For an organization that claims to support the environment, the Southern Environmental Law Center continues to do the dirty work for the coal industry.
The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), an activist group of attorneys based in Charlottesville, Virginia, recently submitted testimony to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality to discuss the state’s clean energy plan.
SELC’s North Carolina Director, Derb Carter, says that North Carolina “must reduce carbon” by “moving the state away from dirty fossil fuels.”
Moving away from fossil fuels is absolutely the right thing to do in the face of the climate crisis. But why, then, is the SELC attacking biomass, one of the key tools to limit climate change and reduce emissions recommended by the United National Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)?
Wood biomass is increasingly being used as a renewable, low-carbon energy source to replace dirty coal plants in countries across the world, from the EU to Japan.
Judging by its actions, SELC doesn’t want to see these carbon reductions in the U.S. They say they’re happy that the draft clean energy plan “leaves no place for forest-derived biomass,” even though experts from the University of Illinois say that wood biomass reduces emissions by 74 to 85 percent on a lifecycle basis when compared to coal.
Here’s the reality: Biomass is a central element in the IPCC’s recommended plan to reduce the world’s reliance on fossil fuels. When anti-forestry groups like the SELC falsely attack biomass, they’re actually endorsing more coal consumption and fewer trees – and making it harder for countries to meet ambitious carbon reduction goals.