When 14 Central American men drowned in the Allagash after the van they were riding in plunged off a logging road bridge, everyone expressed shock and dismay at the circumstances surrounding the state’s deadliest traffic accident. Many voiced concern that the men faced a long commute because of a lack of housing in the woods. There were also questions about whether the van was traveling too fast so the men could get into the woods quickly to make up for time lost the day before due to rain – they are paid based on how many acres they thin and a short day meant less money, the theory goes. Because of these concerns, many pledged to work for change.

Another group of foreign workers arrived recently to plant trees on vast tracts of industrial timberland. A larger group will come here this summer to thin stands of trees. Will these workers face conditions much differently than those who perished last September? Not really.

A coalition of large landowners has put together a new training program that is already under way. Foreign laborers and their bosses will now be taught first aid, safe brush saw operation and van-driving skills. The courses, for the first time, will be taught in Spanish, the native language of a growing number of men who come north to earn wages many times what they could earn in Guatemala or Honduras. One large landowner, J.D. Irving Ltd., will set up modular housing units in the woods so the foreign workers will not have to travel great distances to and from work – something many feel contributed to the accident which occurred near the end of the men’s morning commute from Caribou.

If, however, the people of Maine expected state and federal policy-makers to do anything to improve the situation, they will be disappointed. The U.S. Department of Labor earlier this year said it would revoke the license of Evergreen Forestry Services, the company that employed the men who died, for violations of federal labor laws. The revocation process, which means the company could no longer bring foreign workers into the United States, has been suspended because Evergreen did not apply for a new license this year.

In the meantime, it appears Evergreen has transformed itself. The U.S. and Maine departments of labor have approved an application from Progressive Environmental, based in Washington, to bring workers into the country and Maine. Problem is, that the largest shareholder, with a 40 percent stake, is Peter Smith III, the man who owned Evergreen. Both companies have the same Maine contact person. When informed of this, state and federal regulators expressed dismay and pledged to look into the matter. The agencies charged with protecting these workers had not found the connection, an inquiring reporter had.

What is needed, according to a study requested by Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins after the accident, are changes in federal law. The senators requested the study by the Congressional Research Service to find out why foreign forestry workers have a different visa classification than agricultural workers who do similar work. What CRS found is that even changing the classification will hot help workers like those killed in the Allagash. That’s because the law states that requirements for housing and other protections would not apply to workers who were not covered by the Immigration Reform and Control Act when it was formulated in 1986. Instead, if greater protections for the forestry workers are desired, they should be written into federal law.

No new laws will be in place this summer, however, when hundreds of Central American men toil in the Maine woods. A bill in the state Legislature to give more protections to these forestry workers was carried over until the next session.

Passing more stringent laws, how-ever, will have no effect if state and federal regulators are not serious about enforcing the ones already on the books. If they don’t even check on the ownership of the companies entrusted with the well-being of these workers, their commitment to protecting them is questionable.