Citizens Decry State Ports Authority’s Decision to Move Forward Without Fully Evaluating Project’s Destructive Impacts on Forests, Communities, and Climate Wilmington, NC – North Carolina residents held their own public […]
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.
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.
In just the last two years or so, the wood pellet export industry in the US has exploded to meet spiking demand in Europe, where utility companies are phasing out coal and phasing in wood as a primary fuel source for electricity.
