As more evidence of the adverse impacts of the wood pellet industry come to light, public concern is growing. Case in point: The Raleigh News & Observer ran an in-depth series of articles this month examining the industry’s implications for the climate crisis.

The articles also include additional focus on the controversial wood pellet manufacturer Enviva’s North Carolina operations, which have generated environmental and health concerns from local to global. Enviva has been the target of major legal actions by citizen groups including Clean Air Carolina (CAC). In speaking of the N&O news series, CAC commented in its clean air blog, “Wood pellet production accelerates climate change by devastating North Carolina’s forests, our greatest natural carbon sink, and by releasing that carbon back into the atmosphere when the wood is burned. It also releases air pollutants that cause serious health concerns for communities surrounding Enviva’s factories. Enviva likes to claim its product is ‘sustainable,’ but the truth is that wood pellets are pound-for-pound dirtier than coal.”