Drax, British owner of wood pellet plants mississippi Also, Louisiana, which has paid millions in fines and settlements for violating state pollution laws in recent years, has also made at least $762 million in “green” loans, test-based studies, and the Toronto Star during that same period. Mississippi discovered today.
Energy companies will ship wood pellets made in North America for other countries to use as power sources to meet carbon reduction goals. But state regulators in both Mississippi and Louisiana have come down on Drax over local air pollution. Between penalties and settlements over the past five years, Drax has had to pay more than $5 million total to the two states.
Since 2018, banks have issued $1.5 trillion of low-interest “sustainability-linked loans,” or SLLs, to large companies to incentivize climate-friendly practices. Wood biomass companies such as DRAX received over $76 billion in SLL between 2018 and 2023. This was discovered using data from the London Stock Exchange and the Environmental Paper Network.
Drax received two such loans. One worth $553 million in 2020 (issued by a group of banks including Bank of America, Barclays and JP Morgan) and one worth $208 million in 2021.
Companies have environmental benchmarks to match their loans, but there is little oversight or public disclosure about what those goals are or whether companies meet them. Drax claims to have reduced its overall carbon footprint since receiving SLL. According to its latest annual report, the company reduced its carbon footprint by 27% from 2020 to 2023.
Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
But scientists around the world have argued for years that using wood pellets for electricity actually creates more carbon emissions than using coal or gas. Burning pellets not only release carbon into the air, but to make the pellets, trees may be cut down that store carbon and take years to regrow.
“As numerous studies have shown, burning this wood will increase warming for decades to centuries,” hundreds of professors and other experts wrote. 2021 Letter to world leaders, including President Biden. “That’s true whether wood replaces coal, oil, or natural gas.”
Despite widespread claims, global industry leaders such as the UK have embraced biomass, including wood pellets, as an energy source. UK 2024Clean Power 2030 Action PlanBiomass could be a key part of the clean energy transition, with estimates that by 2023 a quarter of the country’s renewable energy generation will come from “biological” sources such as biomass. I say.
In a written response to questions in this story, Drax defended the use of pellets for electricity.
“While we recognize that there is an ongoing debate regarding the range of solutions needed to most effectively combat the climate crisis, energy from biomass, when sourced sustainably, decarbonization of electricity generation,” the company said in an email.
But Drax, which primarily uses wood from the U.S. and Canada, recently had an outbreak over how it sources its pellets. Last year, the British government issued The company was fined 25 million pounds (approximately $31 million) because Drax failed to fully detail where it sourced its Canadian-made wood pellets.
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In Mississippi, environmental regulators fine Last year, the company was awarded $225,000 for releasing 50% more hazardous air pollutants, or HAPS, than the permitted limit from plants in the small town of Gloucester. But in the meantime, the company is Applicable A designation that allows for greater emissions with the addition of pollution reduction controls to become a “major” source of HAP.
Earthjustice senior attorney Alison Brooke said it makes no sense for Drax to graduate through the regulatory system.
“They apply for minor source permits and are released at the major source level until fines are imposed; [state regulators] We let them change it,” Brouk said. “This is a pattern that Drax followed just to manipulate the system.”
Last year’s fine was Drax’s second in Mississippi for violating air pollutant limits. In 2020, the state fined Drax $2.5 million, one of the largest penalties in state history, for emitting more than three times the legal limit of volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. Shortly after the fine was announced, Drax announcement Receive the first SLL.
State regulators found DRAX exceeded legal limits for VOC releases at two plants in Louisiana. Although the company was not required to admit any wrongdoing, Drax agreed to pay a total settlement of $3.2 million in 2022. This is the largest amount paid to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality in the past 10 years. Times-Picayune reported.
In September, Drax announced plans to invest $12.5 billion in developing additional U.S. biomass operations. Carbon capture and storage technology, Reuters reported. However, groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council, claim This technology only leads to greater emissions.
Although the intended goal of SLLS is to encourage sustainable practices in large companies, loan recipients have framed emissions in misleading ways in some cases, the trial found. read the outlet A complete exploration of the world of SLLS.
This research is reported in collaboration with test, Mississippi todayand toronto star. This report was supported by Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Research Network.
