Biofuelwatch and 71 other environmental and climate justice organisations based in the UK have written an open letter to Governor Cooper to ask him to stop the expansion of the wood pellet industry in North Carolina.
Enviva is applying to expand production at the Ahoskie pellet mill in North Carolina, below is an article with more information
Our partners, Dogwood Alliance have informed us that there was a public hearing on this expansion which included impassioned remarks given by private citizens in surrounding areas and representatives from environmental and climate justice groups including ELC, Dogwood Alliance, Southern Forest Conservation Coalition, Spruill Conservation Farm, NC Sierra Club, the Meherrin Indian Tribe, the Plastic Ocean Project, UNCW students, and others.
Our partners also mentioned that citizens in North Carolina are rarely given the opportunity to speak out publicly against the impact of dirty industries on the environment. The public hearing provided them with an opportunity to speak out and resulted in several speakers responding impact-fully to the technical aspects of the permit. Many more spoke on the impact of losing tens of thousands of mixed hardwoods. We have a way to go, but our voices are getting stronger and louder, and there are more of us. All in attendance were encouraged by the collective energies to shine a light on this destructive industry.
Although this letter has been sent to Governor Cooper, we have yet to receive an acknowledgment or reply, if you know of anyone in the area impacted or surrounding areas please do share with them so we can spread the message of what is happening and increase the collective voices of the community against this expansion.
You can also use social media to directly address Governor Cooper to further draw his attention to the open letter. We have added a sample text which you can use as a tweet below but please feel free to adapt this using this link to the open letter here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uVrNaScxSDvjrv-Is90ceiJKGX3L2bE4/view?usp=sharing
72 environmental and climate justice organisations have written An open letter to @NC_Governor to refuse the application for Enviva’s Ahoskie mill expansion, For the sake of forests, wildlife, communities and the climate! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uVrNaScxSDvjrv-Is90ceiJKGX3L2bE4/view?usp=sharing
Thank you to all the groups that supported this open letter, you can see a list