Dear RCC Supporter,

For years, we’ve been beating the drum on one of the most significant yet overlooked environmental justice issues in the country — the polluting, greenwashing wood pellet industry. And for years, while we and our allies in the US Southeast have campaigned against this multibillion-dollar industry’s desecration of our forested lands, polluting of environmental justice communities, and contributing to climate chaos, it felt like few in Congress were getting the message.

Until last month. RCC’s allies on Capitol Hill have now sounded the alarm with a first-of-its-kind bill mandating assessment by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the climatic and environmental justice effects of the wood pellet biomass industry!

Introduced by leading environmental justice champion Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and co-sponsored by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), the Forest Biomass Emissions Act of 2024 (S.4153) would require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to assess the total lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions from wood pellet production and report on the impact of industry operations in nearby environmental justice communities.

Congress is now listening and we need to act.

Sen. Booker and his co-sponsors share the RCC’s belief that the biomass industry is just the latest in a long string of industrial polluters that subject low-income and Black communities to disproportionate pollution and environmental harm. The Forest Biomass Emissions Act is a powerful first step toward rectifying this injustice.

RCC’s definitive reports like Clear Cut have shown that lifecycle emissions from wood pellet combustion exceed those of coal production, from production to the smokestack. That’s because there are far more emissions than meet the eye if you only count wood pellet emissions from combustion. A true lifecycle accounting by the EPA that includes emissions from harvest, processing, storage, transportation,  and shipping overseas will finally officially expose and document the dangers of wood pellet production.

The RCC has made the case against biomass, and now, with the power of law, the Forest Biomass Emission Act will mandate that the EPA address and expose the industry’s environmental justice and climate follies. Help us get S.4153 passed today by telling your Senators to support it.