NOT ALL TIMBER CUTTING IS IRRESPONSIBLE

A number of environmentalists have asked Missouri to study the possible damage from chip mills. Why stop there? A group of about 100 scientists has asked President Bill Clinton for a national ban on chip mills.

These chip mills grind trees into chips used by pulp and paper manufacturers to make paper for copiers, computers and glossy magazines.

The scientists worry that private landowners may irresponsibly sell the wood to chip mills. This seems a flimsy reason to ban all chip mills. Congress has yet to ban cigarettes even though minors are known to purchase them illegally.

More wood is growing than is being cut in Missouri. That is despite the fact that logging has increased the acres of forests cut in the state.

But responsible logging replaces what is cut, using sound land management procedures. Most of these businesses simply cannot be compared to the extensive and damaging clear-cutting around the turn of the century.

New chip mills in Southeast Missouri have been welcomed by local economic development efforts. Canal Industries built a $12 million operation in the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority. Willamette Industries operates a $10 million mill near Piedmont. These mills utilize low-value trees and sawmill wastes and provide needed jobs.

Government cannot ban chip mills on gloom-and-doom predictions from environmentalists.