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In July, the Russian-manned cargo ship the Arctic Sea disappeared on its way to take timber from Finland to Algeria, sparking reports of the first incident of piracy in European waters since the days of the buccaneers. Experts and observers weighed in with their theories: the ship had been snatched in a commercial dispute; it was being used to run drugs; it was carrying something more precious — or dangerous — than timber. Since then, the Russian navy has found the ship, and the alleged hijackers who boarded it on July 24 have been charged with kidnapping and piracy. The...

The Russian security service released the crew of the Arctic Sea in Moscow on Sunday. The 11 members of the crew of the hijacked ship were flown from Cape Verde to Russia nearly two weeks ago. The Russian news agency Interfax reports that the men returned to their home town of Archangelsk, where they were met by their families. On Sunday, Russian authorities gave conflicting accounts of whether or not all of the crew would be released. The online portal life.ru reported that only nine members of the crew had been released. Rabbe von Hertzen of the Finnish National Bureau...

Russia says it tracked hijacked Arctic Sea all along, but questions grow over cargo Tony Halpin in Moscow Russia’s top general hinted today that the ship allegedly hijacked by pirates earlier this month may have been carrying a secret cargo, as it emerged that the country’s Navy tracked the vessel throughout its journey. President Medvedev sent the Russian Navy to find the Arctic Sea after it apparently disappeared while passing through the English Channel en route to Algeria from Finland. However, the Foreign Ministry in Moscow now says that Russian and international agencies had monitored the ship throughout its strange...

The military airlifted the suspected hijackers of the Arctic Sea and most of its Russian crew from Cape Verde to Moscow on Thursday, after the lumber freighter mysteriously vanished and reappeared in the Atlantic. Eleven of the 15 crew members arrived in Moscow, while the captain and three sailors remained on the ship, which was adrift about 200 nautical miles from the West African island nation of Cape Verde. Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said the freighter was sailing to the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk. The sailors and their suspected captors arrived in two separate Il-76 cargo jets at the...

Lumber Just Keeps Getting Crushed, Now Officially A "Reverse V" Joe Weisenthal Jun. 23, 2010, 4:30 PM The horrible housing numbers has been bad news for lumber prices, something we've been paying close attention to lately. Futures were down again 3% today, and have almost completed a full "reverse V," returning to crisis-days levels. Image: FinViz

Experts: Lumber Prices Fall, and Economy May Follow Wednesday, 16 Jun 2010 10:35 AM By: Dan Weil Prices of lumber and other raw materials are slumping, and that puts the economy at risk of a double-dip recession, experts say. Until recently, many economists were concerned about an outbreak of inflation. But in the wake of Europe’s debt crisis, many are now worried about deflation. Prices for framing lumber have dropped 21 percent just in the last five weeks, according to the National Association of Home Builders, CNNMoney.com reports. Other industrial material prices are slipping in synch. That doesn’t bode well...

A Home Depot store in Utah plans to celebrate Gay pride in the Store with decorations of Rainbows and employee Tee shirts announcing gay pride. Inside sources say that this is something that will be devastating to business as most of the customer base tends to be on the Right side of the issue as they are mostly religious people. I am actively involved in this business and i dont want to be a part of it bacuae this is contrary to my belief and would like advice from more experienced FReepers on how best to disrupt these outrageous plans...

I would like to continue storing my scrap lumber in the garage, but my wife is worried about termites. I told her that as long as it is stored off of the ground and not touching the walls that it is safe from termites. I cannot find the definitive word on the internet on this subject. Can someone here help me out? Thank you.

New mill to turn dead trees into pellet fuel. Colorado's first wood-pellet mill owes its birth to pine beetles that are killing millions of trees near the town of Kremmling and across northwest Colorado. The diseased trees will be the new Kremmling mill's chief input - a new twist for the pellet-fuel industry. The 18,000-square-foot plant is billed as the largest west of the Mississippi. It's slated in February to start grinding trees into environmentally friendly pellets for wood-pellet stoves and industrial and commercial pellet boilers. Many of the trees are too skinny or too cracked and old to be...

Pine beetle kill trees have new purpose. Playing with Lincoln Logs as a child meant getting to be an architect constructing dream homes. Now, in Summit County, that toy is the inspiration for making those homes a reality while putting the lodgepole pine beetle kill trees to use. Using a log lathe machine, the bark is removed (which kills the pine beetle), smoothed and a notch is put in it similar to they way Lincoln Logs look so the logs will seamlessly fit together. And as this business has come together, it has gained state attention. Recently, a representative from...

When the U.S. Forest Service received no bids on two small timber sales in Eagle County earlier this year, the agency's local rangers encountered what is becoming a problem throughout the intermountain West. The federal agency got a lesson in market economics and the three-way tug of war over lumber in national forests. There were no bidders for the timber "salvage" sales designed to remove trees killed by infesting pine beetles. The Forest Service also wants to sell the dead trees so they won't add extra fuel to wildfires. The glut of dead trees is occurring at a time when...

