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All Sheila Mae Dobbins wants is an apology.
In 2014, an industrial facility producing wood pellets opened so close to her house in Gloster, Mississippi, that she could overhear conversations between managers and staffers as they worked and smell the fumes the plant pumped into the air.
Dobbins, a 59-year-old mother of two, relies on an oxygen tank to breathe, as do her sister and her brother-in-law, who also live in the town. Her husband Neal depended on an oxygen tank as well, but passed away in 2017, just as Dobbins was experiencing an acute health crisis that led to her diagnosis with heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. She tears up when discussing how her own hospitalization left her unable to care for her husband of 36 years before he died.
“I was on life support,” said Dobbins, who wore a tracheotomy tube with a speaking valve. “I couldn’t walk, couldn’t talk. And through all this, my husband was sick and I didn’t even know it.”
The company that owns the plant, the U.K.-based power giant Drax Group, originally claimed that the pellet mill would bring hundreds of millions of dollars of investments to the local economy and touted the possibility of growing renewable power within the state.
Instead, the plant employs only a handful of local workers, and its wood pellets are shipped abroad to be burned for electricity in Drax’s U.K. power station and other foreign power plants. Residents of Gloster, a small town 50 miles north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, claim that the mill has polluted their air and harmed their health. In 2020, the Mississippi mill was fined $2.5 million for exceeding the legal limits of harmful air pollutants, and Drax promised to install new pollution controls. It has since continued to breach emission limits and this month faced another six-figure penalty.
Photo: Nico Hopkins/The Perfect Shot
Gloster is just one of seven pellet mills that Drax operates in the U.S., along with 10 in Canada, and the company is currently at work on new projects in Washington state and California. Land and Climate Review’s previous investigation into Drax’s Canadian mills uncovered 189 violations of environmental law, most of which related to air pollution. Drax’s two pellet mills in Louisiana have been fined millions for environmental law violations, and one entered dispute resolution discussions in March over further emissions breaches.
This sprawling operation is built to pursue a noble goal: replacing the coal-fired electricity generation at the U.K.’s largest single power plant, the Drax facility in the north of England, with a renewable input in the form of wood pellets.
But a growing chorus of environmentalists and scientists are warning that the U.K. power plant is now more carbon-intensive burning wood than when the plant burned coal. The entire company, from power plant to pellet mills, is only profitable thanks to massive subsidies from the U.K. government — yet the company plans to open multiple new power plants in the U.S. in the coming years and is seeking federal subsidies to build its new projects.
The residents of Gloster, and other towns across the U.S. near Drax’s current and future facilities, are asking a simple question: Why is a company propped up by the British government for an unclear environmental gain polluting their air?
Drax denies any physical impact on Gloster residents, saying “an independent, third-party analysis commissioned by Drax found that our Gloster facility’s air toxics have no adverse effects on human health.” Questions remain, however, as Drax declined to provide the name of the consulting firm or any more details on their findings.
Another Gloster resident, Myrtis Woodard, has firsthand experience of the problem. “It was better before that mill came,” Woodard said. “We can’t come outside, the air is so bad. I’ve got two inhalers and the doctor tried to give me another one. I have asthma, COPD, and angina.”
“The air is so polluted you can smell everything, taste it.”
Debra Butler, another Gloster resident, echoed Woodard. “My yard looks a mess,” she said. “I’m afraid to go outside because of my breathing problems. I was taking Albuterol once a day; now I take it three times a day in my inhaler. I come outside with a mask on. The air is so polluted you can smell everything, taste it.”
Other friends and family members shared similar stories of heart and respiratory conditions emerging in the years since the plant opened. Dobbins knew six people who were reliant on oxygen tanks living on her street before she moved away. Five of them are now dead.
The emissions from Drax’s pellet mill are not the only possible drivers of the heart conditions or breathing problems that Gloster residents described, and no direct link between the plant and the residents’ health has been established. Gloster has an overall poverty rate of 39 percent; the state of Mississippi ranks second to last in the U.S. for overall health and last for childhood respiratory disease.
Locals had hoped Drax could help revitalize the town’s economy.
Instead, a town in decline was depicted.
Photo: Nico Hopkins/The Perfect Shot
“In my opinion, everything has gone down,” expressed Krystal Martin, who is leading community action for cleaner air. “Gloster is small, extremely rural, it has no public schools. The houses are in poor conditions, the buildings are old and dilapidated.”
“The grass don’t grow green like it used to,” she added. “The trees don’t bloom like they used to.”
Martin initiated organizing with community members under the banner “Greater Greener Gloster” in 2021, inspired by her mother Jane’s breathing difficulties.
“In 2016, I began to get sick, but I did not realize what was going on,” shared Jane Martin. “In 2021, when the fine came out, we began to wonder if the air pollution had made me sick” over the years the plant had been operating.
Greater Greener Gloster has rallied opposition to the mill in the town. Despite her dependence on “a 37-foot cord” for oxygen, Dobbins is determined to speak out on the health impacts of the mill “as long as there’s breath in my body.”
“I died three times, but God was not ready for me,” she said. “I am a walking testimony.”
