This is a very bad idea…

This is a very bad idea.

First, Ontario is home to North America’s largest forest biomass-only electricity generating station. They claim that the province is a leader in the emerging green economy because of the ‘clean electricity’ produced from wood pellets, but we know that burning wood pellets is dirtier than coal at the smokestack. Wood pellets are a false climate solution, one we should not be expanding.

Second, the Ontario government is largely selling the forest biomass industry as a circular economy because they claim that it only uses “mill by-products” aka, waste wood, to manufacture wood pellets. However, many Canadian provinces including Ontario are logging whole trees from primary forests to meet the growing demand for wood pellets. One of the key objectives (objective 3) of this action plan includes, “streamline permitting and reduce regulatory burden for all sectors which use forest biomass,” which is concerning because that essentially means there would be fewer environmental checkpoints. Ontario has already gutted the Endangered Species Act, which is a key regulatory body.

Lastly, the argument to expand the forest-biomass industry, particularly the wood pellet sector, to provide low-carbon jobs in replacement of fossil fuel jobs isn’t valid. Amidst an ever growing climate crisis, we simply can’t afford to keep chopping down forests to make a fuel that emits immense amounts of carbon dioxide. Moreover, it can take centuries for forests to regain the majority of their carbon storage after being logged. Once again, wood pellets are a false climate solution.

Wood pellets are not a clean energy alternative. Increasing deforestation as a climate solution is simply absurd. A Just Transition for fossil fuel workers does not consist of shunting them to yet another industry that dumps carbon into the atmosphere. The cost of wind and solar has been PLUMMETING in recent years, and they are now the cheapest power source in most places. Scrap this wood pellet expansion plan and pursue real climate solutions, based on the best available science, sustainability and respect for our common future.