by Rusty Carter / Daily Press
Protesters chose Friday for the event in order to disrupt the company’s annual shareholder meeting, scheduled for today. The purpose, according to a press release from Greenpeace, is to “protest the company’s links to illegal logging in the Brazilian Amazon and lack of an effective sustainability policy.”
The protest comes on the heels of a report issued last week by Greenpeace in which it said Lumber Liquidators was unable to prove the Brazilian wood it had purchased was harvested legally. Last year federal investigators seized records from Lumber Liquidators offices in Toano and Richmond, part of an investigation into possible violations of the Lacey Act, which deals with the importation of plants and animals as well as wood products.
Lumber Liquidators responded, saying it demands “that our business partners, suppliers and distributors meet our standards and operate in an ethical, legal and sustainable manner. In addition, we commit resources around the world to monitor our processes and compliance with environmental chain of custody regulations at each step of the way until the products reach our stores.”
“The Amazon is facing a silent crisis of pervasive illegal logging that is able to continue because of the demand for rare Brazilian wood from companies like Lumber Liquidators,” said Daniel Brindis of Greenpeace in Friday’s release. “Lumber Liquidators’ shareholders need to know that its forest policy has no criteria that actually prevents illegal Brazilian wood from entering its supply chain, and it is doing business with Brazilian companies that have millions of dollars in fines for environmental crimes in a region where it is estimated that 78 percent of the logging is done illegally.”Greenpeace activists have locked themselves to vehicles and tripods blocking entrances to Lumber Liquidators. A 20-foot long banner read “Amazon Wood: Your $hare of Forest Crime.”
The disruption forced some people headed to the stockholder meeting to park away from Lumber Liquidators and make their way to the building on foot. Lumber Liquidators founder and chairman Tom Sullivan spent a short time talking to protesters.
The protest had a frightening moment when one of the Greenpeace activists fell while trying to erect the banner. An ambulance was called and EMTs examined the man, but he did not go to the hospital.
Later, Williamsburg Area Transport announced that passengers at Stonehouse Industrial Park wishing to ride the Purple 2 line would have to go to the entrance at Barhamsville Road and LaGrange Parkway to be picked up.