Toxic Spikes in the Middle of the Night
A research team at Brown University, led by Erica Walker, has found that the air in Gloster contains dramatically higher levels of toxic chemicals compared to a nearby town — and that levels of pollutants spike in the middle of the night.
The study, which is currently undergoing peer review, compares Gloster with a demographically similar town in Mississippi, Mendenhall, which does not have a wood pellet mill. Walker stressed the need for larger sample sizes and more time to monitor trends, but her initial findings are that “air pollutant concentrations in Gloster are magnitudes higher, even after adjusting for meteorological conditions.” This is especially true for a category of pollutants known as volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, which can be released when drying or burning wood.
“VOCs are nasty stuff,” said Walker. “When you’re thinking about a child that’s exposed to that in utero, if it’s during a critical window, then we’re already talking about a compromised child from the beginning — and then it’s going to snowball over a period of time. VOCs have been shown to lead to short-term things like irritation to long-term things like cancer.”
Images: Community Noise Lab at Brown University
Heat maps in the study show concentrated clouds of pollutants around the plant and a nearby residential area. A preprint of the research states that vulnerable populations are impacted by air pollution from wood pellet plants, and that proximity is a statistically significant factor for risk of respiratory disease in children.
“From the data that we got from Gloster in particular, we know that it’s an issue when people live next to these plants,” said Walker. “This is their short-term and long-term health profile. It has direct impacts.”
A Drax spokesperson said the company’s consultants “found that no pollutant from the facility exceeded the acceptable ambient concentration.”
An unexpected finding in Walker’s research is what she calls “opportunistic dumping.” Her data shows what she describes as “crazy spikes” of VOC emissions throughout the night. She said that although the daily averages of VOCs seen by the Environmental Protection Agency do not look dangerous, her data reveals a “structural issue” in regulatory monitoring being conducted on a daily basis, rather than hourly.
Photo: Greater Greener Gloster
Residents remembered being more aware of pollution at night. Dobbins said, “At night sometimes I can’t rest, and I would have to get my husband up because I would like to sit outside. But when I went out there, I told him, ‘I’m going back in the house.’ The odor is just that bad.”
“And the smell of it, I didn’t know it. In my life, I smelled nothing like it, so I couldn’t really describe it. But it’s a funky scent. A foul, very foul odor,” Dobbins continued. “We can smell it the most at night. It’s like they didn’t want nobody to see them do it.”
Environmental attorney Patrick Anderson warned that it is possible the spikes are simply due to atmospheric conditions. He suggested that even if they are emitting at a constant rate, VOCs may settle down into the community when things cool down at night. Additionally, he mentioned that these facilities may bypass their emission controls for safety reasons, which can lead to harmful consequences for the local community.
During his time at the Environmental Integrity Project, Anderson litigated against a wood pellet company in Texas and discovered that they were bypassing their emission controls multiple times a week, causing smoke to inundate the community each time. This bypassing was not limited to emergencies but was a regular occurrence, with nighttime emissions being particularly severe.
In 2020, Louisiana regulators received a report alleging that Drax facilities in the state had hundreds of hours of uncontrolled venting annually. The Gloster mill itself reported bypassing pollution controls for over 500 hours in 2023. Although the company promised to curtail operations at night in response to pressure from campaigners, there were still violations and fines issued for breaching pollution limits.
The company’s violations of environmental rules extend beyond Louisiana, with instances of bypassing pollution controls and emitting hazardous air pollutants at its mills in multiple states. These violations have resulted in fines and penalties being imposed on Drax.
In Mississippi, the Gloster mill exceeded limits for hazardous air pollutants in 2022 and 2023, leading to fines and enforcement actions. Similarly, in Louisiana, Drax was found to be breaching permit limits for hazardous air pollutants at its plants in Urania and Bastrop. Despite working with regulatory authorities to update permits and testing procedures, the company continues to face scrutiny and penalties for its environmental violations.
The Gloster mill is currently negotiating penalties with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality for breaching hazardous air pollutant limits. However, similar enforcement actions have not yet been taken in Louisiana, despite evidence of regulatory non-compliance at Drax’s mills in the state.
Warnings of suspect activity at Drax’s Louisiana mills were raised in 2020 by an anonymous source, leading to confirmed violations of waste handling and burning regulations. Although some of the allegations in the email could not be substantiated, it raised concerns about uncontrolled venting of harmful pollutants at the facilities. Drax informed Land and Climate Review that the acrolein claim was not proven, without addressing the issue of uncontrolled venting.
The email also raised concerns about inaction after management was informed of manipulated pollution data and the threat of termination for mentioning unreported pollution. Inspectors did not address these claims, and Drax denied the allegations, stating that they typically cooperate with local agencies overseeing emissions.
Critics argue that Drax’s pellet business is contributing to forest degradation and that CO2 emissions from the power plant are more carbon-intensive than when burning coal instead of wood. However, Drax defends its practices by claiming that the pellets come from well-managed forests and that CO2 from biogenic carbon cycles should be treated differently from fossil CO2 emissions.
