Trouble in the wood basket: How a global push for renewable energy took advantage of rural Mississippi by Alex Rozier, Mississippi Today April 9, 2024 When Georgia Pacific closed its paper mill in 2008, it gutted the local Gloster economy. “It was devastating,” said the town’s mayor, Jerry Norwood. “We went on life support at that point.” The mill closing meant the loss of 400 jobs, Norwood said, making it by far the top employer in a town of just 900 people.
fined the facility $2.5 million, one of the largest Clean Air Act penalties in state history. Drax Group, a U.K.-based energy company that operates a wood pellet production plant in Gloster, has caused concern in the small Mississippi town due to its industrial pollution. Shortly after, Drax slipped up again.
cited Drax for a violation in 2023, and is now negotiating a new penalty with the company. The company also miscalculated its emissions from two wood pellet plants in Louisiana, for which the state fined Drax $3.2 million in 2022. Throughout the Southeast, regulators have fined wood pellet facilities 14 times for air emission violations since 2012, totaling $6.6 million in penalties.
Executive Director Chris Wells told Mississippi Today that, just because Drax violated air emissions limits, doesn’t mean the company has harmed the public’s health. Shelia Dobbins, from left, Myrtis Woodard, Jane Martin and Mamie Bentley take a brief moment to themselves after discussing their health issues in Gloster, Miss., Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. “God sees all sin the same,” Wells said.
it was out of compliance. “What the news articles that covered this don’t mention is that the emissions matter discussed is a direct result of how we continually monitor operations to ensure compliance with all regulatory requirements,” Martin, the company’s spokesperson, said in an email. “The potential issue was identified by Drax through our own on-site monitoring, and we shared the data with the to proactively address it.