What is a chipping mill?

Answer 1

Chip mills are a highly mechanized arm of the pulp and paper industry that can turn a tree into chips in a matter of seconds. Because of their tremendous appetite for trees they encourage massive clearcutting. For example, in Georgia alone more than 130,000 acres of forests are cleared each year to feed the 13 high capacity chip mills in the state.

A chip mill can consume more trees in one month than an average saw mill consumes in an entire year. Increased chip mill operations have already caused some saw mills in the region to go out of business; and, since chip mills consume small trees that would make good lumber if left to grow for another twenty years they threaten the future of existing saw millers.

"Today, there are over 80 high capacity chip mills in the South which have already clearcut millions of acres of forests, severely impacting native ecosystems and local economies," says Cielo Myczack, longtime chip mill activist and Co-coordinator of the Dogwood Alliance. "Agencies are permitting these facilities without considering the environmental and economic impacts; we are asking that no more chip mill permits be issued until a comprehensive environmental and economic impact study is completed."

Above retrieved from, http://www.groundworknews.org/forest/forest-chipmill.html

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