Gloster is a small, rural, mostly Black community in Amite County, Mississippi. It spans 1.8 square miles with around 900 residents. Residents are facing the harsh reality of a median income below $15,000 in 2021.
Introduction of the Amite BioEnergy Pellet Plant
In 2015, Amite BioEnergy, a part of the UK’s Drax Group, started making wood pellets in Gloster. Industry markets wood pellets as eco-friendly. They get big subsidies from the EU to supposedly fight climate change. Drax has a permit to emit up to 25 tons of harmful air pollutants and 249 tons of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) per year. But since 2016, Drax has consistently gone over these limits. Drax even paid a $2.5 million fine for it.
The community is angry and afraid. Gloster resident, Betty Ravencraft, said:
“I see my county dwindling away. It is ludicrous to be destroying our assets and shipping them overseas to be burned for fuel. I have never been an activist in my whole life. But now I am being forced to stand up for my town because of the amount of citizens popping up with heart disease and cancer. I am scared to live here. I cannot understand how the UK is allowing Drax to be here. To destroy our way of life, the air that we breathe, and our health; while the citizens in their country are fine.”
Greater Greener Gloster is a community group fighting back against Drax. They’re fighting for their health and their future.
What is the Wood Pellet Production Process?
Biomass wood pellets are compressed dried wood chips and sawdust. They’re created by drying the wood with intense heat, usually from burning. This releases harmful air pollutants. Then the dried wood is crushed and compressed into pellets at high pressure.
What Types of Pollutants Do Wood Pellet Plants Produce?
Wood pellet plants emit many air pollutants, including:
- nitrogen oxides (NOx)
- greenhouse gas like carbon dioxide, methane, and sulfur dioxide
- volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
- particulate matter (PM) 2.5
Sleep is critical to health, so 24/7 noise pollution is also a concern.
What Are the Short-term Effects of This Air Pollution?
These air pollutants are harmful to residents breathing them in. They can cause:
- coughing
- trouble breathing
- skin rashes
- severe allergic reactions
What Are the Long-term Effects of This Air Pollution?
The long-term effects of air pollution are chronic. They’re also much worse than the short-term effects. Some are even life-threatening. Added to the short-term effects, the long-term effects can be:
- shortness of breath
- nausea
- headaches
- cardiovascular disease
- lung disease
- heart attack
- stroke
The community is suffering these effects now. Mabel Williams is a Gloster resident. She said:
“I’ve started coughing inside and outside. The plant might be helping people make a living, but we want a clean environment so we can breathe. That’s what we need. I had a friend that stayed with me, and she died because of this environment that was around here. It was cancer. We need the plant to clean up its act. I think I would feel better if they did. At night, something heavy comes out of that plant. I have to sleep with my ventilator to try to stay alive.”
Health Impact Study
In 2024, students from Brown University and Tougaloo College started a study. Dr. Erica Walker and Dr. Cristina Nica are the lead scientists. The project partnered with Community Noise Lab. They investigated the environmental impacts of the wood pellet plant on Gloster. The research analyzed air pollution and noise levels in Gloster and Mendenhall, MS. They used this data to assess health risks.
There was a lot of community involvement in the research. Participants shared health details. They shared their age, height, weight, race, sex, and distance from Drax. This helped assess respiratory health and other factors. The study revealed new information. It showed more about wood pellet plants’ relationship to the environment and health.
Key Findings
- Warmer temperatures were linked to lower VOC concentrations.
- The closer you live to a wood pellet plant, the more you weigh.
- Gloster residents had serious health issues like asthma, COPD, and heart problems.
- Confirmed short-term effects included coughing, trouble breathing, skin rashes, and severe allergic reactions.
What’s Next For the Health Study?
It’s important to continue to get more information. This will give us a more complete picture of this industry’s health effects. So the study will go on. The team will:
- investigate more types of air pollutants
- collect data farther from the plant to increase the impact radius of study
- get more people involved and collect more health information
The community of Gloster is tired of waiting for action. We’re taking the communities’ demands to the source.
Hold Drax Accountable