ACTION ALERT -- Sign Letter to Halt Easter Chip Mills
12/19/98
*******************************
RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: ACTION ALERT -- Sign Letter to Halt Easter Chip Mills
Source: GREEN, http://www.defenders.org/grnhome.html
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 19, 1998
Folks,
Virginia Forest Watch has asked us to circulate the following alert
and sign-on letter to you. The letter will go the EPA to help stop
the proliferation of chip mills in the southeastern United States.
Please look over the alert and letter and consider signing on your
group.
As is usually the case, if you are an individual, use the letter as a
sample for your own personal letter.
Thanks,
Roger Featherstone
GREEN Director
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WHAT TO DO
Please add your group to this letter & help support efforts to
contain the growth of chip mills in the east.
Please email organization name, contact name, phone, email and
address to Anne Zirkle at ahzirkle@neocom.net.
The Deadline for this letter is January 15, 1999
For more information on the chip mill issue, the Dogwood Alliance has
excellent resource materials, including "Chipping Forests and Jobs",
by Danna Smith. Contact Dogwood at lorax@citcom.net. or (828)-883-
5889.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
VIRGINIA FOREST WATCH ALERT
Virginia Forest Watch, a coalition of conservation groups in
Virginia, is seeking sign-ons from individuals & organizations
nation- wide and particularly in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland &
Pennsylvania (EPA's Region III). We are asking the EPA to set up a
meeting with regional representatives to discuss the impacts of chip
mills on forests, water quality, biodiversity and general
environmental quality across the mid-Atlantic and Southeast states.
We seek the following: that a moratorium be placed on any new chip
mill permits until the completion of a chip mill impact study in our
Region; and that Region III join in partnership with the multi-
agency, forest resource assessment, including chip mills, now being
considered in the Southeast. Your signatures will encourage the EPA,
elected officials and other agencies to authorize a region-wide
forest resource assessment which would limit further growth by the
chip mill industry.
The pulp and paper industry uses chip mills to chip massive
quantities of trees as quickly and cheaply as possible, encouraging
large-scale clearcutting. Approximately 1.2 million acres of forest
are clearcut every year, with impacts to biodiversity, wildlife
habitat & water quality, to feed the approximately 140 chip mills in
the southeast region. As the most mechanized arm of industrial
forestry, chip mills employ few people and harm other aspects of
forest-dependent economies -- from saw-mills and furniture makers
requiring older and larger trees, to tourism and outdoor recreation.
Due to increased logging pressures, removals of softwoods in the
South have already exceeded growth by 12-14%. And as the pulp &
paper industry chips increasing numbers of hardwoods, industry
experts predict that removals of hardwoods in the region will exceed
growth within the next two to ten years. Because of these impending
shortages, chip mills are spreading north into the Ozark and
Appalachian mountain regions.
The unregulated spread of chip mills poses a threat to all aspects of
life in forest communities. Please add your group (if you have not
already signed) to this letter & help support efforts to contain the
growth of chip mills in the east. Please email organization name,
contact name, phone, email and address to Anne Zirkle at
ahzirkle@neocom.net.
Thank you for the work your group is doing for the environment and
for the time you are taking to consider our concerns. We hope to
hear from you soon. If you get this email via other listservers, we
apologize. If you know any other groups who might be interested,
please forward this. Please send sign-ons by January 15, 1999.
Thanks so much!
Nancy Gilliam, Anne Zirkle & Christina Wulf for Virginia Forest Watch
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SIGN-ON LETTER
EPA Region III
Office of the Regional Administrator
W. Michael McCabe
1650 Arch Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Dear Mr. McCabe,
We, the undersigned individuals, represent organizations that are
vitally concerned about the recent proliferation of resource
intensive, satellite wood chip mills and the associated impacts to
the environment. Timber demand and subsequent harvesting is
projected to escalate over the next few decades increasing the
pressure on forested ecosystems. We believe that foresight and
planning by natural resource manager ' s, regulatory and non-
regulatory agencies and the public are necessary. We would like to
meet with you at your earliest convenience to discuss the role EPA
Region III might take in assessing overall water quality impacts from
industrial wood chip mills.
In just 10 years the number of chip mills in the southeastern U.S.
has more than tripled to at least 140. These highly automated chip
mills grind trees into small chips to make paper, composite lumber
and rayon. Each chip mill requires up to 10,000 acres of forest a
year. These satellite chip mills have the potential to drastically
alter surrounding landscapes in a very short time. In particular, we
are concerned about the devastating impacts chip mills are having
upon forest health. Water quality is sharply reduced, soils eroded,
wildlife habitats and critically threatened species are imperiled,
and there is a loss of mature hardwoods.
Forests in the Southeast already supply 70% of the pulpwood consumed
in the U.S., and much of the global market, as well. The demand for
forest products is expected to increase timber harvesting
significantly in the U.S. over the next few decades, with about 80%
of the increase occurring in the South. It is projected that an
increase in timber harvesting will reduce the Southeast forest
inventories causing substantial real price increases and a shift to
younger, faster growing, short rotation species. As forests
inventories decline in the South, resource demands can be expected to
increase in our region.
It is predicted that tighter timber supplies and higher fiber costs
in the South will drive the timber market north. According to a
Virginia Department of Agriculture (VDOA) report in 1991, future
competition in the Southeast for low-grade hardwood resources and
resulting inflated stumpage prices will inevitably make Virginia
forests more attractive and competitive for its hardwood fiber.
