Paper mill closures are limiting forest opportunities in South Carolina. Chip Campsen is chairman of the Senate Fish, Game and Forestry Committee. He told WPDE forestry is the state’s top job provider.

“A lot of people are shocked to hear that, but that’s true, the number one industry by payroll. The problem is we have lost markets for our pulp wood.”

With the closure of the International Paper Mill and the West Rock site in Charleston, the state has lost markets for pulp wood, making it economically challenging to grow any timber in South Carolina. Campsen says he’s spoken with the Charleston Port Authority about updating its site for pulp wood shipping.

“The Port Authority is not interested in doing that. I wish they were, but they’re not. But I have started looking, and I know the industry started looking at some of the private terminals in Charleston.”

Campsen said this would provide South Carolina with the opportunity to access important foreign markets.

“We know that that there are markets that will buy our pulp wood, but we need to have infrastructure that enables us to capitalize upon those markets. We need to be able to ship via ship, because that’s the cheapest way to carry wood chips or pulp wood is by ship. We know there’s markets overseas for that.”

There’s also talk of the International Paper Mill site turning into a biomass plant. Campsen would welcome that.

“Yes. I mean, it would be a very important source of a market for pulp wood, and you already have a generator. There multiple generators there. My understanding is the individual in looking at buying that would add more generators, it would use pulp wood and then would sell that energy right into the grid at the Winyah Generating Station that is run by Santee Cooper, but could sell energy onto the grid right there.”