WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Congresswoman Andrea Salinas (OR-6) are calling on the nation’s leading recreational vehicle manufacturers to adopt more sustainable sourcing practices and remove hardwood linked to global deforestation from their supply chains. In a new letter, the lawmakers urge companies to transition toward responsibly sourced domestic hardwoods or composite alternatives.
“Families buy RV’s to get closer to nature, and they should never have to wonder whether their vehicle was built with wood from a destroyed rainforest,” wrote the lawmakers. “The RV industry has the influence and the practical alternatives to clean up its supply chain, and we are calling on these companies to do it.”
The letter follows a recent New York Times investigation that revealed Indonesian rainforest timber harvested from environmentally sensitive areas has been used in American RVs. According to the report, this logging has accelerated the destruction of rainforests and peatlands, displaced Indigenous communities, fueled labor abuses, and threatened endangered species such as orangutans.
The lawmakers emphasized that the RV industry — a major player in outdoor recreation — has both the responsibility and the capacity to lead on sustainable sourcing.
In addition to Senator Booker and Congresswoman Salinas, the letter was signed by U.S Representatives Val Hoyle (OR-04), Maxine Dexter (OR-03), Shri Thanedar (MI-13), and Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), as well as Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
Read the full text of the letter here.