Most surrounding states are already home to or are targeted for similar operations.
The industry has turned itself to the Southeast. In Alabama, pulp and paper mills have already turned once-diverse forests into pine tree plantations. In many other southern states, trees are cut faster than replacements can grow back. Some experts fear a timber shortage. Chip mills, pulp mills and chip board factories are moving steadily across the region, through the Carolinas, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia.