MY WORD by Mark Lovelace, Humboldt Watershed Council
Everyone,
I just received the Pacific Lumber Company Press Release below. PL is
continuing their threats of economic blackmail against the Regional
Water Board and against Humboldt County.
I find it hard to understand how PL can be in such dire financial straits
after making so much money over the last 20 years. What happened to
the $480 million dollars the company received from the Headwaters deal?
What happened to the $325 million from selling off the Cutting and Welding
Division, the $60 million from gutting the employee pension fund, the
$250 million dividend from the 1998 bond sale, the $37 million in real
estate, and the $2.5 Billion in profits that have been made off of PL's
timber? All told, MAXXAM has made $3.6 Billion off of PL in the last
20 years. That is all money which has been taken away from the workers,
away from PL, and away from Humboldt County. Where did the money go?
I find it hard to understand how a company that has made so much money
can still owe $760 million of the $870 million debt incurred 20 years
ago. Why didn't MAXXAM make any effort to pay off PL's debt while they
were making money hand over fist? Why doesn't PL now have any money
available to keep its workers busy restoring these watersheds, and fixing
the damage caused by the company's liquidation logging? For all of that
money to have simply vanished indicates either gross negligence, mismanagement
or outright criminal behaviour. Perhaps we should all be paying more
attention to the DA's fraud lawsuit against this company. Speaking of
which, it is notable that the only time that any of that $3.6 Billion
has come back into this county was to fund last year's failed recall
attempt.
The fate of PL is not the Water Board's responsibility, it is MAXXAM's
responsibility.
Mark Lovelace
Humboldt Watershed Council
(707) 822-1166
sheds@humboldt1.com
