The Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the largest environmental organizations in the country, has a new leader – and she’s been a supporter of renewable wood energy.
This week, the NRDC announced that Gina McCarthy, the former Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under President Barack Obama, will now serve as its President and chief executive.
Gina McCarthy was a strong supporter of renewable biomass energy and sustainable forestry while at the EPA. McCarthy has specifically praised renewable wood energy, stating in November 2015 that when done right, biomass “can promote healthy forests, support local economies, and cut carbon pollution.”
“Good forestry practices are good for both the economy, but also the planet’s climate health. Biomass and bioenergy products can be an integral part of state’s climate protection plans that promote responsible land management and renewable energy. If done right – this approach can promote healthy forests, support local economies, and cut carbon pollution.” – Gina McCarthy
Under McCarthy, the Obama EPA in 2015 included biomass in its landmark Clean Power Plan, which was called “the strongest action ever on climate change by a US president.”
McCarthy and the Obama administration’s embrace of biomass echoes the recommendations of the United Nations and the scientific community. The United Nations IPCC has stated as recently as this year that biomass and forestry can lower carbon emissions and is necessary in all strategies to limit climate change. In September, over 100 leading scientists joined the IPCC in embracing the environmental benefits of wood biomass, noting that “Forest biomass energy yields significant net decreases in overall carbon accumulation in the atmosphere over time compared to fossil fuels.”
McCarthy joins other leading environmentalists like Washington Governor Jay Inslee, who said in 2014 that wood biomass “not only creates jobs and economic activity in our timber-dependent communities, it supports our efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase treatment of our forested lands for health and fire reduction.”
Yet despite the Obama Administration’s support and the international scientific consensus in favor of wood biomass, the NRDC has recently taken the opposite position, calling renewable wood energy “dirty and destructive.”
Under the leadership of Gina McCarthy, we hope the NRDC will reconsider its misleading position and join the scientific community in supporting renewable wood energy as one way to lower carbon emissions and displace dirty fossil fuels like coal.
Tags: NRDC