The carbon accounting rules established in the Kyoto Protocol of 1997 have been criticized for providing a loophole for countries importing wood for power stations like Drax, where emissions are recorded as zero despite being the largest source of CO2 in the UK. Scientists have called for an end to wood burning for energy to prevent further warming.
UK politicians have expressed skepticism about Drax’s subsidized wood pellet business and CO2 emissions from the power plant. The issue has become a focal point in UK politics, with calls to end subsidies for biomass burning. Drax’s subsidies are set to expire in 2027, posing a challenge for the government in deciding their renewal amid mounting criticism. A photo credit for an image of the port of Longview, Wash., where Drax is constructing its new mill goes to Diane Dick. Dick’s sighting of the dome started a series of events that resulted in Drax receiving a $34,000 fine, not the first violation on the site. Additionally, Drax breached water quality rules in the Columbia River twice in late 2023. As a result of the investigation, construction was halted, and the permitting process was stopped.
Initially, Drax claimed that the mill would use sawdust and shavings, not freshly logged timber, but this claim has since been proven false. Emails from Drax’s Director of Environment Wayne Kooy revealed that logging will be necessary for the project, contradicting the original proposal. Despite this, Drax’s website still insists that surplus sawdust and shavings are available locally.
Cowlitz County initially granted the project a determination of nonsignificance status based on the false information provided by Drax. However, it has since been acknowledged that the project’s new plans to use commercial wood instead of waste materials deviate significantly from the original proposal.
In response to criticisms, a Drax spokesperson defended the company’s environmental practices and community investments. However, concerns remain about Drax’s misleading statements regarding pollution and environmental impacts.
As progress stalls in Washington, Drax is now considering biomass developments in California. The company has signed onto a forest resiliency initiative to build pellet mills in rural parts of the state, aiming to mitigate wildfire risks. While Drax claims the project is for economic development and wildfire mitigation, critics fear it is profit-driven.
Local activists have raised concerns about Drax’s involvement in the California project, citing the company’s history of noncompliance with environmental regulations. Despite assurances from project leaders that the plants will operate differently, doubts remain about the true motivations behind the initiative. Joslin believes that the pellet plants would be different than the industries that supported communities in the past. He stated, “Inside these industrial facilities, there aren’t that many jobs … and the jobs would be maintenance work in extremely hazardous conditions.”
Rural County Representatives of California also publicly opposed legislation in 2022 that would have set a minimum wage standard for forestry jobs. Joslin expressed shock at the opposition, saying, “Ultimately they want people to be able to work in forest jobs again, but not to pay them well.”
Golden State Natural Resources has spent $150,000 lobbying the California government since 2021, with some of that relating to workers’ wages. Concerns have been raised by the agency’s own board members over exaggerated promises of employment.
Local activists are awaiting the release of the project’s draft environmental impact review and are focused on persuading officials not to invest in projects that may be ineffective.
A 2023 report found that without subsidies for generating green electricity, the Drax Group would operate at a loss. Drax is looking to build new pellet-burning plants in the U.S. to diversify income and potentially lead to new power plants.
Drax has announced plans to construct up to 11 new biomass power plants across the U.S. and Canada, aiming to claim carbon negative status with the use of carbon capture and storage technology. The eligibility of these plants for federal subsidy depends on the U.S. adopting similar carbon accounting rules as the U.K.
Drax, through its lobbying firm VNF Solutions, has enlisted the services of Mary Landrieu, the former U.S. senator from Louisiana who chaired the Energy and Natural Resources Committee during her time in office. Landrieu has lobbied on “legislation related to bioenergy with carbon capture and storage,” as disclosed in VNF Solutions’ lobbying reports.
The U.S. biomass energy sector is facing a critical moment. The U.S. Treasury recently proposed regulations concerning the Clean Electricity Production Tax Credit, which could potentially benefit biomass power plants like those operated by Drax if certain carbon accounting rules are adopted. Federal tax credits introduced through the Inflation Reduction Act may also support Drax’s plans to construct new plants.
Drax’s interest in building a power station in California has prompted discussions with the Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC). The RCRC CEO confirmed mutual interests between Drax and the organization in pursuing this endeavor.
Over the past year and a half, the RCRC has spent over $1.5 million lobbying the California government, with biomass being a recurring topic in their reports. The stance of the Democratic and Republican parties on biomass power remains uncertain, with potential implications for Drax’s operations.
While Republican candidate Donald Trump has expressed intentions to dismantle the Inflation Reduction Act, a move that could impact Drax’s subsidies, Democratic candidate Kamala Harris faces scrutiny over her energy policy. Pressure from within the Democratic party to reform subsidy regimes may also pose challenges for Drax.
Notable figures like Sen. Cory Booker and Sen. Elizabeth Warren have raised concerns about the biomass industry, highlighting environmental injustices and health risks. Legislation has been introduced to address biomass carbon accounting, and the EPA is conducting research on the health impacts of wood pellet plants.
Environmental advocates argue that current biomass facilities pose risks to public health, forests, and ecosystems, exacerbating the climate crisis. They emphasize the need for sustainable energy solutions that do not compromise environmental well-being.
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