Communities of Color in Eastern North Carolina Want Wood Pellet Byproducts Out of Their NeighborhoodsâAnd Their Lungs
Belinda Joyner describes her home of Northampton County as a dumping ground for undesirable usesâhog farms, landfills. Northampton was also slated to host the Atlantic Coast Pipelineâs compressor station before the project was canceled.Â
When Joyner stood at a podium in the North Carolina legislative building on Wednesday, she was most concerned about wood pellet facilities.Â
âWe have other states that have taken into consideration the cumulative impact, the health impact, on these communities and theyâre saying no to these companies that are coming,â Joyner said. âYou know what? North Carolina has become a cesspool, because everything that everyone else doesnât want, we donât have the laws to protect us.âÂ
Gov. Cooper last week released his plan for American Rescue Plan dollars, focusing primarily on the $5.7 billion in federal funds that will be available to North Carolina to shift from relief and response to rebuilding and recovery. There’s a lot of merit to the governor’s proposal, but the long-term impact will hinge on how these investments are made and whether the legislature gets serious about meeting the needs that cannot be addressed with federal money alone.
The dollars coming to North Carolina were an essential part of the American Rescue Plan, a transformational piece of federal legislation signed into law on March 11, 2021, that will reduce child poverty nationwide by half. The allocation of federal funds for states and local governments, in particular, addresses the critical role that state and local leaders and public institutions must play in addressing systemic failures and responding to the greatest need.
FOE calls on Governor Cooper to preserve North Carolina’s forests
FOE calls on Governor Cooper to preserve North Carolina’s forests
May 26, 2021 Contesting the Massive Clearcutting and Disproportionate Impact of Pollution in Communities of Color by the Wood Pellet Industry
North Carolina- Today community leaders and organizations from rural North Carolina counties impacted by the wood burning biomass industry held a press conference, rally, and delivered a petition to Gov. Cooper contesting future grants, incentives, and permits for energy projects that are not a part of the Clean Energy Plan of the NCDEQ and Governor Cooper’s Executive Order 80, which supports NC’s transition to a clean energy economy.
Gov. Cooper last week released his plan for American Rescue Plan dollars, focusing primarily on the $5.7 billion in federal funds that will be available to North Carolina to shift from relief and response to rebuilding and recovery. There’s a lot of merit to the governor’s proposal, but the long-term impact will hinge on how these investments are made and whether the legislature gets serious about meeting the needs that cannot be addressed with federal money alone.
The dollars coming to North Carolina were an essential part of the American Rescue Plan, a transformational piece of federal legislation signed into law on March 11, 2021, that will reduce child poverty nationwide by half. The allocation of federal funds for states and local governments, in particular, addresses the critical role that state and local leaders and public institutions must play in addressing systemic failures and responding to the greatest need.
When N.C. Rep. Brenden Jones, R-Robeson, Columbus, met with staff at the Division of Air Quality to try and resolve a permitting issue involving Active Energy, he quickly realized the project to manufacture wood pellets in Lumberton was in peril.
“You could tell the Department of Environmental Quality had no interest in this project and was trying to hold it up,” said Jones.
“It is clear the governor did not want the most impoverished county in the state to have these jobs,” he added. “Our so-called ‘jobs governor’ just proved he can create jobs for another state.”
Now, Active Energy has announced it will open a new plant in Ashland, Maine, intended to replace production from the stymied Lumberton plant. While Active Energy has tried to receive an Air Quality permit from the Cooper administration for more than 14 months, the company obtained needed permits in Maine in just five days.