Lumber

A study of commonly used pressure-treated lumber purchased at home improvement stores nationwide suggests that the risk of arsenic exposure from the boards is higher than previously feared, an environmental organization said Wednesday.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that arsenic-treated lumber--the green-tinted wood on decks and play sets across the country--will be phased out of the residential market over the next two years. The voluntary decision by producers to pull the arsenic-treated lumber, known to most do-it-yourselfers as pressure-treated wood, off the market was the result of months of negotiations between the EPA and the companies that produce the pesticide.

The nation's railroads had their worst year in decades in 2009, a dramatic reminder of the brutality with which the recession damped demand for coal, lumber and other goods that make up the backbone of the economy. Freight trains carried 20% less cargo last year than in 2008, according to a report by the Assn. of American Railroads, and the industry shed nearly 21,000 jobs. The 12-month period was the slowest since the association began keeping records in 1988. Among the most dramatic declines was a 33% drop in lumber and wood products carried by train, a key indicator of demand for new construction.

Le Roy Stanton Jr., 78, scion of a pioneering California lumber family who co-founded a specialty building company, Stanline Inc. A native of Los Angeles, Stanton studied engineering at Stanford and in 1937 joined E.J. Stanton & Son Lumber Co., the firm begun by his grandfather in 1894. Stanton developed prefabricated plywood homes that were popular during lumber rationing in World War II. He helped create Stanline in 1960 to build homes and other structures.

In his fine article, James Hill refers to rail as being the crowning achievement of Victorian England but laments "British trains today lumber along, and the service is nonchalant at best." For the last 16 years, Intercity High Speed trains have been "lumbering along" at speeds up to 125 m.p.h. between London and Edinburgh, Bath and Bristol, to name just a few cities. And in May, British Rail will introduce the newest generation of high-speed trains on the London-to-Edinburgh route.

A businessman was sentenced Thursday to 27 years in prison for masterminding the smuggling of 7,300 pounds of Colombian cocaine into the United States last spring in hollowed-out lumber. U.S. District Judge George C. Carr rejected tearful pleas by Michael Tsalickis, 61, to impose a lighter sentence.

Protesting the sale of products made from old-growth redwood, two environmental activists spent Tuesday chained by their necks to a Malibu lumberyard's gates. Andrew Koenig of Venice and Scott Garvey of West Los Angeles, both dressed in dark suits and ties, locked themselves to two of three gates to Malibu Lumber at 6 a.m. Tuesday, each using two U-shaped bicycle locks bearing stickers reading "Boycott Old Growth Redwood."

Hugh Hewitt's article clearly demonstrates that he misunderstands the root of the problem, and reveals that he is the one who doesn't give a hoot about home buyers. Take, for example, Hewitt's reference to lumber industry reports which blame April's 10% increase in lumber costs to the spotted owl controversy and Hewitt's contention that saving the owl cost 28,000 jobs. Nonsense, nonsense, nonsense. The increased cost of lumber and the termination of 28,000 jobs has nothing to do with preservation of the spotted owl, but is the legacy of years of bad planning and short-term economic thinking.

The rubbery World War II vintage gas masks were marked down to $15 and the manager's special bargains looked as if somebody's junk drawer had been haphazardly heaped onto a table. The mostly male customers quietly rummaged through the shelves and picked through what little merchandise was left, finding a nut driver here, a saw rack there, knobs and nails. They plunked down cash or credit cards for the last time as Lomita Lumber and Hardware closes its doors today after 74 years in business.