperance, communications director for Blumenauer, in an email Monday afternoon.
Chabot represents Ohio’s 1st Congressional District, which includes Cincinnati.
“Congressman Chabot is helping to facilitate the briefing, but he will not be participating himself,” said Chabot spokesman Brian Griffith in an email Monday afternoon.
The breakfast will feature speakers from four organizations: Headwaters Economics, Trout Unlimited Alaska, National Taxpayers Union and Taxpayers for Common Sense.
“The USFS has a long history of mismanaging money in the Tongass, spending $139.1 million from 2008-2013 to conduct timber sales in the Tongass and receiving only $8.6 million in proceeds from these sales, a net loss to taxpayers of $130.5 million,” according to a recent blog post from Taxpayers for Common Sense. “ ... It’s time to stop the excessive taxpayer losses the USFS continually incurs from grossly underestimating the cost of timber projects. Instead of making the same mistake over and over, the USFS should look at previous sales as a guide to estimate the true costs of these sales.”
Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, is aware of the issues likely to be raised at the breakfast, according to Matthew Shuckerow, Young’s press secretary.
“Briefings on Capitol Hill occur on a regular basis, on a wide range of issues. This briefing is a clear indication that members of Congress are preparing to offer an amendment to the House Interior appropriations bill — set to reach the House floor on Thursday — to eliminate timber sales in the Tongass National Forest, an effort Congressman Young has successfully fought for nearly a decade,” Shuckerow said in an email Monday afternoon.
“While groups hosting tomorrow's briefing contend this is an issue of fiscal responsibility, it's important to note that many of these organizations — including the Taxpayers for Common Sense — were founded by environmentalists and are being used to build support from fiscal conservatives to eliminate timber harvests in the Tongass National Forest,” Shuckerow continued. “In reality, the costs associated with these timber sales are largely driven by frivolous lawsuits by radical members of the environmental community. If not for these significant costs, driven by groups now claiming this is bad for taxpayers, the Tongass timber program would be very profitable for the American public.”
Shuckerow added that the issue “underscores Congressman Young's desire to create a state forest in the area,” and that Young “remains committed to enhancing timber operations in Southeast Alaska and establishing a timber management system that works for the region.”
The breakfast is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C.
