"A new groundbreaking survey highlights the human toll from pollution and other quality of life impacts connected to those living near the forest biomass industry’s wood pellet mills in the U.S Southeast. Door-to-door interviews were conducted by a coalition of NGOs, with 312 households surveyed in five mostly poor, rural and minority communities located near pellet mills"
"Forest biomass companies working in the U.S. Southeast in 2023 produced 9.54 million metric tons of wood pellets for export at their 28 mills scattered across the region. That’s a 5.7% increase over 2022. And there’s no end in sight for the sector’s growth — with new U.S. mills planned for the Deep South and even California.
While the pellets are an environmentally controversial substitute for coal burned in overseas power plants, awareness is also growing that biomass manufacture poses a public health threat in the mostly poor, rural, minority U.S. communities where the mills operate within a 10-state arc stretching from southern Virginia to Louisiana.
A 2023 study, for example, found that wood pellet mills emit 2.8 times more pollution than coal and oil-burning power plants on average. The mills emit 55 toxic pollutants ranging from nitrogen oxide to volatile organic compounds that disproportionately impact so-called environmental justice communities."
Justin Catanoso reports for Mongabay October 24, 2024.
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