On the recordJune 19, 2012
It's not old-growth timber. This is land that's already been cut over, but they want to use it like Silviculture, growing timber forever, not like the Forest Service now, keeping old timber not cut. This is the right thing to do. The idea that we would have people sending out propaganda--I know there's an outfit called Red States saying this is going to cost the Federal Government money and it's a giveaway. It's strange that that same operation doesn't like the Federal Government. I'm asking that this Federal land that's already been harvested over be given to the Alaska Native people, as they should have it. And they're trying to stay away from the old-growth timber. That's what they're trying to do. If I was doing it myself, I'd cut the old-growth timber; it's dying anyway. But nobody wants to do it; they don't recognize it. I sat on this floor and watched the Alaska National Lands Act under George Miller, my good friend, say: don't worry, we'll have a timber industry. We've lost 15,000 jobs in southeast Alaska--high-paying jobs--because of the so-called ``environmental movement.'' That does not make sense. That does not make sense for America. This is a renewable resource that should be utilized correctly. Let's pass this legislation.
