Devastating Community Health Study on #Drax #WoodPellet Plant

Written by Naya Black, August 7th, 2024

"#GlosterMississippi is a small, rural, mostly Black community in Amite County, Mississippi. It spans 1.8 square miles with around 900 residents. Residents are facing the harsh reality of a median income below $15,000 in 2021.
Introduction of the #AmiteBioEnergy Pellet Plant

"In 2015, Amite BioEnergy, a part of the UK’s #DraxGroup, started making #WoodPellets pellets in Gloster. Industry markets wood pellets as #ecofriendly . They get big subsidies from the #EU to supposedly fight climate change. Drax has a permit to emit up to 25 tons of harmful #AirPollutants and 249 tons of volatile organic compounds (#VOCs) per year. But since 2016, Drax has consistently gone over these limits. Drax even paid a $2.5 million fine for it.

What Types of Pollutants Do Wood Pellet Plants Produce?

"#WoodPelletPlants emit many #AirPollutants , including:

nitrogen oxides (#NOx)
#GreenhouseGas like carbon dioxide, methane, and sulfur dioxide
volatile organic compounds (#VOCs)
particulate matter (#PM) 2.5

"Sleep is critical to health, so 24/7 #NoisePollution is also a concern.

What Are the Short-term Effects of This Air Pollution?

"These air pollutants are harmful to residents breathing them in. They can cause:

coughing
trouble breathing
skin rashes
severe allergic reactions

What Are the Long-term Effects of This Air Pollution?

"The long-term effects of air pollution are #chronic. They’re also much worse than the short-term effects. Some are even life-threatening. Added to the short-term effects, the long-term effects can be:

shortness of breath
nausea
headaches
cardiovascular disease
lung disease
heart attack
stroke"

Read more:
https://dogwoodalliance.org/2024/08/devastating-community-health-study-on-drax-wood-pellet-plant/

#EnvironmentalRacism #AirPollution #ProfitOverPeople
#CorporateColonialism
#SaveCanadianForests #SaveUKForests #SaveCaliforniaForests #SaveTheForest
#OldGrowthForests #Greenwashing #EnvironmentalActivism
#BigForest #DraxPowerStation

Holding #Drax accountable

via @Freedom_Press
Aug 12th

Despite raid on #CimateCamp, #activists link up with #Mississippi fence-line community

"Climate campaigners this weekend Saturday (August 10) held an online conversation with community activists in #GlosterMississippi, who shared their experiences of resisting a polluting #WoodPellet factory owned by UK multinational Drax. The UK climate camp, planned to take place last weekend near Drax power station, was cancelled after a pre-emptive raid by police.

"The 22 arrestees have since been released, but the police impounded essential infrastructure, effectively shtting down the event. Nevertheless, the event went ahead after moving indoors.

"Gloster is a low-income, mostly Black community in Amite County, #Mississippi. In 2015, #AmiteBioEnergy, a part of the #DraxGroup, started making wood pellets in Gloster. #Biomass wood pellets are compressed dried wood chips and sawdust, compressed into pellets at high pressure. The Drax factory received a permit to emit up to 25 tons of harmful #AirPollutants and 249 tons of volatile organic compounds (#VOCs) per year.

"But since 2016, Drax has consistently gone over these limits, in one instance being fined $2.5 million. This was the largest in a much longer series of fines for environmental violations by various companies operating wood pellet factories in the US.

"In the online event, the campaigners from Mississippi discussed the physical and mental health effects of persistent #AirPollution, including the highest rate of mortaility from heart disease in the state of Mississippi. The community has no local medical doctors, and residents have to spend hours commuting to access medical.

"According to local resident Jimmy Brown, 'our legislators aren’t doing us any justice because they didn’t inform any citizens about what going on, so that’s up to us'.

"Activists on both sides of the Atlantic vowed to hold Drax accountable. 'We cannot let them continue to put profit over the planet and over our people', said Gloster organiser Krystal Nicole Martin, 'they need to leave tour community'.

~ Jane Alison

https://freedomnews.org.uk/2024/08/12/holding-drax-accountable/

#ProfitOverPeople #CorporateColonialism #SaveCanadianForests #SaveUKForests #SaveCaliforniaForests #SaveTheForest #OldGrowthForsts #Greenwashing #EnvironmentalActivism #BigForest #DraxPowerStation #SilencingDissent