If efforts to change the Lacey Act (read here and here) are successful, the Union of Concerned Scientists warns the U.S. wood industry could lose millions of jobs and irreplaceable ecosystems could be threatened as a result of illegal logging.
If efforts to change the Lacey Act (read here and here) are successful, the Union of Concerned Scientists warns the U.S. wood industry could lose millions of jobs and irreplaceable ecosystems could be threatened as a result of illegal logging.
The scientists made these claims in a recently released report titled "Lacey and the Law: How the U.S. Lacey Act Helps Reduce Illegal Logging in the Tropics." Illegal logging, the scientists wrote, causes a worldwide trade distortion and has pushed prices for wood products down 16 percent.
"Lawmakers must preserve the Lacey Act because it closes the entire U.S. timber market to illegally sourced wood-an approach to stopping illegal logging that's supported by economic research," said Patricia Elias, a consultant to the scientists and author of the report. "The law ensures that the U.S. wood industry isn't undercut by cheap, illegally harvested wood."
The recent charge to change the Lacey Act-which criminalizes U.S. companies that break laws in other countries related to any plant or animal material-was launched in the wake of the second raid on Gibson Guitars for allegedly filing fraudulent paperwork to import ebony and rosewood from Madagascar. In February 2012, Sen. Rand Paul introduced the FOCUS Act of 2012 amendment in an effort to remove all references of foreign law from the act.
The Hardwood Federation-a lobbying group of which the NWFA is a part-does not support either amendment.
