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Environment News Service : AmeriScan : August 1 , 2000 wysiwyg :H3/http : //ens . lycos . com/ens/aug2000/2000L- 08 - 01 - 09 , html <br /> MISSOURI PARCEL REJECTS MAN13ATORY RULES FOR CHIP <br /> Inviror MILLS <br /> JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri , August 1 , 2000 ( ENS ) - A panel <br /> appointed by Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan has concluded that <br /> mandatory rules for the state 's chip mills are unnecessary , <br /> recommending instead that voluntary measures be promoted . The <br /> report by the Advisory Committee on Chip Mills , released Monday , <br /> angers environmentalists who fear that high capacity chip mills will <br /> devastate state forests . The committee is made up of politicians , <br /> forest industry representatives , landowners and environmentalists . <br /> " We give the committee and staff credit for a comprehensive look at <br /> the issues , but they are failing to make recommendations that <br /> position the state to adequately control the negative effects of large <br /> chip mills , " said Roy Hengerson of the Missouri Coalition for the <br /> Environment . <br /> Two large chip mills have opened in Missouri since 1997 , and more <br /> may be on the way . Governor Carnahan asked the panel to examine <br /> whether regulations are needed to slow the rate of clear cutting and <br /> other timber practices . So far , the panel has suggested only <br /> voluntary education and training programs , additional studies and <br /> the formation of a Forest Resources Council to advise the state ' s <br /> forestry practices . Proponents of the mills argue that they can be <br /> sustainable , using scrap wood and logging debris to create chips for <br /> pulp and paper mills . But critics say the mills provide few jobs and <br /> harm the local environment . " Two years of talking has not yielded a <br /> product that ' s going to protect Ozark streams and meet the <br /> challenges of an emerging , risky timber and small tree extraction <br /> industry , " said state Attorney General ] ay Nixon . " Traditional <br /> logging is not a threat . Mechanized timber harvesting by giant <br /> international corporate conglomerates , in stark contrast , is a menace <br /> to the Ozarks . <br />