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When Green is NOT so Green after all !! ...

British energy giant reports violating toxic pollutant limits at Louisiana wood pellet facilities




FILE - Birds fly past a pile of wood used to make pellets during a tour of a Drax facility in Gloster, Miss., Monday, May 20, 2024. British energy giant Drax Global, already under scrutiny for running afoul of environmental laws in multiple states, including Mississippi, recently disclosed that its Louisiana wood pellet production facilities emit hazardous air pollutants above their permitted limits. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

BY JACK BROOK

Updated 4:39 AM GMT+10, August 13, 2024

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — British energy giant Drax Global, already under scrutiny for running afoul of environmental laws in multiple states, has disclosed to the state of Louisiana that its wood pellet production facilities emit hazardous air pollutants above their permitted limits.

Drax is a key provider for British utilities and one of the renewable energy industry’s largest players, earning $1.53 billion in profits last year. It operates seven wood pellet production facilities across four states and paid out $2.5 million in fines for violating air emissions limits in Mississippi in 2020 and $3.2 million pollution-related settlements in Louisiana in 2022.

Following pressure from lawsuits brought by environmental advocacy groups, the company agreed to install pollution controls in 2021 in its three production facilities across Mississippi and Louisiana.

But it appears that the new controls did not bring the company within its permitted limits for more dangerous chemicals known as hazardous air pollutants at its Louisiana plants. The company conducted testing in August 2023 and about six months later informed the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality that both facilities should be considered a “major source” of hazardous air pollutant emissions.

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