Boise Cascade Gives Up On Plan Bill Would Have Allowed Washington Mills To Buy Logs From Idaho State Lands

Under scrutiny from competitors and organized labor, Boise Cascade Corp. withdrew a proposal Tuesday that would have allowed its Washington lumber mill to buy logs from Idaho’s state lands.

Boise Cascade lobbyist Roy Eiguren said the company may seek passage of the bill during the next legislative session.

The bill would have allowed out-of-state timber companies within 100 miles of the Idaho border to buy state timber. That means Boise Cascade’s Kettle Falls, Wash., mill could have purchased Idaho logs.

A 1989 law, enacted to protect Idaho sawmill workers’ jobs, requires that at least 95 percent of the logs harvested from Idaho state lands must go to Idaho buyers.

Eiguren claimed the proposal would jeopardize no Idaho timber jobs. But Potlatch Corp. lobbyist Joe Hinson said any new competition for Idaho logs could harm Idaho’s timber industry.

“It makes people very nervous,” Hinson said. “You don’t know, but any time you add additional mills, it threatens the ability of existing mills to survive.”

Boise Cascade said its Kettle Falls mill is the only out-of-state operation that could have benefited from the proposed law. However, Hinson said the measure also would have applied to Montana mills owned by Louisiana Pacific and to a Clarkston, Wash., mill owned by Bennett Lumber Co.

, DataTimes