Woody biomass has become the fossil-fuel industry’s renewable, green savior but this source of energy is fraught with problems. British energy giant Drax has proposed building a wood biomass processing and export facility in Longview, Washington, that would use one million tons of wood each year, to grind into pellets and ship to east Asia for burn in industrial power plants.
On this episode of Locus Focus we talk with Brenna Bell, Forest Climate Manager with 350PDX, about the devastation these biomass plants have wrought on forests and communities in the South, and how organizers in the Northwest are now gearing up to keep Drax out of our region..
Learn more about the dangers of biomass, at a special free screening of the new documentary "Burned: Are Trees the New Coal," Monday, January 8 at 7 pm at the Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton Street in Portland. The film will be followed by a Q&A and discussion.
For more information contact Brenna Bell: brenna@350pdx.org
The Millions of Tons of Carbon - article about biomass in the New Yorker
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