Rio Grand Forest Products in Espanola, New Mexico

RIO GRAND FOREST PRODUCTS IN ESPANOLA, NEW MEXICO -- (House of Representatives - September 15, 2004)

(Mr. PEARCE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. PEARCE. Mr. Speaker, I addressed this House last evening about the policies in our Forest Service which are causing jobs to go overseas, which are killing industries, which are causing infrastructure to be abandoned. After I made that presentation, we received a call today.

Rio Grande Forest Products, operating in New Mexico and the northern district of New Mexico from a town called Espanola in New Mexico, had 100 employees. Rio Grande Forest Products shut down last year due to the Forest Service restricting the harvesting of large-diameter trees. Basically, the Forest Service is blocking them from pursuing harvest. The Forest Service would not facilitate the harvesting despite numerous submittals and requests for assistance.

The employees who lost their jobs have been unemployed, and it is because of restrictive policies that are pushed by extremists in our country who would block any effort to harvest the resources from this country. The sawmill was located on 60 acres, 180,000 feet of idle space.

Mr. Speaker, it is ourselves who are causing the loss of American jobs in this country, not the President.