Every part of the biomass process has adverse climate and community impacts:

Logging: The proposed Drax plant would use one million tons of wood each year. While the industry claims to use only logging byproducts, in truth it relies on whole trees, even logging old growth trees to be pulverized into pellets. We need these trees standing now, so they can sequester and store carbon. Pellet Production: Manufacturing wood pellets produces harmful pollutants like nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, hazardous air pollutants, and microscopic dust particles that contribute to serious health risks in local communities. Round-the-clock noise from pellet production and truck traffic also impacts community health and wellbeing. In the southeastern United States, wood pellet facilities frequently violate air quality regulations, making them even more dangerous for nearby communities. International Shipping: Not only does shipping use huge amounts of energy, it is very dangerous. Several shipping personnel have died from deadly concentrations of harmful gasses created by unventilated wood pellet storage confinements and stored bulk piles of wood pellets can self-heat which can lead to spontaneous combustion. Burning: Overall, for each kilowatt hour of heat or electricity produced, using wood is likely to add two to three times as much carbon to the air as using fossil fuels. Greenwashing: Because of a mistake in carbon accounting, woody biomass energy is considered “carbon neutral,” making it eligible for government subsidies to reduce greenhouse gasses – Drax receives over 750 million dollars a year in subsidies from the British government! Companies are shifting from burning fossil fuels to burning wood, which increases warming, instead of shifting to solar and wind, which would truly decrease warming.

In community,

Brenna Bell, 350PDX Climate Forest Manager