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| US Senate Passes Ban on the Import of Illegal |
| 2007-12-15 |
| WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Senate today passed ground-breaking legislation to stop the import of illegally logged timber and wood products as part of the Farm Bill. Currently, the U.S. government has no authority to take enforcement action against the import of illegally logged wood products. Well, the gov can't stop the importing of illegal labor even when they DO have laws. Since early 2007, the U.S. Congress has moved to take action to stop the impact of U.S. demand on illegal logging around the world. In July, Senator Wyden and Senator Alexander introduced the Combat Illegal Logging Act. Previously, in March 2007, Congressmen Blumenauer (D-OR), Weller (R-IL), and Wexler (D-FL) introduced the bipartisan Legal Timber Protection Act, which was unanimously passed by the House Committee on Natural Resources last month and awaits approval by the full House of Representatives. |
| Posted by:www |
| #4 Most illegal logging is of exotic hardwoods that grow in such places as Southeast Asia, the Amazon Basin, much of Central America, and central Africa. Some of these trees being cut are in danger of extinction. Some types of rosewood have had their range reduced to the point they are only grown in some national parks. Ebony, a pure black hardwood that grows in Africa, is now hard to find, and most of the trees are smaller - 2' in diameter, against 5'-8' in diameter 30 or 40 years ago. Half the teak cut in Thailand and Burma is done illegally. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2007-12-15 22:16 |
| #3 Great, another piece of useless legislation. Mexicans will just start dragging logs across the border and nobody will even notice until until there are logjams on major highways in Southern California. Wait, that won't be noticed either. Never mind. |
| Posted by: Darrell 2007-12-15 19:31 |
| #2 I haven't had illegal wood since I was in high school |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-12-15 19:14 |
| #1 Frank? |
| Posted by: Thomas Woof 2007-12-15 17:57 |