Resolute Forest, Greenpeace in fight over logging claims

Montreal’s Resolute Forest Products Inc. has vigorously denied claims by Greenpeace Canada that it has been logging in the Montagnes Blanches in northwestern Quebec, an area it agreed to protect under the landmark 2010 Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement (CBFA).

It accused Greenpeace of spreading misinformation and misconceptions, creating “a disservice to the tens of thousands of people who rely on the forest products industry for their livelihood.”

The CBFA, signed by nine environmental groups (including Greenpeace) and 21 logging companies, was aimed at protecting 76 million hectares (about twice the area of Germany) of boreal forests across Canada from excessive exploitation and permanent damage.

Greenpeace said because RFP, the leading Canadian forest products group, went back on its word to stay out of critical caribou habitats like Montagnes Blanches, the CBFA has broken down and it will withdraw as a signatory.

The CBFA was meant to be a peacemaker agreement — ending years of confrontation between the logging industry and environmental groups. But Greenpeace claimed its GPS-tagged video shot in the Montagnes Blanches last August “proved” RFP was building logging roads in protected areas.

This was a clear sign RFP is not following the CBFA and the agreement isn’t working, said Greenpeace spokesperson Stephanie Goodwin.

RFP’s vice-president of communications and government affairs Seth Kursman said Greenpeace’s claim is without foundation and a misrepresentation of the facts.

“Rather than logging on lands we agreed to protect, we were building access roads to protected areas as approved by the province,” he said.

“We respect the CBFA in its entirety and anything we’re harvesting is not part of it.”

Where harvesting and road-building will or will not occur is a key CBFA element and should be part of jointly developed caribou and protected area plans, he added.

“The boreal forest has measurably benefited from having people with different perspectives working together for the past two years and we’ve made real progress in protecting the environmental, social, cultural and economic values of the Boreal regions,” he said.

“Resolute says it’s within the CBFA’s bounds and Greenpeace maintains it is not,” Mark Hubert, vice-president, environment, Forest Products Association of Canada, told CBC News. “Greenpeace should return to the table and work from within to achieve speedier action on protection.”

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled Friday that AbitibiBowater (renamed Resolute Forest Products after a major restructuring) is not liable for mill cleanup costs of up to $200 million in Newfoundland and Labrador.

AbitibiBowater, a casualty of the 2009 global recession and the steep drop in North American newsprint demand, filed for creditor protection in 2010 and closed two N&L mills. The case turned on whether a company’s duty to remove environmental contamination is a commercial debt or a financial claim that can be reduced or eliminated during bankruptcy proceedings.