NRDC, Partners Challenge Proposed Industrial Mill in Washington

NRDC and a coalition of local groups, represented by Earthjustice, filed an appeal today to stop the construction of the Pacific Northwest’s first industrial-scale wood pellet biomass production facility. Standing alongside Friends of Grays Harbor, Grays Harbor Audubon Society, Twin Harbors Waterkeeper, and Wild Orca, we aim to stop biomass from gaining a foothold in the region.

Pacific Northwest Renewable Energy’s (PNWRE) proposed plant would export 440,000 tons of wood pellets every year to Asia, where bioenergy has been deemed a “renewable.” The plant would sit at the port of Grays Harbor, near the Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge and the area’s schools, and be located only 100 miles from Olympic and Mount Rainier national parks. 

PNWRE’s permit—issued by the Olympic Region Clean Air Agency on May 14, 2024—violates the Clean Air Act by vastly underestimating the amounts of toxic and harmful air pollutants the plant will emit and failing to consider the full harm of producing and burning wood pellets. We know from years of working in the U.S. Southeast, our country’s primary sourcing ground for wood pellets, that pellet plants emit scores of awful air pollutants associated with health problems like asthma, cardiovascular disease, respiratory illnesses, low birth weights, and premature births. They regularly violate pollution limits in their permits, exacerbating air impacts on surrounding communities. Pellet mills also harm biodiversity, causing forest loss in the surrounding areas and increasing shipping traffic that could impact marine wildlife like orcas. 

This challenge isn’t just about one permit; it’s also a step forward in our efforts to protect communities from the rapidly expanding wood pellet production industry that’s harming our forests, health, and climate. While the pellet industry has, thus far, been concentrated in the Southeast, it’s now setting its sights on the West Coast: The United Kingdom–based company Drax has proposed a similarly sized facility in Longview, Washington, and Golden State Natural Resources has proposed two industrial-scale facilities in California. Given the wood pellet production industry’s concerning track record in the Southeast and the harm it has inflicted on communities—many of which are still suffering—the West Coast should do everything in its power to stop this industry from taking hold in the region.

Thankfully, the wood pellet production industry is undergoing massive scrutiny, thanks to repeated BBC exposés over its forestry practices in Canada, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency investigation in the Southeast, a class action lawsuit filed by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, a Brown University study on the air and noise pollution emissions, and legislation filed in the U.S. House and Senate that’s designed to assess emissions and community cumulative impacts from wood pellet biomass and bioenergy.

For all of these reasons, NRDC is standing shoulder to shoulder with Earthjustice, Friends of Grays Harbor, Grays Harbor Audubon Society, Twin Harbors Waterkeeper, and Wild Orca to challenge the Olympic Region Clean Air Agency’s approval of PNWRE’s permit.