U.S. Forest Service officials have released a plan to reduce destructive wildfire potential on about 8,100 acres of forest land east of Estes Park. The goal of the Thompson River Fuel Reduction Project is to reduce the spread and intensity of wildfires that could affect private property and municipal water supplies in and around the Big and Little Thompson rivers and to protect the forest’s ecosystem. Historically, small fires thinned forest undergrowth and kept the chances for a large wildfire to a minimum. But through much of the 20th century, people suppressed those fires. That left a more dense undergrowth,...

At Central Valley Lumber in Napa you'll find plywood, planks, pipes, and poses. "Put your hands on the floor...and let the top of the head descend," you hear among the orders for nails and two-by-fours. Here, contractors and clerks limber up, before they lumber up. It's a program called Yoga for the Construction Industry. Allan Nett is a contractor and a yoga teacher. You might not think the two professions should find such harmony. He'll tell you they do. "Am I standing squarely while I'm drilling a hole, rather than drilling it over to the side?", he asks, as he...

Logging trucks are again rumbling through town after a nearly 15-year hiatus. The Forest Service has reopened - or has plans to reopen - numerous drainages south of Eagle Ranch to logging... There are currently two active sales south of Eagle, with another in the works, said Cary Green, the White River National Forest's timber management assistant for the Eagle area. The 60-acre Beecher Gulch salvage timber sale, on Hardscrabble Mountain, sold in 2005, and about 500,000 board feet of timber is currently being harvested... A typical 2,000-square foot, single-family home requires about 27,000 board feet of framing lumber, paneling...

OTTAWA (AFP) - Canada's legal footing in a longstanding and bitter trade dispute with the United States over lumber was shaken by a WTO ruling that upheld US assertions Canada dumped softwood into its markets. The WTO panel found the US Department of Commerce was correct in its calculations that Canadian firms had sold timber cheaper in the United States than at home or below their production costs. The decision follows a previous WTO ruling that maintained how the United States calculated duties imposed on Canadian southbound softwood exports and a litany of NAFTA judgments that favored both sides on...

WASHINGTON — Congress put its final stamp of approval Wednesday on legislation dumping a trade law that allows U.S. companies to profit from penalties on Canadian imports like softwood lumber. The measure, which goes into effect Oct. 1, 2007, was part of a massive budget-cutting bill passed by the House of Representatives. President George W. Bush said in a statement he looked forward to signing the bill. Canada has always argued the so-called Byrd amendment must go. The five-year-old law allows the Treasury to funnel money from duties on imported goods directly to U.S. rival companies. It's still unclear what...

The Commerce Department said Tuesday it will comply with a NAFTA panel's order to drastically cut U.S. duties on imports of Canadian softwood lumber. U.S. officials said they disagree with the rationale behind the ruling, but respect its authority. The decision, announced late Tuesday, means the United States will reduce the punitive duties, which average about 16 percent, to less than 1 percent. Separate antidumping tariffs averaging about 4 percent will not be affected. Despite its action, the Commerce Department said it retains its right to appeal the NAFTA ruling, which it considers unfair. "We start off with a premise...

Amid its disarray last week, the House of Representatives did do one good deed: It included the repeal of the anti-trade Byrd Amendment as part of its budget reconciliation. The White House is also pushing repeal, so opponents are now hoping Senators (including a Republican who wants to run for President) will keep this protectionism alive. "Byrd" is named after West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd, who snuck it into a 2001 spending bill without debate. The amendment gives companies that sue for "anti-dumping" relief any duties that the government imposes on foreign competitors. U.S. companies that decline to join any...

Stones' keyboardist wins Bush environment award By John Helprin Associated Press October 5, 2005 WASHINGTON -- The Rolling Stones' keyboardist has carved out a new role as the Bush administration's idea of the model conservationist. Chuck Leavell took time from the Stones' "A Bigger Bang" world tour to meet Tuesday with Interior Secretary Gale Norton, a day after playing the MCI Center. He and his wife, Rose Lane, were named "Outstanding Citizen Stewards" for their tree farming near Macon, Ga. Advertisement For him, it's only forests, family and rock and roll. "Her family has been connected to the land for...

"If Canada and the U.S., as close as they are, can't have an agreement that is respected, what does that say about the future of the rules-based international trading system?" That's the question posed to us by Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin yesterday at the Journal's New York office almost as soon as he sat down. Mr. Martin was in town to speak to the Economic Club of New York. At the top of his list of priorities to put on the record, he told us, is Canada's deep dissatisfaction with the U.S. refusal to comply with multiple rulings that...