Copied below are excerpts from two messages sent to NC enviros by
Bill Holman, a Sierra Club and Conservation Council of North Carolina
lobbyist at the NC General Assembly <bholman@nando.net>.
They provide a yet another example of the type of resource extraction
industry and virgin materials subsidy we are trying to overcome with
recycling/waste reduction initiatives and enteprises.
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Concerned Citizens of Rutherford County and others have organized a rally
against a proposed wood chip mill proposed by Willamette Industries for
Saturday, July 20 from 12-6 pm in Union Mills at the Union Mills
Community Clubhouse on Hudlow Road. Citizens from Kane, PA will attend
to describe the impact of a Willamette chip mill on their forests and
communities. CCRC estimates that the mill will consume about 20,000
acres of forests per year. Chipping forests is a major issue in most
states south and west of NC; more chip mills are projected for NC.
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Just in time for the anti-chip mill rally in Union Mills on Saturday --
Sen. Aaron Plyler, D-Union, deftly slipped his proposal to give an income
tax credit to companies and individuals that export "forest products"
(ie wood chips) through NC ports into the Senate version of HB 53. It's
Sec. 15.18 on pages 36-37. I didn't even find it in the bill until the
morning after the Senate had passed the bill. It's more than a little
ironic that the budget bill encourages forested buffers in one place and
subsidizes deforestation in another. Weyerhauser and Canal Wood will get
about a $200K break from the provision. Other chip exporters would
benefit in the future. The House bill did not include this subsidy so
this item will be reviewed in the House-Senate conference committee.
Contact your senators and representatives to protest this giveaway.
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David Kirkpatrick
KirkWorks
Dkirkwks@igc.apc.org