Monster Enviva Wood Pellet Plants Invade Northeast NC Communities

In November of 2011, Enviva, a major corporate wood pellet producer with international sales, began operations at a rebuilt, former Georgia Pacific sawmill in Ahoskie, NC. Residents close to the plant have faced 24/7 extreme noise and lights, dust that coats cars, buildings, and lungs in just a few minutes, along with dangerous heavy truck traffic. While European power plants seek huge shipments of wood pellets as supposedly “greener” fuel than the coal they burned in the past, eastern North Carolina has turned into the Southeast’s latest energy colony.

Ending the Rush to Burn

Burning the forests that are supposed to be our best defense against climate change to protect us against climate change has to be one of the most ridiculous ideas I’ve ever heard. Yet over the last few years, Europe has wholeheartedly embraced this false solution to climate change, and we’ve seen a dramatic increase in logging in the Southern US to fuel European demand. Along the way, the US South has become the largest wood pellet export region in the world.

Forests Aren’t Fuel…They’re My Home

Not only does clearcutting US forests, turning them into pellets, and shipping them to Europe to be burned for electricity have a grievous cost for our climate, but it also destroys the habitat of the South’s rich and biodiverse plant and animal ecosystems.

The Buzz is Building on Wetlands Up in Smoke Video

Last month we released our first investigative video in support of the Our Forests Aren’t Fuel campaign: Wetlands Up in Smoke. The short film featuring a wide variety of voices documents the growing impact of the wood pellet industry on our Forests, community and climate.

September 21st is the International Day of Action against Plantations

Dogwood Alliance is proud to join the World Rainforest Movement and countless groups around the globe by taking part in the International Day of Action against Plantations. Natural forests in Africa, South America, Southeast Asia, China, Indonesia, and the Southern US are under threat from the big agribusiness, the global pulp and paper industry, and increasingly wood burning utilities that look at forests as a commodity to increase corporate profit rather than for the vital role they play as home to indigenous people, wildlife habitat, protecting the world against climate change, and so much more.