The opening ceremony of the Green Olympics was a striking reminder of the clear and present danger from runaway climate change. With over three billion people watching the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the call for action was an unforgettable moment, a reminder of the dire consequences of ignoring the climate threat and expecting others will care.
“The heat is melting the ice cap and it is disappearing very quickly.” The video showed projections of rising sea levels in places like Amsterdam, Dubai, Florida, Shanghai, Lagos and Rio de Janeiro. Eleven thousand trees will be planted in a Rio park, same as the number of athletes at the Games. With a simple act of kindness, Brazil drew the attention of the world on the climate problem and solution. Trees are the climate experts, they know how to remove and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, unless we cut them down and sell them at stumpage prices.
False energy solutions
Burning wood pellets in place of coal at power stations seemed like a reasonable alternative. After all, there are many trees and we can always plant some more. That was the sales pitch by the 4,000-megawatt coal-fired U.K. Drax power station, the highest source of pollution in the U.K. Using undefined terms like clean-heat, carbon-neutral, and renewable-energy, Drax found a way burn trees to power the U.K. National Grid.
The U.K. knows the value of the forests – they had to find another source. Southeastern U.S. states and far away countries were happy to build pellet mills and sell their forests. Enviva found willing partners in North Carolina, and other wood pellet companies followed.
Forests are not renewable
Global warming is not only about rising sea levels. Droughts and insect infestations threaten many forests. High winds and dead trees are additional wildfire hazards for Southern California.
The U.K. reforestation goal of 11 million new trees by 2020 is threatened by diseases. Planting millions of a wide variety of trees to increase biodiversity makes new forests resilient, a simple and natural solution involving everyone.
Biomass is not sustainable
According to Biofuelwatch, August 5, 2016, the UK’s Drax biomass sustainability standards are a scam. Burning wood pellets, Drax gets $1.3 million in renewable subsidies per day. Burning wood pellets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is a false, deceptive and harmful energy alternative. The total carbon footprint of burning U.S. forests to power the U.K. National Grid is 10 times higher than burning coal at Drax. Wood pellets increase the threat of global warming; high subsidies needed to make the supply chain work is unaffordable. Brexit is the last nail in the coffin for wood pellet mills.
Biomass has no future
The industry relationships between the U.K. Department of Energy, Drax, U.K National Grid, Zilkha, Clean Line Energy, and the U.S. Department of Energy, a complex web of colorful characters, gave the Arkansas Economic Development Commission a chance to play the wood pellet game. Zilkha Biomass chose Monticello, and Highland Pellets chose Pine Bluff for two massive wood pellet mills.
Zilkha Biomass knows how to read the tea leaves – it recently shut down their Texas wood pellet mill and quietly postponed construction of the Monticello 500,000 tons per year pellet mill.
Highland Pellets did not get the memo and plans to make the first pellet in November. Pine Bluff has had hard times and loggers can’t wait to get started. Forest owners need compensation for their investment, but selling the trees is not the answer.
The Arkansas Teacher Retirement System decided to put their money where their heart is and invest $25 million on Highland Pellets before the mill is operational. ATRS, with $125 million invested on the Big River Koch Steel Mill, makes high-carbon investments with retirement funds of over 100,000 public teachers.
Few low-pay, dead-end jobs are created in a high-carbon economy, putting the future of Arkansas at peril. Investing in Arkansas to preserve the quality of life and reputation as the Natural State is the promise of the green economy.
Dr. Luis Contreras
Investments made by the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System (ATRS) do not seem to be in the best long-term interest of Arkansas Teachers.
Highland Pellets plans to export wood pellets to the UK Drax 4,000-megawatt power station are not based on a purchase agreement with Drax. What happens to the $25 Million ATRS investment if Highland never makes a single pellet?
Here are some facts suggesting this likely scenario:
1. There has been strong opposition for several years to burning Southern U.S. forests by the Dogwood Alliance and other environmental organizations.
2. A lawsuit was filed this year with SEC on behalf of Enviva institutional shareholders, claiming wood pellets are not sustainable. Enviva is the leading wood pellet supplier with several mills in the U.S.
3. EU has an investigation on the use of subsidies by Drax
4. There are many UK ratepayers complaints on the high cost of energy burning wood pellets
5. Burning pellets create deadly emissions of particulate matter (PM 2.5) a public health hazard for the UK
6. EU is moving to define wood pellets as not sustainable. The August 9, 2016, Climate Central report:“Europe Aims to Close Loophole on Wood Energy” says: European officials are moving to close a loophole that promotes the burning of wood for electricity by an industry that´s felling American trees, and a new report they commissioned has laid bare the urgent need for reform. European Union climate rules treat woody biomass energy as if it´s as clean as solar or wind energy, despite it releasing more heat-trapping carbon dioxide for every megawatt of electricity produced than coal. Producing wood pellets for fuel can also foster climate-changing deforestation.
Burning our forests is a false energy solution!