RULING PUTS A HOLD ON NEW CHIP-MILL RULES

A judge's ruling has dealt a major blow to state efforts to expand regulation of wood chipping mills in Missouri. Cole County Associate Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce issued a temporary restraining order recently barring enforcement of two provisions in a new stormwater permit Willamette Industries had received from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. The conditions had been included in the permit in accordance with an executive order issued by Gov. Mel Carnahan.

The two conditions put on hold by the judge's order would have required Willamette to train its logger-suppliers in "best-management practices" and to report where it gets its timber for its Wayne County chip mill. The judge's ruling prohibits DNR from enforcing the regulations until further order from the court. The order brings a halt to DNR's efforts to bring Willamette before the state Clean Water Commission.

Willamette operates one of two chip mills in Missouri. The other, operated by Canal Wood Products, is located at the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority.

Carnahan's original executive order, imposing new restrictions on the mills, reflected concerns about environmental issues that the chip mills represent. Environmentalists claim that the mills will cause a defoliation of Missouri's forests, encouraging clear-cutting and the like. Enough of these claims were made that the governor acted with his order. Now the judge has slowed down this agenda by ruling in Willamette's favor.

The facts are that chip mills can be compatible with sound environmental stewardship of our land and forests. During the early 1980s, the Missouri Department of Economic Development was working to bring chip mills to Missouri. Officials of our port authority have worked for years to bring to fruition the multimillion-dollar facility that is operating there. One state government study showed that Missouri could handle three operating chip mills out of the annual growth in our forests.

Fears of environmentalists regarding chip mills are overblown. While they bear watching, the judge's ruling in Willamette's favor is a sound one.