More and more, they are calling for a halt to additional chip mills until their impact can be assessed. Last month, Missouri became the first state to order such a moratorium, declaring a two-year hold on new chip mill permits. And the first formal studies have been launched to document the changes to the southern landscape. Wood chips, used in the making of paper and paper products, are a profitable commodity at home and abroad. Recent technological advances have made the grinding of whole trees, regardless of their condition, more efficient and have allowed the work to be done much closer to the logging operation.
Chips also are easier and cheaper to transport than logs.
Michael Klein, a spokesman for the American Forest and Paper Association, a trade group, argues that chip mills are nothing new. Opponents say chip mills are ravaging the South's natural forests and their mix of old oaks and pines and diverse wildlife. This is particularly true, they say, in Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas and here in eastern Tennessee, home to some of the country's most prized wilderness areas. They also are concerned that except for federal water quality provisions, cutting goes largely unrestricted in the South. Loggers here are not even required to notify state authorities about their activities.