The Roanoke Times
Sunday, December 5, 1999

So far, the chip mill's only an idea; some in Clifton Forge hope it never achieves reality. Citizens not ready to cash in on these chips The Development Authority's director thinks a chip mill would bring jobs to a depressed area. The response from many residents: "No, thanks."

By RON NIXON

CLIFTON FORGE -- Back in May, this city celebrated when CSX Corp. gave the Alleghany Highlands Economic Development Authority a 27-acre site once
used by the railroad to repair its cars.

Officials viewed the land as a lure to recruit new jobs and industries to a declining community.

Seven months later, the future of the land is mired in controversy. At its center is Glynn Loope, the authority's director, who told state legislators studying forestry issues in September that he wanted to bring a chip mill to the site.

The announcement drew protests from citizens who said they didn't know about Loope's plan until they read it in The Roanoke Times.

Chip mills grind logs into wood chips that are used to make office paper, containers and other paper products. These small mills also have been at the center of a debate over timber cutting in the Southeast. Critics of these plants, which consume about 3,000 acres of timber a year in a 100-mile radius, say they promote clear-cutting that leaves moonscapes in the forest and causes erosion that damages water quality and wildlife habitat.

There are more than 156 chip mills in the Southeast, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The number is growing as the forest industry moves, because of regulations and declining timber supply, from the Pacific Northwest to the South.

The growth has prompted the Forest Service and other agencies to launch a two-year study of the impact of chip mills on Southern forests.

In Clifton Forge, though, the controversy stems not so much from a chip mill's environmental impact as from its economics. Opponents say a chip millin the city would provide too few jobs to be economically viable.

"This 27-acre piece of land is the only developable land that we have in this city," said Marylou Barns, a city councilwoman opposed to a chip mill.
"We need to attract more well-paying, sustainable jobs here. A chip mill is not something that I'm interested in handing down to our children and grandchildren as economic development."

Clifton Forge has been in an economic downturn for decades. More than 2,500 people in this former railroad town worked for CSX Corp.

But employment has declined almost to nothing as the railroad closed its shops, leaving hundreds of people out of work. Others transferred. The city has lost 7 percent of its population this decade and expects the trend to continue.

The city needs millions of dollars to fix its aging sewer system, which has leaked into streets and streams.

Faced with declining tax revenue and mounting bills, Clifton Forge is seeking to give up its charter and be included in Alleghany County.

"That's why this land and these buildings are so important," Loope said as he toured the abandoned building at the former CSX site last week. "It could give the town the means to invigorate its tax base."

Loope said he was surprised by the uproar over his mention of a chip mill.

"I think it's premature to fight a hypothetical project; there is no one ready to build a chip mill here," he said. "The chip mill is something that we have looked at as a possibility of bringing here, but we've looked at other projects as well.

"What we need to do is to get a consultant in here and see what we need to clean up and do to the property to make it attractive to someone to come here. Then we can talk about the kind of industries we want."

Loope says he sees nothing wrong with trying to bring a chip mill to the site, which is close to two major interstate highways, the Jackson River and a CSX rail line.

"I think it's a natural fit. Our agreement with CSX says we have to have an industry in here that is a high rail user. A chip mill certainly fits the bill. A chip mill can be a capital-intensive operation that could bring new investment to the city."

Opponents take a different view.

"We're only talking about five to 10 jobs," said Susan Haley, who is leading a petition drive to have City Council kill any proposal to bring a chip mill to the site. So far, Haley said, eight local businesses have posted the petitions.

"Why are we willing to give up all this land for so little? We could get 300 or 500 jobs there," Haley said. "The area is already depressed. We need something that will benefit our community, not special interests."

George Keller, an Alleghany County resident, also expressed opposition.

"My worry is that a chip mill would provide chips to other areas overseas, which would decimate local forests in Alleghany, Bath, Botetourt and Craig counties," he said.

Exports of wood chips from the South to Asian countries, including Korea and Japan, have increased since 1985, when chip mills appeared in the
South.

Keller, a hunter and fisherman, said he also is concerned about a chip mill's environmental impact.

"I hunt deer and turkey mostly," he said. "For what I understand about chip mills, they encourage clear-cutting, and that would destroy the habitat of wildlife in this area. This is not something that we need for this area."

Keller said he is also concerned about the chip mill because the Westvaco pulp and paper mill is just 12 miles away. Having a giant paper mill and a chip mill that close to each other, drawing on the same timber resources, could be detrimental to local forests, he said.

But Tim Goodbar, owner of Two Brothers Logging in Lexington and chairman of the Appalachian Forest Management Group, an industry group in Covington, said a chip mill would provide an economic boon to the city in the form of well-paying jobs and additional indirect jobs.

"I don't see where it would hurt the area," he said. "Some of the stuff we haul to mills is lesser quality. A chip mill would give us another place to sell timber that the paper mills wouldn't take.

"We support the effort by Mr. Loope," he said. "I don't think most folks are raising Cain about this, just a few who are misinformed about chip mills."

The protest has grown as environmental groups from around the state have taken an interest. A member of a statewide legislative committee on chip mills led by Del. Barnie Day, D-Patrick County, has made a trip to the city.

Mayor Mac Campbell says he worries that Clifton Forge could become an environmental battleground over a chip mill that hasn't even been proposed yet.

"I think we have to keep in mind that this is just one of many options," he said. "No one is ready to go in there and set up a chip mill. We don't want to do anything to destroy our environment, but we need to keep all our options open."

Shireen Parsons, a citizen member of the legislative study committee on chip mills, said the people of Clifton Forge have a right to be concerned.

"In addition to the sparse jobs, there is the constant noise and dust from these things, and increased truck traffic in a little town like this,"she said. "Sadly, I think we're going to see more attempts to put chip mills in little, rural, economically desperate communities. It does nothing for the people there except harm the environment and keep workers in low-wage jobs."