Tell Southwest Clean Air Agency of WA: say no to Drax biomass plant!

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Say no to the Drax biomass plant!

Submit a Public Comment to the WA Southwest Clean Air Agency

The Drax Group, a multinational energy company, is currently proposing building a woody biomass pellet production plant and export facility in Longview, Washington. If built, the biomass plant would pose serious air quality and health risks for local communities, harm Pacific Northwest forests, and exacerbate the climate crisis.

The people of the Pacific Northwest are saying NO to Drax building their new biomass plant in Longview. We are coming together to protect the health and safety of our communities, our local forests, and the climate. Use this form to send a public comment to the WA Southwest Clean Air Agency (SWCAA), telling them to reject Drax's application for a clean air permit. The deadline for submitting a public comment is March 29, 2024.

You can also join us in-person at the Southwest Clean Air Agency hearing, info below:

Thursday, March 28, 2024
Cowlitz PUD auditorium, 961 12th Ave, Longview, WA
General presentation at 5:30pm
Public comment at 6:00pm

Why we are saying NO to Drax's biomass plan:

Biomass is a false climate solution. Using wood for industrial-scale energy production creates two to three times more greenhouse gas emissions than using fossil fuels, per kilowatt hour of heat or electricity produced.
Drax is a known violator of air quality permits. Drax's Morehouse biomass plant in Mississippi emitted three times the toxic substances than it was permitted to, and Drax received the largest air quality violation fine in the state's history.
In 2021, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) released a “Resolution in Opposition to Wood Pellets Manufacturing and Use of Wood-Bioenergy” saying that companies producing forest-based bioenergy are violating human rights. The report stated that “toxic pollution [is] disproportionately inflicted on low income and/or Black, Indigenous and Communities of Color in the manufacturing and transporting processes,” and specifically mentioned Drax as a violator of human rights.

The Drax plant would also impact the forests of the region, pose a danger to local economies, and threaten local air quality and community health. Read more about these and many other reasons why we are opposing the Drax plant here

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We invite you to personalize the message below, such as by including why you care about this issue or how you or your communities may be personally impacted by the Drax plant.

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Say no to the Drax biomass plant!

Submit a Public Comment to the WA Southwest Clean Air Agency

You can also join us in-person at the Southwest Clean Air Agency hearing, info below:

Thursday, March 28, 2024
Cowlitz PUD auditorium, 961 12th Ave, Longview, WA
General presentation at 5:30pm
Public comment at 6:00pm

Why we are saying NO to Drax's biomass plan:

Biomass is a false climate solution. Using wood for industrial-scale energy production creates two to three times more greenhouse gas emissions than using fossil fuels, per kilowatt hour of heat or electricity produced.
Drax is a known violator of air quality permits. Drax's Morehouse biomass plant in Mississippi emitted three times the toxic substances than it was permitted to, and Drax received the largest air quality violation fine in the state's history.
In 2021, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) released a “Resolution in Opposition to Wood Pellets Manufacturing and Use of Wood-Bioenergy” saying that companies producing forest-based bioenergy are violating human rights. The report stated that “toxic pollution [is] disproportionately inflicted on low income and/or Black, Indigenous and Communities of Color in the manufacturing and transporting processes,” and specifically mentioned Drax as a violator of human rights.

SW Clean Air Agency

Subject: Deny the Air Pollution Discharge Permit for the Drax Group's Longview Biomass Plant

Message:

I urge the Southwest Clean Air Agency to deny the air pollution discharge permit for the Drax Longview wood pellet plant. Drax has a long record of illegally polluting in other U.S. states, and emissions modeling for the Longview plant suggest that it would push the Longview area into ‘non-attainment’ of the national ambient clean air standards (NAAQS). This new plant would also impose an unacceptable burden of toxic air pollutants on communities in Cowlitz County and the lower Columbia River corridor. My concerns about increased air pollution include: - Drax’s predicted release of 44 tons a year of Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) makes the proposed plant a ‘major source’ of emissions. Each part of the wood pellet production process should be evaluated using the Maximum Available Control Technology (MACT) approach required under the Clean Air Act. SWCAA should not even consider this permit until the MACT analysis has been completed. - Each step in the pellet production process — the transport and drying of wood biomass feedstocks, pulverization of trees in hammer mills, and load-out of finished wood pellets – creates high levels of PM2.5 emissions and inhalable particulate matter with a diameter generally 2.5 micrometers and smaller. I also want to raise serious concerns about Drax’s history of misleading statements and underestimation of emissions from plants elsewhere in the U.S.: - Other states granted air permits to Drax based on the company’s own modeling. When actual air emissions were measured later, emissions were found to be 2-3 times higher than stated in the permit request. - In 2022, Louisiana’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) fined Drax a total of $3.2 M for excess release of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). Drax’s Morehouse plant in Louisiana was permitted to emit less than 250 tons of VOCs a year, but emitted more than 1,100 tons a year. In late 2020, Drax was fined $3.5 M by Mississippi’s DEQ for emitting three times the volume of toxic substances as permitted for its plant: the largest fine in Mississippi’s history for air quality violations. - If SWCAA issues a permit, proper and continuous air monitoring systems must be in place before Drax is allowed to begin operations. There are no regulatory-standard air quality monitors nearby, only a nephelometer generally upwind from air pollutant discharges. At a minimum, we need regulatory-standard air quality monitors in and around Longview to provide better data about air pollution. I urge you to deny Drax’s permit request. I do not want to suffer like communities in the SE U.S. now burdened with very high levels of dust and hazardous pollutants, resulting in elevated levels of childhood asthma, and the curtailment of outdoor activities due to high pollutant levels. Thank you for considering my concerns as a member of the community that would be affected by Drax Longview.

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Say no to the Drax biomass plant!

Submit a Public Comment to the WA Southwest Clean Air Agency

You can also join us in-person at the Southwest Clean Air Agency hearing, info below:

Why we are saying NO to Drax's biomass plan:

Say no to the Drax biomass plant!

Submit a Public Comment to the WA Southwest Clean Air Agency

You can also join us in-person at the Southwest Clean Air Agency hearing, info below:

Why we are saying NO to Drax's biomass plan:

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