IN AN attempt to meet their clean energy commitment under the climate pact finalized in France in December 2015, the European Union pledged to reduce its climate pollution by 40 percent by 2030.
This seemingly great news took a seriously wrong turn as the EU shifted to wood as its renewable of choice and began subsidizing wood pellet biomass production.
However, European forests, protected by stringent environmental regulations, are off limits. This means that subsidy-hungry energy companies are increasingly targeting the Southern United States, where current and planned industry expansion poses an unprecedented new threat to hardwood forests throughout the South.
Forests from Virginia to Louisiana are being increasingly logged and converted to pine plantations, including logging of wetlands/hardwoods and whole trees. This threatens system biodiversity; moreover, renewable energy doesn’t necessarily mean clean energy.
The industry would have you believe it operates sustainably, but photographs of clearcutting operations prove otherwise. Plus, research shows that burning trees as fuel in power plants is actually heating the atmosphere more quickly than coal.
The U.S. Clean Power Plan (CPP) allows each state to define which resources it will use to meet the federal goals set forth within the plan—and to qualify for state and federal subsidies.
Including wood pellets as a “qualified, clean” resource would mean embracing a fuel source that’s been identified as worse than coal in terms of its CO2 emissions.
This has a tremendous impact on Georgia residents. Covering around 24.8 million acres—roughly two-thirds of the state—our oxygen-producing forests are a powerful resource in the fight against global warming, a fight we must win.
Unfortunately, with the third-highest number of acres of bottomland hardwood forest in the Southeast, Georgia’s forests are directly in the crosshairs of an industry intent on cashing in on a new “green” gold rush.
“Because only 9% of Georgia timberland is owned by the public, with 25% being owned by corporate interests, regulation of the emerging biofuels industry is problematic,” notes Emily Zucchino of the Dogwood Alliance, a nonprofit organization working to ensure that forest industries practice sustainable harvesting.
It’s no surprise that Georgia is one of the top three states being targeted for expansion by the industry. We already have one of the highest amount of wood pellet production facilities in the South, and there are at least seven new production facilities being planned.
Most current biomass production relies on pine from privately-owned plantations, but if Georgia designates wood pellets as a “qualifying” renewable resource for the CPP, the pressure to convert our few remaining natural and semi-natural forests will be overwhelming. According to Zucchino, “The woody wetlands of Georgia are incredibly vulnerable given that 90% of the land is unprotected.”
That’s the risk we are facing statewide, but what does it mean for the Savannah area? Just take a look around. From Ebenezer Creek to Pooler to Guyton, it’s hard to find a cypress swamp, wetland or hardwood forest that hasn’t been impacted. Anyone driving west on I-16 to Macon can hardly help but notice long stretches of clear cut areas not-so-cleverly disguised by the rather cynically-named “beauty strips.”
The damage isn’t merely aesthetic. Our forests provide shelter to many species found nowhere else. Turning essential habitat into wood pellets undermines species diversity, and an intact bottomland habitat with mature trees is crucial to conservation efforts. According to Ducks Unlimited, the Southeast hosts at least half of the waterfowl on the Atlantic Flyway during the winter months.
Regional wetlands provide crucial year-round habitat for a multitude of species, while bottomland forests of coastal Georgia shelter songbirds and migratory Sandhill cranes. Coastal wetlands, floodplain forests, and freshwater marshes, as well as coastal bays and estuaries, are at risk.
Left standing, these forests have tremendous economic benefit. In addition to absorbing CO2 and protecting essential wildlife habitats, they have substantial tourism value. Clear cutting them for wood pellets means they’ve gone forever, and adding in subsidies, minimal job creation, health impacts, and a decrease in quality of life for communities hosting the production facilities, it becomes clear that this is neither a green nor a sustainable industry.
These issues raise grave concerns about the wood pellet biomass industry and particularly the use of taxpayer funds to subsidize it. Last year, Savannah was one of the first cities to sign the Compact of Mayors, a historic agreement by America’s leading cities to actively address climate disruption. As the city’s Sustainability Department prepares to release the results of its sustainability assessment, the current City Council has an opportunity to please fiscal conservatives while strengthening Savannah’s environmental leadership position.
