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March 26, 2004

Rendell Getting the Propaganda Tour Today

This is in this morning's Bradford Era:

HARRISBURG ‹ Gov. Ed Rendell will visit Kane Hardwood at 11 a.m. today to tour the sawmill operations and discuss the "importance of ensuring the long-term protection and productive use of Pennsylvania's forests."

The Democratic governor is traveling through the state to promote his "Growing Greener II" initiative.

The Growing Greener initiative is a four-year, $1.4 billion state initiative for land conservation and environmental protection.

Ok, now that is laughable. Rendell is going to tour Kane Hardwoods, Collins-Pine's (Oregon) main operator in Pennsylvania. That is correct, the same company that has been certified as "sustainable" for whole-heartedly embracing the "SILVAH" logging system designed to convert native forests to black cherry dominated tree farms. And they are calling this the "long-term protection ... of Pennsylvania's forests"? I would also dispute the "productive use", as if giving priority use of their lands to forest products equals "productive use". I have no problem with Collins-Pine emphasizing timber management on their lands, but calling a spade anything other than a spade is utter nonsense.

But this is also interesting. Most of the article is dominated by a one-sided report of propaganda from the Pennsylvania Forest Products Association:

Rendell's interest in the state's forests have concerned one forest products group.

According to a press release from the Pennsylvania Forest Products Association, association officials sent a letter to Rendell asking him to reconsider two components of his budget proposal that could have a negative impact on the state's forest products industry.

In the governor's plan, $100 million will be spent on new forest protection initiatives and the proposed implementation of the two fees on manufacturing operations.

"In his budget address, the governor expressed support for the Pennsylvania forest products industry," said Paul Lyskava, executive director for PFPA. "But these proposals are counterproductive and will only further add to the cost of doing business in the state."

The forest plan initiative is part of the governor's $800 million Quality of Life bond proposal.

According to Lyskava, "The U.S. Forest Service confirms in its ongoing forest inventory that there has not been a statistically significant loss in forest acreage over the past 15 years. Pennsylvania also has more forested acres now than it did in 1955.

The release continues with information that the state's forest land that is already protected from development through government ownership, land trust activities and Pennsylvania's Clean and Green Program includes 47 percent, or 7.8 million acres.

Ok, before I go on, lets strip this of the utter lies and propaganda. Lsykava is a propaganda artist left-over from the Ridge administration (he ran Ridge's Pennsylvania Hardwood Development Council whose expertise was exporting Pennsylvania logs and jobs). So it isn't surprising that this is the best nonsense that he can come up with. He argues that there has been no change in the amount of forest land in the last 15 years. Yeah, sure, I'll buy that. But what does that mean? Nothing, because the surveys he is citing consider clearcut lands and 20 year old unhealthy scrap woodlands as forests just the same as if it were old growth habitat where Northern Goshawk roam. His comments sound important but say nothing about the actual state of Pennsylvania forests.

And now for Lyskava's final claim. According to Lyskava 47% of our forest lands in Pennsylvania are locked up in state forest lands and the "Clean and Green Program." What, is he kidding us? The primary lands in the "Clean and Green Program" are industry lands (timber, coal, oil & gas, etc..). Just look at any Game Commission map showing the Clean & Green Lands. In fact, last I checked Collins-Pine was enrolled in this program except that they so badly wanted a profit at the expense of hunters that they violated the program's requirements to keep these lands open to the public.

Oh, but our favorite timber industry propagandists aren't done yet:

PFPA is also opposed to the governor's plan to impose two new fees on emissions and byproducts that are part of manufacturing processes, according to the release.

"For the forest products industry, these new taxes will have the greatest impact on value-added wood processors, including furniture and cabinet manufacturers, paper companies and producers of engineered wood products. Many companies in these sectors are already struggling to remain competitive in an ever-increasing global marketplace," added Lyskava.

The state's forest products industry includes more than 2,600 facilities. It employs about 90,000 Pennsylvanians, or about 11 percent of the state's manufacturing workforce.

Well, hot damned, the PFPA cares about the manufacturing sector? Well, not exactly I think. They include "engineered wood products" in their list of "value-added wood processors." What a joke. If there is a primary threat to real Pennsylvania manufacturers of furniture and cabinet makers it is the engineered wood products industries. And lo and behold, guess who the biggest polluters are amongst the PFPA's list of "value-added" industries: the chip & glue companies who make paper and engineered wood products.

This article prompted me to check out the PFPA's website where I encountered their new education program. And yes, it is a "curriculum" of blatant lies and propaganda intended for our schools - these industries love to brainwash people. Here I encountered their less than slick streaming "education" video. Their streaming video declares that "unmanaged old growth forests become stagnant and diseased." Enough said! Except then the video goes on to say that all harvesting must comply with "strict state regulations". Are they kidding? Pennsylvania has some of the weakest regulations in the country! I suppose truth is too much to ask. It is sad that so much of public education is guided by extremists like the PFPA. Who would have thought!? For some good comedy click here. Maybe someone can make a transcript.

Posted by jkleissler at March 26, 2004 12:16 PM

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