Topic: Environmental law temporarily shuts down Gibson

[kat]

Had to post this one as it was a real surprise to read about. Gibson Guitars was raided by the Feds apparently over the use of some wood from questionable sources. According to Gibson themselves, and so far as they know, all the wood in question has been sourced from sustainable operations - mainly from India. But the Feds have yet to actually tell them why the factories were shut down and material confiscated.

Federal agents swooped in on Gibson Guitar Wednesday, raiding factories and offices in Memphis and Nashville, seizing several pallets of wood, electronic files and guitars. The Feds are keeping mum, but in a statement yesterday Gibson's chairman and CEO, Henry Juszkiewicz, defended his company's manufacturing policies, accusing the Justice Department of bullying the company. "The wood the government seized Wednesday is from a Forest Stewardship Council certified supplier," he said, suggesting the Feds are using the aggressive enforcement of overly broad laws to make the company cry uncle.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904787404576530520471223268.html

Gibsons Statement in reply to the charges
http://www.gibson.com/absolutenm/templates/FeatureTemplatePressRelease.aspx?articleid=1340&zoneid=6

The Federal Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. has suggested that the use of wood from India that is not finished by Indian workers is illegal, not because of U.S. law, but because it is the Justice Department’s interpretation of a law in India. (If the same wood from the same tree was finished by Indian workers, the material would be legal.) This action was taken without the support and consent of the government in India.

References
US Lacy Act (which Gibson cite) "SEC. 8204. PREVENTION OF ILLEGAL LOGGING PRACTICES." - http://www.eia-global.org/PDF/background--section8204--forests--may08.pdf
- http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/16/usc_sup_01_16_10_53.html
- - http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/16/usc_sec_16_00003371----000-.html

[ratty redemption]

wow, so now the american public can sleep safely at night, with the comforting knowledge that the feds are out hunting down guitar manufactures as well as terrorists? hehe.

[kat]

This is getting bizarre.  I'm not entirely sure of the history of this but just reading an article on the Blaze it appears that Gibson were told either at the time, or as a result of a previous raid in c.2009 that their problems would "go away" if the wood they had sourced (previously) was worked in Madagascar (it was apparently a job lot of ebony hardwood sourced from the region). This has got to be a hairsbreadth away from being interpreted as outright extortion... "outsource or we'll shut you down".

[ratty redemption]

agreed, definitely sounds like extortion to me.