Communities across the Southern US are no stranger to extractive industries that threaten their health and quality of life. A new video, “Selling out Sampson County” by Dogwood Alliance investigates the impact that the latest threat, wood pellet manufacturing, has on the rural South and inspires people around the region to organize to stop this growing threat.
This is Part 2 of a 2 part series exploring the impact that the wood pellet industry is having on the rural communities of the Gulf coast. Part 1 looked at the wood pellet industry in Mississippi and the destructive impact it has on the forests and the rural local economy…
This summer I had the privilege of working on the Our Forests Aren’t Fuel campaign as an organizing intern. As a second summer intern and student board member, I was […]
Our new report “Wood Pellet Manufacturing: Risks for the Economy of the US South” sheds much needed light on the economic downsides of this rapidly expanding new industry. The bottom line? The wood pellet export market is simply not a very smart 21st Century economic development strategy for our Southern rural communities. We can and must do better to support the economic well-being of the South’s rural communities.
Recently a couple of us here at Dogwood went out on an investigation of the wood pellet manufacturing facilities in North Carolina. All of the facilities are owned and operated by Enviva and exist for the sole purpose of producing wood pellets to feed the market in Europe, particularly the UK-based utility company Drax.
