A US federal judge has ruled the USDA violated the law in creating the softwood lumber checkoff, which raises money to promote the use of US and Canadian wood in US construction, according to Capital Press Thursday.
Companies that manufacture more than 15 million board-feet of lumber a year — enough to build 1,000 homes — must pay an assessment of 35 cents per 1,000 board-feet to fund the program.
US District Judge James Boasberg in Washington, DC, has decided the threshold of 15 mmbf, was “arbitrary and capricious” in violation of federal administrative law. Although the judge has now ruled the checkoff program was “promulgated unlawfully,” the implications for the program’s future aren’t certain. A hearing has been scheduled for June 1 “to discuss the appropriate next steps concerning the remedies sought by plaintiff.”
For 2016, the Softwood Lumber Board, which oversees the checkoff, has a budget of US$15.4 million that’s used for a variety of programs, such as encouraging builders to use lumber in larger, multistory structures.
Resolute Forest Products out of Montreal, QC, led a lawsuit against the softwood lumber checkoff in 2014 seeking to void the program, stop the USDA from collecting funds, and return the money that’s already been spent.