The production process emits harmful pollutants and toxic substances into neighboring communities, driving an increase in asthma and other respiratory illnesses. This has a disproportionate impact on low-income, underserved communities in the southern United States, where most wood pellet production occurs.

And while the industry likes to frame biomass as a renewable energy source because deforested trees can be replanted, two facts remain: producing wood pellets removes older trees with greater carbon sequestration capacity, and burning biomass actually emits 50 percent more pollution than burning coal.