[George from New England]

Have the enviros created a US shortage of lumber?

Is this high price due to the import of lumber?

[Gabz]

What the suppliers around here have told us is that the higher price is due to importation, not because of the enviros, but because domestic plywood is being used by the military and for the rebuilding in Iraq.

How true that is, I have no idea, but since we heard the exact same story from several different suppliers in 3 different states, it's as good a theory as any, I guess.

[Alberta's Child]

Is this high price due to the import of lumber?

Actually, it's the opposite. In one of the most blatantly displays of hypocrisy I've ever seen, the Bush administration has imposed punitive tariffs on softwood lumber imported from Canada -- in violation of every free trade agreement the U.S. has signed in the last few decades.

If you think our remodeling projects are expensive now, wait until we have to pony up tax dollars to repay these tariffs to Canadian producers, in addition to the financial penalties that will be imposed on top of them.

[Salgak]

Only indirectly. The housing market is booming, and is willing to pay premium prices. Combine that with restrictions on logging and lumber mills caused by the tree-huggers. . .and you get the current situation.

[Darnright]

>Have the enviros created a US shortage of lumber?

Wood products are pouring into the US from China.