https://www.foe.co.uk/blog/our-forests- ... g-ed-davey
Adam Macon - campaigns director of the American NGO Dogwood Alliance - is asking UK Energy minister Ed Davey to stop subsidising the destruction of US forests.
The vast forests in the Southern United States are some of the most biodiverse and important ecosystems in the world. Our Southern forests have the highest concentration of tree species diversity in North America and the highest concentration of aquatic diversity in the continental US, including the richest temperate freshwater ecosystem in the world.
The precious remaining coastal wetlands and bottomland hardwood regions that span from coastal Virginia to Mississippi and Louisiana, contain rare forest types and unique carnivorous plants like the Venus flytrap and pitcher plants. They also provide local communities with areas to recreate and experience the natural world.
Yet despite the numerous environmental and economic benefits standing forests provide to communities across the US South, these critical forest habitats are increasingly being destroyed, processed into wood pellets, and shipped to the UK to be burned for electricity. The demand for wood as a fuel source in the United Kingdom is driving the expansion of wood pellet manufacturing and export in the Southern US.
With 20 existing wood pellet facilities and 33 proposed, the threat is something that individuals and communities across the US South cannot ignore. It’s crucial that we show UK and EU policy makers that the biomass industry is bad for our environment, our communities, and our climate.
Large-scale burning of wood pellets is not a solution to climate change or feasible alternative to coal. Mounting scientific research (even by the UK’s very own Department of Energy and Climate Change) shows that burning wood pellets manufactured from trees will increase near-term carbon emission and accelerate climate change. Yet, DECC and Ed Davey continue to heavily subsidize this industry and therefore the destruction of our forests.