May 7, 2005, Monterey Herald - AP, CA: State report blames Pacific Lumber's owner for timber giant's financial woes (Maxxam),

May 7, 2005, Monterey Herald - AP, CA: State report blames Pacific Lumber's owner for timber giant's financial woes (Maxxam),

SCOTIA, Calif. - Financially troubled Pacific Lumber Co. is the victim of its corporate owner's excesses, not increasing government restrictions on logging, according to a state water agency's controversial new study.

The state Water Resources Control Board's 18-page report blames Texas-based Maxxam Inc. for shifting hundreds of millions of dollars in profits from Pacific Lumber in "subtle and complex ways," forcing the North Coast timber giant to cut trees "at rates that greatly exceed sustainable forest practices."

The state report claims Maxxam has funneled nearly $725 million in Pacific Lumber earnings into its own Houston, Texas, coffers over the past two decades, leaving the Scotia, Calif.-based company deeply in debt.

State officials said the report was commissioned to examine Pacific Lumber's claims that increasing environmental regulations are to blame for the company's financial troubles.

Pacific Lumber recently announced the closure of its Fortuna mill and the loss of about 100 jobs.

Company officials questioned the credibility of the report's author - Michael Gjerde, a state water board geologist who holds a master's degree in economics and ecology - and the motives behind the study's public release before the conclusions have been formally presented to the state and regional water boards.

In June, the state water board is scheduled to hear Pacific Lumber's appeal of recent state decisions to restrict logging operations this year in two Humboldt County watersheds because of water quality concerns.