“People are having to use asthma pumps to help with their breathing issues,” said Debra David, which she believes is a disproportionate problem for those living near the Hamlet Enviva plant like herself. “We should not have to have imitation breathing chemicals going inside our body than clean air. There should not be a substitute for us to breathe.”
Screenshot from video posted by Dogwood Alliance
Dozens of people from frontline climate communities across the South joined Rep. Ro Khanna (D-California) at the White House to urge President Biden to stop the expansion of the biomass industry. According to Khanna, international biomass companies are clearcutting forests and building highly polluting wood pellet mills in small, predominantly lower-income communities of color across the South. The wood pellets are then shipped to Europe and Asia to be burned for electricity.
The process produces more carbon emissions than coal. And by clear-cutting forests, the industry removes communities’ natural lines of defense against accelerating climate impacts such as extreme heat, hurricanes, and flooding.
“What folks here are saying today is ‘enough!’” Rep. Khanna said. “What we need is a renewable energy future. What we need is energy efficiency. What we need is solar and wind. This is an issue of climate. This is an issue of healthy communities. And this is an issue of racial justice in America.”
“In my community of Hamlet, North Carolina, people are sick. They have asthma, headaches, nosebleeds, respiratory issues,” said Debra David of Concerned Citizens of Richmond County. “Out of 12 families in my neighborhood, eight families have asthma pumps and nebulizers. That should not be so, Mr. Biden. I say enough is enough. We would like for Mr. Biden to shut down the biomass industry. If not that, at least stop subsidizing them. Put stricter regulations on the pollution limits. Install air monitors in our communities so we can monitor air quality ourselves instead of relying on the bad actors who do the polluting and only tell us about air quality warnings after the fact. Invest in the communities, not in the industries.”
David’s address was followed by a chant of “Enough is Enough.”
“I live about 2 miles north of an Enviva facility that’s been there for 10 years,” said Richie Harding of Northampton First in North Carolina. “From day one we have had issues with noise pollution. Dust pollution. We have had traffic pollution. It’s very difficult to come home and see sawdust on the side of your home, sawdust on the ground. You’re breathing these things in. It’s constantly contaminating you.”
Speakers at the press event said that President Biden has a good – even historic – record on environmental justice. But just this week, the administration announced $50 million in grant funding to expand the forest products industry – including wood energy markets.
“This is in direct conflict with your historic commitment to environmental justice,” said Danna Smith, executive director of the forest protection organization, the Dogwood Alliance. “Though burning wood as fuel for electricity is promoted as a climate-friendly renewable alternative to coal, nothing could be further from the truth. Hundreds of scientists have warned that burning wood to generate electricity releases more carbon than coal and will make climate change worse. Wood pellet mills also release toxic air pollutants that are known to cause serious respiratory and other lifethreatening impacts. The clear-cutting of forests is stripping away natural flood protection for communities at a time when extreme flooding is getting worse. And now the wood pellet industry is gearing up for another phase of expansion – they’re planning to build an additional 12 mills across the South.”
After the press conference, the participants sent a virtual petition to Enviva, the largest wood-pellet producer in the world. The petition calls on the company to stop logging Southern forests and stop polluting Southern communities.