VDOA's Virginia Forest Export News in February 1991, reports, ...
"Although there is an unfavorable proximity to the Far East export
market, Virginia is in the geographical drivers seat for the hardwood
chip expansion into Europe', and, ..."The abundance of hardwood
inventory, and excellent deep-water ports make Virginia a prime site
for hardwood chip export market development.'
Today Virginia has at least six chip mills, two of which are high
capacity. The overlapping sourcing areas included our National
Forest lands. In Lantz Corners, Pennsylvania, Willamette Corporation
operates a high capacity chip mill in the headwaters of Lanigan
Brook, a native wild trout stream. An "exceptional value wetland"
was impacted during the construction of the chip mill and pollutants
from the industrial chipping operation are now discharged into
Lanigan Brook. Citizens are engaged in costly court battles
attempting to protect their watershed and the downstream waters. The
permitting process never considered off-site impacts.
Other states outside of the Southeast are beginning to feel the
encroachment of chip mills. Within EPA Region VII's jurisdiction,
Missouri's Department of Natural Resource recently granted two chip
mill permits. There was significant public outcry. The public and
officials alike urged off-site, indirect and cumulative impact
reviews. Missouri Governor Carnahan acknowledged that "the operation
of chip mills generates questions about a variety of adverse
environmental impacts caused by indiscriminate forest resource
harvesting practices, including soil erosion, increased sediment in
streams, and alteration of the natural forested landscape." In
September, 1998, Missouri's Governor signed an executive order
mandating a State chip mill impact study, making it the second State
chip mill impact study, following North Carolina.
EPA Regions are "struggling to get a sense of the full range of the
chip mill industry's environmental impacts," according to one EPA
source. EPA Region VII contended that "chip mills are very different
operations from traditional saw mills and require stepped-up
scrutiny." On several occasions both EPA Region VII and IV have
recommended secondary, indirect and cumulative impact reviews be
produced as a part of a state NPDES permit and several federal
permits. And, EPA Region IV is now a full partner in the first State
chip mill impact study mandated by Governor Jim Hunt of North
Carolina.
Despite the rapid spread of chip mills region-wide and a large number
of permits granted in a very short time, there has been only one
cumulative analysis of impacts on forested watersheds caused by
industrial chip mills. The three-federal agency EIS predicted grim
environmental consequence for a forty-two county, three-state region
"sourced" by three proposed Tennessee River chip mills. The negative
findings caused both the Army Corps and TVA to refuse to issue all
three chip mill permits.
We are encouraged that seven natural resource agency leaders met in
June to discuss concerns about forest resource management, including
chip mills in the Southeast. It was agreed that the concerns
deserved explanation and evaluation. The individual agency roles and
responsibilities, both regulatory and non-regulatory, were addressed.
A subgroup began the planning to develop and collect data which could
be used as a basis for any decision making. The agencies' leaders
may vote on the matter in December.
Our organizations want to help protect our forests from the chip
mill- induced impacts that are now occurring in the Southeast U.S. We
believe that with foresight, planning and citizen cooperation,
serious impacts and irreversible environmental damage can be
prevented in Region III. We ask the following of you: (1) that
representatives from our organizations have the opportunity to meet
with you soon; (2) that a moratorium be placed on any new chip mill
permits until the completion of a chip mill impact study in our
Region; (3) that Region III join in partnership with the multi-
agency, forest resource assessment, including chip mills, now being
considered in the Southeast.
Thank you for your consideration. We look forward to a response at
your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
1) Hickory Alliance
2) Steve Fisher
3) National Audubon Society, DC
4) Va Forest Watch
5) Common Ground...A Network for Peace, Justice and the Environment,
VA
6) Bruce Clemens, Ph.D, PE, Assistant Professor - James Madison
University, VA
7) The Naturalist Club, VA
8) Memphis Audubon Society, TN
9) Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project, NC
10) Friends of the North Fork Shenandoah, VA
11) Alternatives in Action!, GA
12) Protect Biodiversity in Public Forests Network,
13) Concerned Citizens of Rutherford County, NC
14) Earthculture, NC
15) The Center - Doug Murray, Dir., TN
16) Allegheny Defense Project, PA
17) Appalachian Regional Recycling Consortium
18) A.C.C.E.S.S. (A Center of the Creation as Environmentally
Sustainable Systems)
19) Sierra Club, Virginia Chapter
20) HOPE (Help Our Polluted Environment), FL
21) CJE (Coalition for Jobs and the Environment), VA
22) Devil's Fork Trail Club, VA
23) The Clinch Coalition, VA
24) The Arkansas Watershed Alliance, AR
25) Preserve Appalachian Wilderness, VA
26) Tuscaloosa Chapter of the Alabama Environmental Council
27) Southeast Forest Project, DC
28) Thomas P. Rooney, Dept. of Botany, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison
29) Roanoke County Preservation League, VA
30) Wild Alabama
31) Nick Brown, Ph.D., Consulting Ecologist, AR
32) Alabama Environmental Council
33) Shenandoah Ecosystems Defense Group (SEDG), VA
34) Virginia Organizing Project
35) Rockbridge Area Conservation Council, VA
36) Boones Mill Garden Club, VA
37) Dogwood Alliance, NC
38) Appalachian Voices, NC
39) Broadened Horizons Riverkeeper Project, TN
40) Dickenson County Citizens Committee, VA
42) Chris Bolgiano, author
And your Group...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~