The move will result in tariffs ranging from 11 percent to 20 percent being applied to China's imports of coated free-sheet paper as a penalty for subsidies the Chinese government has provided its own companies, said MarkA. The preliminary decision "will give heart to a whole host of industries that are facing similar circumstances," Suwyn said. NewPage alleges that several Chinese companies that produce coated free-sheet paper products were recipients of subsidies such as tax breaks, debt...

Also helping the EU effort is the United Kingdom, which is on track to meet its goals, thanks mostly to a switch from coal-fired power plants to cleaner burning natural gas. And Sweden expects to overachieve on its Kyoto targets thanks to the imposition of a hefty carbon tax on polluting industries and big investments in alternative energy sources. New oil production in the tar sands of Alberta has instead forced Canada's greenhouse gas emissions up significantly, as the government has...

Leaders hope Secure Rural Schools legislation will be re-authorized. Senate's efforts Wednesday to re-authorize the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act was received with mixed reactions by East Texas counties which have come to depend on the consistent revenue stream these past six years, in place of inconsistent funds derived from sporadic logging activity within national forest lands, local officials agreed. Senate's efforts Wednesday to re-authorize the Secure...

The Sultan of Kelantan has rapped the state government for excessive logging and warned of dire consequences should forests continue to be cut down. In his 57th birthday address yesterday, the sultan said deforestation had caused the state s rivers to turn shallow, murky and full of sediment. Concerned about environmental degradation, particularly for the future, he also deplored the uncleanliness of the state capital. The sultan urged the state government to look for alternative sources...

But even if the proposal does become law, Oregon's federal delegation said last week they're resigned to the days of big federal subsidies coming to an end in the near future. Oregon received the lion's share of the money, about 55 percent, because the checks were pegged to timber harvests from federal lands in the boom years of the late 1980s. Wyden's amendment actually increases the county payments and another rural support program to $526 million for this year. The act, passed in 2000,...