Dear Representative:

On behalf of the undersigned organizations, we strongly urge you to support Representative Steve Chabot’s (R-OH) amendment to the Department of Interior Appropriations Bill that would eliminate taxpayer subsidies given to the timber industry for logging the Tongass National Forest.

We have long been opposed to taxpayer subsidized roads in our national forests. TheTongass National Forest, in particular, represents what is wrong when the government constructs logging roads that assist timber companies in the cutting and removing of timber.Since 1982, the Tongass timber program has lost $850 million. That equates to an annual average loss of $40 million. Since 1996, timber related employment in the Tongass is down from 1560 to under 300. The per job subsidy has now reached more than $150,000. This waste of tax dollars must stop. Although elimination of this program itself will not solve our nation’s enormous deficit, getting rid of special-interest subsidies like this is a good first step in the effort to restore fiscal sanity to Washington.

As you know, we support logging and timber extraction efforts when they are economically viable and do not require taxpayer subsidies. However, Forest Service activities in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest are not viable under current market conditions and taxpayers should not be expected to fund their operation.

Once again, we urge you to support Representative Steve Chabot’s amendment to the Department of Interior Appropriations bill. It is time for the logging and timber companies to stop looking to the taxpayer to build and maintain roads for commercial logging.

Sincerely,

Jill Lancelot

President/Co-Founder

Taxpayers for Common Sense Action

Thomas Schatz

President

Council for Citizens Against Government Waste