This digital news digest is published every two weeks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . For more information call Gunnar Hubbard at 970.927.3807. Architectural Record, January 1996, p. 23. American entrepreneurs and their Russian partners plan to ship Siberian conifer logs to sawmills in the Pacific Northwest. To make them safe for export to the US, the Russians will sterilize the logs with radiation to kill pests.
Environmentalists are skeptical about the safety and effectiveness of radioactive cobalt treatment.
But their main concerns focus on damage to virgin forests from unfettered logging and the economic merit of building a Russian timber industry based primarily on exports of unfinished goods. Supporters say the plan would directly employ 11,000 Russians in radiation plants and indirectly many more in the woods - and supply American sawmills that employ 100,000 workers. The plan received financial support from the little known Defense Enterprise Fund, which received its initial capital from the US Defense Department. The fund's mission is to convert the former Soviet Union's arms producers into businesses serving nonmilitary markets. The Green Building Digest, a detailed material report, compares environmental impact of materials.