On Earth Day, the one day a year that Americans are reminded to respect and love the earth for all its wildness and splendor, and to be thankful for the clean air, water, and nurturing it provides, Environmental Protection Agency Head Scott Pruitt decided he would push the planet closer to the brink of destruction. […]
This is not your grandparents’ wood stove we’re talking about; this is operating an enormous power plant using enough wood to power an entire country.
Two weeks ago Senator Susan Collins from Maine sponsored an amendment to the “Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015”. A US Senate committee approved it for an upcoming vote by the whole chamber. The amendment claims the “carbon neutrality” of biomass (forests being burned for electricity). This amendment is essentially a boondoggle that is a giveaway to an antiquated and destructive industry.
The White House has taken the right position regarding the myth of carbon neutrality of burning trees for electricity. Dogwood Alliance is pleased to see the Administration taking a position that is grounded in science and that recognizes the massive threat that a large scale-up in burning trees for electricity represents.
The longer forests are allowed to grow, the greater the climate benefit. This basic biological fact has given rise to a number of international programs and policies designed to encourage the protection of forests as carbon sinks. In fact, the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, of which many European nations are signatories, has developed a variety of tools and policy frameworks to encourage greater forest conservation.
