PORT ANGELES – Merrill & Ring Forestry LP has filed a formal claim under the North American Free Trade Agreement asking for $25 million in damages from the Canadian government.
The company, based in Port Angeles, gave notice in September of its intent to file legal action under Chapter 11 of NAFTA challenging Canadian rules on the pricing of logs exported from British Columbia.
On Wednesday, it filed in Ottawa.
“This is the next formal step, filing a statement of claim and notice of arbitration,” said Norm Schaaf, the company’s vice president of timberland and administration.
“We look forward to a chance for arbitration and hope to find a satisfactory resolution,” he said.
The claim will be heard by a NAFTA dispute settlement panel, which can order compensation but can’t require the government to change its rules.
A similar claim filed by Pope and Talbot Inc. in March 1999 wasn’t settled until March 2002.
Merrill & Ring – which owns about 8,000 acres of timberland in British Columbia – says the Canadian government has unfairly restricted the company’s log exports from British Columbia in violation of NAFTA.
Schaaf said the restrictions compel the Port Angeles-based forestry and land management company to sell its logs to British Columbia sawmills at below the prices it could obtain if they were exported.
The restrictions to the sale of timber apply only in British Columbia, and are supported by the provincial government, he said.
