The Campaign Takes it to the Field in Virginia

On Wednesday afternoon, we went up to Chesapeake to get a closer look at the Enviva export facility. The southern part of the Elizabeth River runs through Portsmouth and Chesapeake and is lined with industrial centers on both sides. From the Jordan Bridge crossing the river, it is easy to spot the two enormous white silos that store up to 100,000 metric tons of wood pellets. We paddled our kayaks through Paradise Creek, which runs right next to the domes. The structures are massive. It’s alarming to realize the amount of forests that must be cleared to stock these domes, and the impact of this huge loss on our environment and communities.

New UK Government Science Report Confirms Burning Forests Bad for Climate

The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) released its long-awaited Biomass Emissions and Counterfactual Model Calculator and an accompanying report Lifecycle Impacts of Biomass in 2020 report. The findings from the tool and associated report confirm what U.S. and European ENGOs have been claiming for the last few years – that burning forests for electricity is bad for our climate.

Carolinians Call on State to Review Enviva Port Expansion

Citizens and environmental groups across the Carolinas called on the state of North Carolina to reject a proposed port expansion to accommodate Enviva in Wilmington, NC. The proposed project involves the lease of state public land at the state port to a wood pellet manufacturer, Enviva LP, for the development of a wood pellet export facility.

Map of proposed and existing Enviva Pellet Mills in the Southern US

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.