Everett should say no to building new sawmill

Published 9:00 pm Friday, January 28, 2005

The idea of Sierra Pacific building a sawmill in Everett is a bad one. Even with the best of designs, the people of the region will see increased air, water and noise pollution and traffic. The new mill needs hundreds of log truck deliveries each day. Let’s not be fooled, the mill will not bring any new jobs to the region.

Look at the facts. The timber supply in the area is already tight and in balance with the milling capacity. There is NO chance that the log supply will increase enough to meet the demands for millions of board feet logs to feed that new mill. Some mills are actually importing raw logs from Canada to meet their daily needs. Should Sierra force its way into the region, the effect will be to drive up the price of logs, the end result being that other mills would be forced to close. We could actually see a net reduction of jobs to region as other mills like Buse and Crown in Marysville, SeaSno in Snohomish and Canyon Lumber in Everett are forced to close.

What Sierra and the Port of Everett are doing is stealing jobs from other cities in the region. In the end, Everett will gain a few jobs, pollution and traffic, while other communities lose jobs. Join me in urging the port and city officials to say no to Sierra. Let’s look for other opportunities to actually increase jobs in the region, not steal them from someone else.

Don Wallace

Sedro Woolley