Farm, Nutrition, and Bioenergy Act of 2007

Floor Speech

FARM, NUTRITION, AND BIOENERGY ACT OF 2007 -- (Senate - December 14, 2007)

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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I want to say a few words about an amendment on illegal logging that I sponsored. This amendment is based on S. 1930, the Combat Illegal Logging Act of 2007, which I introduced along with Senator Alexander and 23 bipartisan colleagues. First, however, I want to thank Senator Harkin, Senator Chambliss, and their staffs for working with me and my staff, to include this amendment in the farm bill. I am very pleased that this amendment has been included in the Senate farm bill and I look forward to working with the House to make this important legislation law.

This legislation would strike a critical blow to illegal logging by extending the enforcement capacity of the Lacey Act to include illegally harvested timber. Illegal logging destroys ecosystems, harms often poor and rural communities, forces American businesses and workers to compete against unfairly low-cost forest products made from illegally sourced fiber, and contributes to carbon emissions.

The Combat Illegal Logging Act changes the incentives that drive trade in illegal timber. This legislation will raise the risks for illegal trade without harming legal trade and will be an important step toward leveling a playing field currently stacked against the U.S. forest products industry and importers and retailers committed to trading in legal wood products. Furthermore, it will also bring the power of the U.S. market to bear on fighting the illegal logging problem and will reinforce work being done with U.S. tax dollars to improve governance in forest-rich developing countries.

My amendment enjoys the support of a very broad coalition that includes members of the U.S. forest products industry, conservation community and organized labor, and has already received bipartisan support from many of our colleagues and I am very pleased that it was included in the farm bill with wide support. S. 1930 has 23 bipartisan cosponsors, many of which joined me in sponsoring this bill as an amendment to the farm bill. These include Senators Alexander, Bingaman, Kerry, Snowe, Feingold, Sununu, Baucus, Dodd, Stabenow, Biden, Murray, Cantwell, Salazar, and Gregg.

This bill is the culmination of hundreds of hours of work by stakeholders that might not naturally be seen as allies. The principal negotiators of the compromise--the American Forest & Paper Association, the Hardwood Federation, and the Environmental Investigation Agency--deserve a tremendous amount of credit for sticking with this and finding a solution that everyone could support. And as the bill has evolved we have picked up more and more supporters.

Organizations endorsing this bill include: American Forest & Paper Association, American Home Furnishings Alliance, Center for International Environmental Law, Conservation International, Defenders of Wildlife, Dogwood Alliance, Environmental Investigation Agency, ForestEthics, Friends of the Earth, Global Witness, Greenpeace, Hardwood Federation, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, International Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, International Wood Products Association, Lowe's Home Improvement, National Association of Home Builders, National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association, National Marine Manufacturers Association, National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council, Rainforest Action Network, Rainforest Alliance, Sierra Club, Society of American Foresters, Sustainable Furniture Council, The Nature Conservancy, Tropical Forest Trust, United Steelworkers, Wildlife Conservation Society, and the World Wildlife Fund.

I again want to thank Senator Harkin, Senator Chambliss and their staffs for working with me and my staff to include my amendment in this farm bill. This will be a huge victory in the fight against illegal logging.

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