Below please find an excellent letter from Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) to President Clinton opposing the "global free logging agreement" at the World Trade Organization (WTO). The letter is open for all Senators to sign - including yours!

You will first find the "Dear Colleague" letter from Senator Boxer to other Senators asking them to sign the letter to the President. Next, you find the letter to the President which we are asking Senators to sign.

For more information, please contact Antonia Juhasz at American Lands at (202) 547-9230 or visit our web page.

Barbara Boxer
California

United States Senate
Hart Senate Office Building
Suite 112
Washington, DC 20510-0505
(202) 224-3553
senator@boxer.senate.gov
http://boxer.senate.gov

November 2, 1999

Dear Colleague:

I am writing to invite you to join me in sending the attached letter to the President urging him to ensure that any agreement reached at the upcoming meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) does not threaten our world's remaining forests.

As you know, the WTO will be meeting shortly in Seattle to discuss several trade issues. The Administration is supporting one issue of particular concern to me and the environmental community - a proposal to accelerate the liberalization of trade in wood products through the elimination of tariffs (Accelerated Tariff Liberalization) and non-tariff measures (NTMs).

The world's forests are presently being logged at unsustainable rates. I am concerned that the liberalization of trade in wood products will lead to increased logging while at the same time removing key environmental protections such as export bans and eco-labeling. Furthermore, I am concerned that the elimination of NTMs will threaten Congress' ability to write and enforce the laws most needed to protect our environment and our communities.

I urge you to sign the attached letter to ensure that any agreement reached at the WTO does not result in unsustainable and irresponsible logging.

If you would like to sign the letter or if you have any questions, please contact me or have your staff contact Jodi Linker of my staff at x43553.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Sincerely,
Barbara Boxer
United States Senator

United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

The President
The White House
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We are writing to urge you to ensure that any agreement reached at the upcoming meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) does not threaten our world's remaining forests.

Of particular concern is a plan being pushed by your Administration and others to accelerate the liberalization of trade in wood products through the elimination of tariffs (Accelerated Tariff Liberalization) and non-tariff measures (NTMs).

We do not challenge the desirability of trading in wood products. Rather, we question the manner in which these negotiations have taken place to date and how they are planned for the Ministerial meeting of the WTO and beyond. We look to you for leadership in this important matter.

The world's forests are presently being logged at unsustainable rates.. We are concerned that your negotiations over trade in wood products may lead to increased logging while at the same time removing key environmental protections such as export bans and eco-labeling. We are concerned that thorough analysis of the impact of such initiatives on forest protection and biodiversity is not complete. We also believe that necessary environmental protections must be implemented to ensure that our forests are protected.

We urge you to ensure that any agreement reached at the WTO does not result in unsustainable and irresponsible logging. Furthermore, we oppose the elimination of NTMs that threaten our own ability - yours and ours - to write and enforce the laws most needed to protect our environment and our communities.

Specifically, we urge you not to agree to any measure that would prohibit the following NTMs:

Raw Log Export Bans - These bans seek to ameliorate the devastation that massive exporting has had on our ancient forests and on the survival of the small local mills at the heart of many state's economies.

Green Procurement - Through green procurement, governments across the nation use our purchasing power to decrease consumption of products from native and unsustainably managed forests and to increase use of recycled paper.

Eco-labeling and Forest Certification - Such laws allow consumers to be better informed in identifying and purchasing environmentally friendly products.

Invasive Species Safeguards - The most effective way to prevent bioinvasions of forests is to prevent the entry and spread of invasive species.

Our concern that the WTO threatens these vital laws is well founded. Every environmental law that has been challenged at the WTO has been found "illegal" and the guilty nation has been forced to eliminate the offending law. The United States has been forced to weaken the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act due to losses at the WTO. Therefore, the Administration should use the upcoming meeting of the WTO as an opportunity to strengthen our laws relative to WTO rules rather than propose agreements to further weaken their standing.

We ask you to remove the ATL for wood products from the negotiations and explicitly oppose the inclusion of wood product NTMs in Seattle and in subsequent rounds of negotiations. Rather, we ask that the U.S. government endorse an assessment of the impact of past and current WTO Agreements on forest ecosystems and forest protection laws in order to determine how best to proceed with trade in wood products in the future.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this important issue.

Sincerely,
Currently Open for Signature
Current Signers (11/2/99): Barbara Boxer