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I <br /> ` MISSOURI PLACES MORATORIUM ON NEW CHIP MILLS <br /> 1JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri , April 25 , 2000 ( ENS ) - The State of <br /> ! Missouri has declared a two - year moratorium on all new chip mill <br /> permits . Since 1985 , over 120 chip mills have opened in the <br /> Southeast , logging an estimated 1 . 2 million acres a year with little <br /> regulation . Missouri is one of three states undertaking its own chip <br /> mill study to be completed this summer . A two year, multi - agency <br /> federal study is currently underway to assess forest sustainability in <br /> 13 states throughout the Southeast . <br /> Some Missouri citizens are hopeful that the announcement will <br /> encourage Vice President Al Gore to weigh in at the federal level and <br /> call for a regional moratorium on new chip mill permits throughout <br /> the south . " The Vice President should act to protect not only the <br /> South ' s environment , but also our local economies from industrial <br /> clearcut logging , " said sawmill owner Bob Walker . In 1992 as a U . S . <br /> Senator from Tennessee , Vice President Al Gore was instrumental in <br /> the denial of permits for two chip mills along the Tennessee River , <br /> American Lands , a Washington , DC based environmental lobby <br /> group is urging Gore to support a regional moratorium on new chip <br /> mills . <br /> i <br />