12 2 STA T . 2 06 2 PUBLIC LA W 110 – 2 4 6 —J U NE 1 8, 2008 (C)thewo o dc h ip i n de x (code n umb e rP C U321 113321113 5 )
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nd ( D )an y other s ubse q uent comparab l e index , as estab - lished by the B ureau o fL abor S tatistics of the Department of Labor and utili z ed by the Secretary of Ag riculture . (2) QUALIFY I NGCO N TR ACT. —T he term ‘ ‘qualifying contract ’ ’ means a contract for the sale of timber on N ational F orest System land— (A) that was awarded during the period beginning on J uly1,2 0 0 4 , and ending on December 31, 200 6
(B) for which there is unhar v ested volume remaining; (C) for which, not later than 9 0 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the timber purchaser ma k esa written request to the Secretary for one or more of the options described in subsection (b); (D) that is not a salvage sale; ( E ) for which the Secretary determines there is not an urgent need to harvest due to deteriorating timber conditions that developed after the award of the contract; and (F) that is not in breach or in default. (3) S E CRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service. (b) OP TION S FOR QUALIFYING CONTRACTS.— (1) CANCELLATION OR RATE RE D ETER M INATION.—Notwith- standing any other provision of law, if the rate at which a qualifying contract would be advertised as of the date of enact- ment of this Act is at least 50 percent less than the sum of the original bid rates for all of the species of timber that are the sub j ect of the qualifying contract, the Secretary may, at the sole discretion of the Secretary— (A) cancel the qualifying contract if the timber pur- chaser— (i) pays 30 percent of the total value of the timber remaining in the qualifying contract based on bid rates; (ii) completes each contractual obligation (including the removal of downed timber, the comple- tion of road work, and the completion of erosion control work) of the timber purchaser with respect to each unit on which harvest has begun to a logical stopping point, as determined by the Secretary after consulta- tion with the timber purchaser; and (iii) terminates its rights under the qualifying con- tract; or (B) modify the qualifying contract to redetermine the current contract rate of the qualifying contract to equal the sum obtained by adding— (i) 25 percent of the bid premium on the qualifying contract; and (ii) the rate at which the qualifying contract would be advertised as of the date of enactment of this Act. (2) SU B STITUTION OF INDE X .— (A) SUBSTITUTION.—Notwithstanding any other provi- sion of law, the Secretary may, at the sole discretion of the Secretary, substitute the Producer Price I ndex specified in the qualifying contract of a timber purchaser if the timber purchaser identifies—
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