AS THE SKY CLEARED over rain-swept Southeast Alaska one August afternoon in 2019, we flew over Prince of Wales Island to take in its lush forests. Numerous fresh clearcuts interrupted the deep green cover on the United States’ fourth largest island located at the southern end of Alaska’s massive Tongass National Forest. In some spots, stands of younger trees stretched their canopies across older, logged areas. On the whole, though, the forest here looked rich and vast.
After 35 years of clearcutting Southeast Alaska forests, Sealaska says it wants to generate “sustainable value” for shareholders.
Washington has quietly made logging a part of the state’s climate mitigation strategy.
The Forest Behind Bruce Anderson’s home in the rolling foothills south of Puget Sound in Washington is densely packed with enormous Douglas fir trees, the most commercially harvested tree species in the United States. It is a natural forest, grown from seeds dispersed by a previous generation of conifers around the time of the Civil War.
Aberdeen: Sierra Pacific’s Polluted Prison By John Williams When Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) opened a new lumber mill across the road from Steve Wycoff’s metal shop in Aberdeen, Washington, Steve hoped the new jobs might help turn the local economy around. But instead SPI turned Steve’s cozy metal shop, where he’d worked for 15 years, …
Air Toxics Bill Stirs Opposition from Supporters of Cleaner Air Oregon By PAUL KOBERSTEIN Senate Bill 1541, the bill that would gut many provisions of the proposed Cleaner Air Oregon program before they take effect, is getting critical reviews from clean air advocates, many of whom have taken to Facebook and other social media to …
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APES’ pollution control still up in the air Oil recyling refinery still hasn’t installed anti-smog devices, facing fines by Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality. After years of dithering, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is finally trying to force a North Portland used-oil recycling refinery, American Petroleum Environmental Services, to construct and install air pollution …
In the dirty business of making railroad ties, there’s blood under the tracks. May 6, 2018 Part 1 People in The Dalles, Ore., say their air is being poisoned by a company that uses creosote to make railroad ties. Some say they are crazy, but a bevy of court documents and medical studies back them …
Both North Portland oil recyclers rack up PCB violations EcoLube Recovery, which recycles used oil at a North Portland refinery, has been unlawfully accepting deliveries of waste contaminated with highly toxic polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, and storing it on site in violation of its solid waste disposal permit, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality announced …
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Cancer-Causing Hexavalent Chromium Detected in Portland Steel Foundry’s Air Emissions by PAUL KOBERSTEIN in the movie “Erin Brockovich,” a UCLA chemistry professor tells Julia Roberts, playing the title role, that there are three kinds of chromium. One form is necessary for good health, a second form, trivalent chromium, is relatively benign, and a third form, …
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Citizens, industry at odds over new air toxic rules By PAUL KOBERSTEIN DEQ falls short in protecting residents’ health, some charge are recent hearing The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s new Cleaner Air Oregon program doesn’t go far enough to protect the health of people who live near industries that emit toxic air pollution, several …
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