A resolution urging the state of Georgia to join Savannah in banning any use of tax payer dollars to subsidize the wood pellet biofuels industry would do just that.
Urge the City Council to enact the proposed subsidy ban using the petition available on the Our Forests Aren’t Fuels Facebook page: www.facebook.com/dogwoodalliancesavannah.
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This article appears in Aug 31 – Sep 6, 2016.
To the editor,
Vicki Weeks’ opinion piece about wood pellet production and Georgia’s forest industry contains numerous inaccuracies and irresponsible accusations. Her treatise relied completely on emotional pleas and falsely identified photos, was not based on current scientific data, and is essentially an affront to Georgia’s dedicated legion of forest landowners and industry employees. It is imperative for thinking Georgians to rely on facts, not fiction when considering the condition and sustainability of Georgia’s forest resource.
Contrary to Ms. Weeks’ depiction, Georgia forests are in very good health – and hands. Unlike forests of the US West or Europe, 90 percent of forestland in Georgia is privately owned. Families own more than half of that, and many have property that’s been in their family for generations. That family forestland provides all Georgians with $37 billion in ecological services (clean air, clean water, wildlife habitat, beauty and recreation) annually, according to a recent University of Georgia study (remember, you’re not paying a monthly bill for any of this). To keep this resource healthy and intact, Georgia forest landowners must have viable markets for their timber. Think lumber to build your house and your furniture, paper for your business and creative pursuits, tissue for your personal necessities, boxes for that Amazon delivery; the list is very, very long.
To meet these demands, the forest industry directly supports close to 50,000 well paying jobs, and indirectly supports more than 129,000. Many of those people are your neighbors in Savannah. Two world-class pulp mills and the largest wood pellet exporting facility on the east coast create livelihoods that ripple through River Street, the Historic District and every surrounding town and county. And if you weren’t aware, paper mills, harvesting operations and secondary processing facilities operate under a host of strict federal and state environmental regulations, which govern every aspect of the growing and use of wood. That includes the Clean Water Act and its Best Management Practices, that successfully protect our streams and wetlands that we all value. The meticulously conducted Forest Inventory Analysis by the US Forest Service monitors the sustainability of forest resources, forest use, and forest health. Read the reports at http://srsfia2.fs.fed.us/. There is simply no evidence to support the assertion that Georgia hardwood wetlands are being converted to plantations that produce wood pellets. In fact, Georgia pellet plants primarily use pine, not hardwood, as Ms. Weeks actually conceded. A recent study performed for the National Wildlife Federation by a group of scientists at top southern universities suggested that sourcing wood pellet mills from sustainably managed pine forests created few issues. In addition, wildlife researchers at UGA and NC State have found using left over logging residues does not negatively impact wildlife habitat.
When anyone takes the time to actually investigate additional scientific studies regularly conducted by government and academia, one quickly discovers many more positive statistics about the forest industry and the people who make it possible. Georgia forests grow 45% more wood than we harvest and use each year; Best Management Practices implementation across the South is 92% and rising; wood pellet plants in Georgia use less than 5% of the pulpwood harvested while also using waste materials produced during harvesting or manufacturing of other more valuable products. Georgia’s forest industry is a champion at utilizing every bit of waste, be it for products or power, and for that we are rightfully proud. The pulp industry produces more than 80% of the power that it consumes and has done so since long before renewable energy became popular for other industry sectors and the general public.
We all benefit from Georgia’s forest industry, and we should all focus on the real threats to our forests and this renewable and sustainable industry. Those pressing threats are urban development and fragmentation. Take time to learn more about these at http://bit.ly/2cjXqRh. Additional markets for landowners actually provide incentives for keeping more land in forests. History clearly shows that and recent market projections confirm it. Attempts to limit markets, as the Dogwood Alliance has advocated for years, have always failed and have actually encouraged forest landowners not to sustainably manage their forests. Facts are stubborn things.
W. Dale Greene, Dean
Warnell School of Forestry & Natural Resources
University of Georgia
Robert Farris
Director, Georgia Forestry Commission
For a complete assessment of forest sustainability and wood pellets in the Southeastern US, visit: http://bit.ly/2cgsD7Q .
Thank you so much for bringing this issue to light! This is an extremely important issue and we must unite to stop the destruction of our forests!