Golden State Natural Resources, a non-profit organization, is partnering with Drax, a U.K.-based energy company, to propose two new factories to turn biomass into wood pellets and an export facility to ship the pellets to be burned for energy in South Korea and Japan. If approved, the mills would be a major expansion of biomass energy in California. Forest and climate advocates warn that biomass like this results in more carbon emissions than coal and could worsen forest conditions by driving the commodification of public lands.

Humboldt’s own Supervisor Rex Bohn sits on the board of Golden State Natural Resources through his service on Rural County Representatives of California, which provided the capital to start Golden State Natural Resources.

Rita Vaughan Frost of the Natural Resources Defense Council and Gary Graham Hughes of Biofuelwatch join the show to discuss the proposal and the risks it brings for our forests and climate.

Learn more!

• “Burning wood is not ‘renewable energy,’ so why do policymakers pretend it is?” Mongabay, June 11.
• “UK’s Drax targets California forests for two major wood pellet plants,” Mongabay, May 6.
• “Why Wood Pellets Won’t Solve California’s Wildfire Problem ,” Natural Resources Defense Council, Feb. 1.

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